Framework of PLAY + Ambeince

This week in class we got in groups and developed a framework around our activity. The three frameworks were paper, food, play and other. Cards came under 'play'
Play is described as an occupation that is done for amusement; Play is self chosen and pleasurable and done in everyday life (Christensen and townsend).
In comparison to paper or food, play is something that has no lasting effect and is done for no specific purpose. Craft produces an end product that tends to remain after it has been built. Unlike play which doesn’t have an end product but an experience (Sunderland, 2010). Throughout my essay i will be discussing play in relation to playing cards.


We also briefly touched on Ambiance. Collins 2004 describes ambiance as the atmosphere of a place.  To me ambiance is anything the environment offers and the atmosphere in the environment. When playing cards the atmosphere can get prity intense and serious (depending on the game) or it can be a fun happy environment. Sometimes when playing cards i get nervous or anxious waiting to play my cards, i also can feel relaxed and pleased knowing i have good cards.


As this is my last blog post to conclude i have covered ergonomics, Affordances, Aesthetics, practical considerations and have participate in this occupation mindfully over the past six weeks.


5 References that have helped me to refelect on my activity
 Hagedorn, R. (2000). Tools for practice in occupational therapy. A structured approach to core skills and processes. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.

Christensen & E. Townsend (Eds.), An Introduction to the Art and Science of Living. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

Arendt, H. (1958). The Human condition. New York, Doubleday Anchor Books. in Butler, M. 2011, lecture notes on Work, in Participation in Occupation 2 (BT238001

Collins, 2004. Compact Dictionary. HarperCollins Publishers. Great Britain, UK

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

R.Mathew, (2009). Mindfulness, helping patients discover moments of rest, relief and comfort in recovery, rehabilitation and beyond. Work for advance. ADVANCE Newsmagazines. Prussia

Posts to other blogs (I wasnt able to post onto peoples pages)


1. Gemma "More affordances".
 Good work Gemma! I enjoyed reading this post as our occupations are quite similar so it has given me some ideas that i hadn’t thought of. You have thought in depth about the physical aesthetics (I didn’t think cards was very physical) and you have come up with good ideas. Another one could be moving the furniture around before we start playing, this is a physical component as well as an environmental factor :) Hope this helps. Claire


2. Cara- "Affordance: cont"
Hi Cara. I have enjoyed reading your blog as I am very interested in you hebel sculpture. I like how you have put up photos, this has inspired me to put photos on my blog. It gives the reader a better understanding and idea of what kind of work you do.

3. Amanda - 'Practical considerations- 5. Gingewrbread men'
"Mmm your gingerbread men look delicious! I like how you have put in ergonomics and practical consideration into your story because it allows the reader to easily pick these out. I have enjoyed reading your blog.
p.s  check for spelling and grammar as you have a few mistakes in here.


4. Divika
Hi divika. This post shows you have a good understanding of what ergonomics is and how it fits in with baking. I also love baking so it was interesting reading you opinion about it.
A suggestion to improve your blog is maybe adding some photos of the types of things you bake :)

Playing cards

The last time i engaged in my meaningful activity (Cards) was last Saturday night. Me and my flatmates were having a night in at home so decided to watch a movie, we were just getting into it when suddenly the tv and lights flickers then turned off. Damn another power cut! the whole street was out!. we sat in the dark for while until i went and got some candles and set them up on the coffee table. we had just enough light to see each other. Hmm what to do now we thought, someone suggested cards and we all agreed. We decided on playing blackjack (a game we don't often play) two of my flat mates didn't really know how to play but i explained the rules and aim of the game then we had a practice. They picked it up prity fast and it wasn't long before it started to get competitive. Everyone seemed hyped up and excited, maybe it was because of the changed environment. Before we new it the lights came back on, its almost as though we were disappointed when the lights and tv came back on, we were having so much fun playing cards the time flew by. We played for at least an hour.

So remember if your ever have to go without power there are plenty of good card games to keep you occupied for a few hours.

This isn't the best picture but you get the idea. All the flatties sitting around the coffee table in our pajamas and blankets playing cards by candle light =) how romantic. This shows that cards can be played anywhere, in any environment.

Work and Labour

Humans occupy themselves in one way or another in everyday life. In society most people have the balance of work or labour, and leisure or play, and the activities of daily living.
Being occupied is one of the most important and distinct features of being human.

This week we looked at Work and Labour and discussed how these are different.
work is described as an activity which corresponds to the unnaturalness of human existence (Arendt, 1958)
Labour is described as the activity which corresponds to the biological process of the human body (Arendt, 1985).  I describe labour as being necessity's of life, eg. Eating, Drinking, having shelter, working for money etc and Work is something people choice to do


Playing cards is defiantly 'Work', i do not need to play cards to survive. I do it to have fun, relax and spend time with friends and family.
Everyone needs to have a balanced lifestyle and make time to do the things they enjoy.
If cards were taken away from me i may lose connections with friends and family, i may lose skill and forget how to play over time,  i wont be able to develop new memories, i would have less engagement with others.



References:
 Arendt, H. (1958). The Human condition. New York, Doubleday Anchor Books. in Butler, M. 2011, lecture notes on Work, in Participation in Occupation 2 (BT238001)

More Affordances..

Today we continued to talk about Affordances.We talked about Aesthetics, spirituality, memories and history, and physical components.  Aesthetics is described as relating to the appreciation of art and beauty (Collins, 2004). From this i understand aesthetics as being something pleasing and how you look at things. In relation to cards if you have been dealt a really good hand this may be pleasing to look at.
According to Hopkinson and Smith 1983 as sited in Crepeau 2003, The day to day practice of occupational therapy reflects the fact our activities, our behaviours and the product of the occupation combine to give us a sense of who we are and help define us a social beings.

I am going to use these photos to describe the aesthetics, physical components and memories and history.

Memory's- As stated in my first post i started playing cards at a young age with my family. I have found that certain games trigger memory's of where you were or who you were with at that time.

This photo was taken at our beach house in whitianga. My family and friends are playing spoons, which is a card game. I love this photo as you can see every ones facial expressions and you get an idea of what the atmosphere is like. Everyone is laughing and having a good time.

This next photo shows good body language.

As you can see here sometimes it gets a bit to competitive!. This shows that the connection between everyone is quit close, you can tell in this picture that we all know each well. (aaron is determined to win and is fighting Hannah to get the spoon). This shows the physical components.

Photos speak a thousand words.

References:
Collins, 2004. Compact Dictionary. HarperCollins Publishers. Great Britain, UK

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

Ergonomics and Affordances

This week we covered ergonomics and affordance's
Affordance is 'anything which the environment can offer the individual which is pertinent to the role challenge and can facilitate role competence' (hagedorn, 2000).


Ergonomics is about how the physical, social, physiological and environmental factors influence task performance.
For example playing cards is a social fun thing that is done in my flat with my friends. The environment influences if we play cards or not, eg. we usually play at night, we play if there is nothing good on tv and have nothing better to do, we play in areas where we have enough space and seats for everyone. (usually we play in the lounge on the coffee table, to do this we have to re-arrange the furniture so we are all sitting closely around the table).
Social factors include- If everyone wants to play or not, and the skill and knowledge others have.


In relation to playing cards:
Communications (relationships)- Winner/loser
                                                 Instructor/teacher
                                                 Competitiveness
                                                 Language
                                                 Non verbal communication, eg. smiles, cover ups,
                                                                                            poker face
                                                  
Connections: 
This is the game of black jack we are playing
These are my friends who are playing the game of black jack
This is my house where my friends are where we are playing black jack
This is greg who built the house where my friends are playing black jack


Practical considerations- According to Christiansen & Townsend (2004), practical considerations are objects and tools that are necessary to be able to perform and engage in occupations. These are things i need in order to engage in my activity.
- Other people to play with, A pack of cards, a flat surface, something to sit on, enough space and preferably some drinks and nibbles (although these arn't essential).

Ethics

Burden -Guilt
- Keeping a straight face
- Pressure
Joy- winning
-spending time with friends/family
-understanding the game

Good- learning something new
- eating/drinking
-Fun
Bad-Addiction
Time wasting
Distracting


References:
Hagedorn, R. (2000). Tools for practice in occupational therapy. A structured approach to core skills and processes. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone

Christensen & E. Townsend (Eds.), An Introduction to the Art and Science of Living. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

Week 2- choosen activity

This semester we have to choose an activity that we will participate in mindfully and be able to write about.
According to Mathew 2009, Mindfulness is a simple technique for increasing awareness of the present moment, moving away from the past or future to pay attention to thoughts, feelings and sensations with objectivity as they unfold in the present moment.

My chosen activity is card games. I started playing card games at a young age with my parents and sister, the most common games we played were: snap, go fish and memory. As I got older we started playing last card, cheet and slam. My parents are really into games so we would play after dinner or in the weekends. We also lived on our boat for 9 months and didn’t have a tv or any sort of electronics so cards is what kept us entertained. I was taught how to play black jack, 500, uka and have just recently learnt how to play poker. These games require a lot more skill, strategy and more thinking.
Cards is fun and social and can be played anywhere with anyone. I enjoy playing with my flat mates, friends and family. I like learning new games and teaching people the games I know.

The thing I like best about playing cards is the social side of it, everyone gets involved and it is fun and sometimes gets competitive!.


Me and my flat mates have been playing cards a lot lately. We go through phases of it, the game that is played most often is presidents and slaves and poker. We usually play at night when nothing good is on tv. 

Words that come to mind when playing cards are:
Fun
Competativness
StrategieTechnique
Skill
Social
Quick thinking
time waster
Friends
Learning
Family

Why cards would be good to use with clients:
Rapport
Teaching
Learning
Skill
Engaging
Focusing
Sensors- touch

References
R.Mathew, (2009). Mindfulness, helping patients discover moments of rest, relief and comfort in recovery, rehabilitation and beyond. Work for advance. ADVANCE Newsmagazines. Prussia.

Semester 2

Participation in Occupation 2
starting 5-9-2011