Blog 4 Affordances

Blog 4: Affordances:

“Affordances are an examination of the actual potentialities within the activity for expressing beauty” (Butler, 2011). Communications, connections, ethics, aesthetics, spirituality, linking with history and physical are seven sub headings that fall under affordances which is what I learnt this week.

My understanding of affordances is looking at the attractive elements of an activity.

“It is through our activities that we are connected with life and with other human beings. Through the activities in which we engage, we learn about the world, test our knowledge, practice skills, express our feelings, experience pleasure, take care of our needs for survival, develop competence, and achieve mastery over our destinies” (Hopkins & Smith, 1983, p. 296).

The activity of baking enabled my mother, sister and I to share a mother, daughter and sibling relationship. My mother was able to practice her skills of teaching while her daughter’s knowledge skills were tested through learning. This exchange of demonstrating and learning to bake was not seen as a burden but as a shared moment of memory that is to be cherished forever. 

In this blog I will look at how affordance is relevant to baking.

Baking an activity that brings personal satisfaction and I am able to express this by being creative with the size, shape and the icing decorations (communication). This activity has a connection to my mother, who taught me how to bake, and decorate cakes with icing sugar which makes the cake more appealing (aesthetics). I generally like to bake on a sunny day which makes me cheery hence perfect mood to bake. In my culture cooking is an activity performed by women (spirituality) hence the reason why baking creates a link to my mum and sister in the past (linking with history). Even though I enjoy baking one thing I don’t look forward to is the washing up of dishes (ethics). I need a clean kitchen to bake and I have a habit of leaving the kitchen tidy because I flat with other people. 

References:

Butler, M. (2011). Participation in Occupation 2: BT238001 [Lecture Notes]. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago Polytechnic, School of Occupational Therapy. 

Hopkins, H. L., & Smith, H. D. (1983). Willard and Spackman’s occupational therapy. Philadelphia: Lippincott.

Blog 3 Food/Labor

Blog 3: Food/Labor

This week we looked at Food as a process of labor.

Labour is the activity which corresponds to the biological process of the human body, whose spontaneous growth, metabolism, and eventual decay are bound to the vital necessities produced and fed into the life process by labour. The human condition of labour is life itself” (Arendt, 1958, p. 7). 

Labor is an activity that is necessary to be performed repeatedly by human beings in order to stay alive. It is a continuous cycle that stops only during the time of death. The progression of labor can either be painful or pleasurable depending on how the individual perceives the meaning of the activity. For example I enjoy cooking because I can choose to create a variety of dishes that I enjoy to eat. On some days however I am exhausted and rather get takeaways however due to financial constraints have to resort to cooking. At this very moment the activity of cooking is considered by me as labor. It is an activity I have to do in order to reduce hunger pangs. 

The sole purpose of baking is for food consumption hence relevant link to labor which has been defined (in the reference above) as essential for human survival. However I don’t bake because I have to but only because I want to. Baking to me is labor of joy which I engage in either to bake a cake for a friend’s birthday, contribute as dessert towards flat dinner or store away as snack for afternoon tea. The activity of baking creates a connection to people during a social situation. It can be used as a conversation starter to discuss the ingredients used and the process involved. In my opinion the consumption of eating sweet baking products evokes the feeling of happiness which is a thoughtful offering during a sad period such as funerals, or relationship problems hence making the task of baking worth while. I am rewarded by positive feedbacks from friends and families with whom I share my baking with. This reinforces my behavior to bake again not only to receive more positive feedbacks but to fine tune my baking skills. I enjoy challenging myself by attempting new baking recipes without on most occasions thinking about the time and energy that is require of me to participate in this activity. 

References:

Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Blog 2 Ergonomics

Blog 2 Ergonomics:

In Week 36, we learnt about ergonomics and its relevance to our chosen activity.  

Caulton and Dickson (2007) define the understanding of ergonomics as the ability to “constantly make slight invisible adjustments to an activity to adapt to the needs of those taking part and ensure that it continues to work for its intended purpose”. 

This blog will consider how ergonomics is linked to my chosen activity which is baking.

Baking is a leisure pursuit I like to engage in during my spare time. Today I made the decision to make bread using a bread maker machine. I chose to use this modern gadget instead of traditional oven due to convenience. I also flat with four other people hence the kitchen is a communal area in the house. I had to be mindful of how long I spent on this activity without taking over the entire kitchen space. I felt confident making bread in the bread maker machine which I have used several times in the past. As is with either a dishwasher or a washing machine all I had to do was turn the machine on and expect similar result to baking in an oven. I realized after glimpsing in my pantry, I would have to travel to the supermarket to purchase yeast which is the key ingredient. Once I had the necessary ingredients, I mixed them all and into the machine they went ready to be consumed in 45-50 minutes. 

My understanding of ergonomics (relates to paragraph above) is that it is about the fit, match or mismatch and the connection between the person, occupation (activity performed) and environment. It also considers how little shifts or adaptations are made to link the person, occupation and environment together. I was financially capable to buy ingredients and bake bread in a bread maker machine which I was comfortable to utilize (person). I drove to the supermarket instead of walking to purchase the ingredients required and I was aware that using an oven was another way to baking bread (activity). I had to perform this activity without restricting my flat mates access into the kitchen (environment).

References:

Caulton, R.& Dickson, R. (2007).  What's going on? Finding an explanation for what we do. In Creek, J., & Lawson- Porter, A. (Eds.) Contemporary issues in occupational therapy. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd