Affordances

Okay I hear you say first ergonomics and now affordances how do these relate to cooking? What is the difference between ergonomics and affordances? The difference between ergonomics and affordances is what is brought to the activity and what the activity brings about. As you can see these things are connected closely to each other. Ergonomics is how well a person can be fitted with activities that are a good expression of their interest and skills; affordances are an examination of the actual potentials within the activity for expressing something.

Christiansen and Townsend (2010) state that affordance is “the particular arrangement of objects in the environment”. It can be the interaction between an object and a person; “the object's design suggests its purpose, function and usability and the user determines the object's affordances”.

Hopkins & Smith (1983) state that "It is through our activities that we…practice skills, express our feelings, experience pleasure…” This quote says to me that activities allow us to develop as individuals.

Norman (1988) stated that he believes that affordances result from the mental interpretation of things, based on our past knowledge and experience applied to our perception of the things about us.

My interpretation of Affordances:

Affordance is the outcome of an activity. So this is what ordinary activities bring about.  This is means to me that the initial activity leads me on to a number of different activities that then leads to the overall outcome.

Under affordances there are a number of considerations to take into account that was discussed in class.

These are

·         Communication

·         Moral Properties

·         Action Properties

·         Aesthetics

·         Spirituality

·         Connections

Affordances with my activity:

Communication:

This is how the activity lends itself to communication. Communication is an essential part of human interaction as it allows us to connect with others and is a way that we express ourselves. Communication is vital during cooking, especially if you are sharing the kitchen with a number of other people. I live with in 5 other people and when there is more than 2 of you in the kitchen it’s a bit of a nightmare to be honest. So communication in the kitchen is vital when in our kitchen with others. I live with one of my friends and the kitchen is generally our gossip area when either she or I are cooking. It is also a great time to catch up with flat mates who aren’t always around.  Cooking is also a way to express myself to others as it allows me to communicate my ideas and my food style to them. Communication is vital to me while I’m doing my diet as I am able to tell others what I am doing and why. It also allows me to explain how the diet works and why I do things the way I do.

De Lore & Brooke-White (2000) state that "in any home, the kitchen is often the place where friends and family congregate. Sure, it’s where the food and the drink are, but kitchens are seldom just refuelling stations. Conversations, gossip humour and ideas flow freely in the relaxed atmosphere of the kitchen".

Moral Properties:

This refers to the perception of the good and bad aspects of doing something. Cooking has both good and bad aspects to it, but for me the majority of the aspects are good. For example cooking with and for others can be good as they are able to help you prepare the food and to help wash all the dishes up later but then there are the bad aspects like someone might not like the type of food your cooking so you have to try and please everyone around you as well as yourself. One of my pet peeves around cooking is other people telling me what do when I’m cooking for example my flat mate is very pedantic about having the overhead fan on from the moment you start cooking to until way after you finish. I find that his lack of respect for my ‘style’ of cooking quite annoying as everyone has their own way of doing things and they should be allowed to cook that way. There are both good and bad aspects to my diet some people would probably say that I’m going about things the wrong way if I want to lose weight. Cooking on my diet is good as I eat less but I feel fuller for longer due to what I am eating, I feel more focused and healthy as well. Some bad aspects are that sometimes the food that I am allowed to eat gets old and sometimes I get intense cravings for certain foods like carbs. By as they say there are pros and cons to everything in life.

Action properties:

This is the story of the activity, so the beginning (what happened before), the middle (the activity) and the end (what happens when your finished). This involves me engaging in the tasks that prepare for the cooking.

So this is:

·         Getting all my ingredients out on the counter and cutting them up if necessary

·         Getting my equipment out – pots, pans, knives etc

·         Turning the stove/oven on

·         Cooking all the food

·         Placing food on the plate

·         Washing dishes

·         Eating the food

Aesthetics:

This is how you receive this activity to your senses. When you cook you are using all your senses to create a meal. The first thing about food is that it draws you in by smell, if it smells good you’re more inclined to eat it. When you’re in the kitchen you are using touch, hearing, taste, smell to put together a meal. The texture of the food is also quite important as well as when you are eating you are experiencing a number of different textures during the meal that add to the enjoyment of food. Colour and presentation are important as they provide visual stimulation to us, which makes us look forward to the meal if it looks good. Most of the food that I eat on my diet is pleasing others I wouldn’t eat otherwise since I am quite fussy, but sometimes when I eat a tin of tuna I can think of nothing worse than eating it. It smells a wee bit and it doesn’t look appealing even though I do eventually eat it.

Spirituality:

This is a key aspect of cooking. I have come to believe that spirituality allows me to cook for myself and for others. Cooking allows me to contribute and care for my family, friends and the wider community. Cooking also connects me to life as I have to eat to survive and I feel closer to the ingredients and where my food comes from. Cooking gives me a sense of belonging and well being within myself. I believe that food brings people together and that when you eat food with a variety a people who could be like you or different things like age, gender, culture and people’s beliefs go onto the back burner. Food has a way of connecting us all to help us understand others and to accept each other and to feel valued. When I cook certain foods, like an omelette, I feel connected to my grandfather as he was the first person to teach me how to cook one. It also allows me to be generous to myself as I can add a number of yummy foods to the omelette like chicken and peppers which make the omelette way more appetising. It is a way that I can connect to my elders without having an age barrier between us as they treat me as an equal within the kitchen.

Affordances seems to be about how an activity grows, forms or influences (both directly and indirectly) the occurrence of other activities; they bring together the occupations and routines of human beings. It also provides us with the opportunity for spiritual connections, social interactions and a sense of identity within ourselves.

I found this quote about cooking and thought it was quite fitting for my affordances blog:

"Cooking has many functions, and only one of them is about feeding people. When we go into a kitchen, indeed when we even just think about going into a kitchen, we are both creating and responding to an idea we hold about ourselves, about what kind of person we are or wish to be. How we eat and what we eat lies at the heart of who we are as – Individuals, families, communities". (Lawson, 2004. p.7).

References

Christiansen, C. & Townsend, E. (2010). Introduction to occupation: The art of science and living. (2^nd eds.). Prentice Hall.

De Lore, C., & Brooke-White, J. (2000). Every kitchen tells a story. New Zealand: Harper Collins Publishers Limited.

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

Lawson, N. (2004). Feast: Food to celebrate life. England: Hyperion.

Norman, D.A. (1988).  The Psychology of Everyday Things. New York: Basic Books