Week 3 - Affordances

 “The affordances of the environment are what is offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes either for good or ill” (Harris, 2009)

Affordance is the action possibility of one enviroment or in this case activity to another, So participating in one activity can lead to another activity, an example might be turning a door nob might lead to opening a door. If you read on you might understand a little better as I explain how watching TV can lead to other activities. 

I'm not sure if you have noticed, but there is a sporting tournament going on in New Zealand at the moment, it’s pretty hard to miss given that is splashed all over almost every TV channel. I personally love all the hype and the coverage (even if it does mean sacrificing Coronation Street), however given that we are a flat made up of 3 guys and 4 girls not everyone shares my view on the great Rugby World Cup. Some would rather watch paint try while others simply cannot miss a match, even if it is Russia Vs Namibia!

So we have one TV, half the flat wants to watch the rugby the other half wants to watch the Keeping up with the Kardashians what to do? We negotiate, thankfully we have My Sky which gives us the ability to record.

Team Rugby World Cup puts their argument forward, they mention that Sport must be watched live however their argument is mostly based on the fact that it is the Rugby World Cup!!!! A once in every 4 year opportunity, and a fair argument it was to. Then Team Kardashians puts their argument forward, do we really need to be watching Canada Vs Namibia after we have sat through 3 games in one day already???

After much discussion about what is more important we begin to negotiate, this results in recording the first half of the Kardashians while the game finishes then after the game finishes watching The Kardashians in its entirety. Not a bad outcome given that I am a fan of both.

Communication

This is an example of TV viewing providing opportunity for discussion negotiation and general friendly banter. As stimulating as the rugby is this is not the extent of our viewing, we do also watch educational programmes such as the news. This regularly sparks discussion about current events sometimes this can be heated and sometimes it is humours but it is always granted to be entertaining. One thing that is always happening in the living room in our house is joking and friendly banter. We are always having a joke and laughing. A common occurrence is 7 O'clock every night we all watch Shortland Street and we have an ongoing game to predict the plot and script, or when we watch Friends we have a race to figure out which episode it is going to be. Generally speaking in my flat most of the communication takes place in the living room in front of the TV.

Moral Properties

The Positive moral propitious for me is that I get to enjoy watching TV shows I enjoy, participate in friendly banter with my flatmates and am also provided with some education from discussion as well. The negative moral properties is that I miss Coronation street, when living with so many people and one TV there is always going to need to be sacrifices made, some might also say watching TV programmes such as Keeping up with the Kardashians is reversing any intelligence that I might have!

For those of you who dont know who the Kardashians are Click Here

D. Harris (2009). Engineering Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics. New York: Springer

Affordance was a term I wasn’t familiar with and struggled to understand. I used this quote because although unrelated to activity it gave me an idea of the meaning of affordance which I could then transfer to activity.

Ergonomics

In early times man needed to use only simple tools to scratch out a living from the earth. With the coming of the industrial age revolution the complexity and number of tools that man must use in the work place has increased astronomically"  (Talty, 1988)

My understanding of ergonomics is it is about the individual their activity and the environment, and how they can interact with one another. This quote above outlines how ergonomics are ever changing, our enviroment is ever changing and so we must adapt to the way we interact with it

As i mentioned in a earlier blog the Rugby world cup is a faviourte in our house, however with seven people and only 5 seats it is important to get in early. The activity is far more enjoyable when the enviroment around you is optimal. So the game started at 9 which ment i had to cement my place on the lazy boy right oppisite the tv around 7. This is a big commitment which intails very quick trips to the toilet and being well prepared with food and fluid to last the evening. The lazy boy is the best because it has the best view of the TV (avoiding stiff a stiff neck), it reclines (somewhat, its very old and ragady) the leg rest pulls out and overall its just you on the chair, no one elses legs creeping into your space or trying to lean on you. So now that I had my chair reserved it was time to take some other envirmental considerations into account such as the room temperature, our house is freezing ever since we turned offf time heat pump after a rather large power bill. So i have on hand my large fluffy blanket which i can wrap around me. Another thing to consider is that there is no outside distractions, this wasnt so much of a problem while watching the rugby but at times ill be trying to watch tv and other flatmates decide to do the dishes or something else in the kitchen, the noise produced by this is less than ideal when watching something like Gray's Anatomy!. Now that my Physical enviroment is all set it is time to think about the social enviroment. Given that I live with 7 people I have little control over the social enviroment. There is always going to be someone talking through your faviourte show, or in the case of the Rugby someone chearing for the oppisition, these things are unavoidable so I learn to embrace them. It doesnt matter who;s around but the most important thing is that they can join in on a joke and banter.....but in preferably in the ad break!

J, T. Talty (1988) Industrial hygine egineering. Noyes Data Corperation: New Jersey 

 This Quote to me clearly described the interaction between person activity and environment. How when one changes so must the others to so they can all work together in harmony. This was my understanding of ergonomics.

Participation In Occupation 2 - Week One

"The analytic process are ways of thinking used by occupational therapy practitioners to understand activities and occupations, their demands and therapeutic potential, the skills required to do them, and the potential meaning ascribed to them” ( Crepeau, 2003) 

 As part of participation in occupation 2 we were asked to think of an activity that we already participate in and analyse it. To truly experience it rather than just do it. We must engage in the activity for 2 hours a week and then report back in our blogs about a certain aspect of it. My activity I choose was TV viewing. It’s not your conventional knitting or cooking, but it’s what I do for enjoyment.  I was told when I choose this activity I would be a hard one, however I firmly believe watching TV offers so much and I by the end of my blog  I hope you will agree.

This Week talked about the idea of Play, Paper and food. Play being something that brings us together in the human world, paper, what makes up the human world and food, all we consume or system activities. We were asked to think of an activity that we already do which falls under one of these 3 categories.Tv viewing falls under play as it is an activity which brings people together.
 For me watching TV can offer different things, sometimes it is a chance to escape my reality and enter into someone else’s, It relaxes me and helps me to forget about any stressor in my life for that short half hour or hour. More often it provides a point of conversation amongst myself and friends and family. Take for example the News, in my life growing up and now in my life flatting away from home, 6 o’clock is a time we all gather to watch the news. We discuss events and debate about articles. This is followed by Shortland street where we all have a laugh at the terrible acting and story lines. It is the only time during the day we are all together and relating to one common activity.
From a OT's perspective watching TV may not seem like an activity which hold much relevance in our field, However I propose that its educational properties would disagree with this. Watching an educational documentary may be far more beneficial to someone rather than having someone stand in front of them and talk to them about the same topic. TV also provides messages such as you are not alone. seeing others on TV going through similar experience as patients may be will give them a sense of comfort and may even provide them with motivation.
As for practical considerations....although it will be hard i am positive i will find 2 hours in my week to watch TV.

Crepeau E. ( 2003 ). Analyzing occupation and activity: A way of thinking about occupational performance. In Crepeau E., Cohn E, & Schell B (Eds.), Willard and Spackman’s occupational therapy ( 10th ed., pp.189-198). Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins