Scrapbook

Scrapbooking is one of my favourite past time.  With technology advancements, we can now scrapbook by using the computer.  Some people are more dexterous and have better vision than I.  These people may even be able to scrapbook on their tiny little mobile devices.  I would not recommend scrapbooking on a small little mobile device because your eyes will go bad.

What is scrapbooking?  According to this author, scrapbooking is creating a book from scraps.  Scraps are unwanted materials people have discarded.  I have created a few scrapbooks as presents for friends.  I would first collect photos of them from them and from people around them.  I would also buy a scrapbook album and scrapbook paper to make my finish product, the scrapbook, more luxurious.  I would also request people around them to write about them and submit their written letters to me for sticking into the scrapbook.

The finished product is a very personalized gift.  The scrapbook can have photos, letters, used tickets, cut out from magazines, dried plants, etcetera.  As you can see, a computer-generated scrapbook will not have the same feel and look as a scrapbook created from scratch and without the assistance of computer or android technologies.

The experience of making a scrapbook without a computer is also very different.  You get to use glue, tape, etcetera.

Recently, I finally made two "scrapbook" for myself.  It was actually my first time scrapbooking for myself.  When I do things for myself, I am lazy so I opted to use the computer to help me with my creation.  I did not get to enjoy the cutting with scissors or gluing with glue experience; however, I got to put in more stuff into the scrapbook and it was possible to make copies of such "scrapbook".  The finished product also looked more professional.  There was more room for writing because everything was typed and not handwritten.

Yesterday, I was relooking at the two scrapbooks I made for myself.  It always brings joy to me when I look at them because I relive the experience of whatever I documented about in these two scrapbooks.  I was very detailed with my notes, I wrote about people I came across, my accomplishments, my thoughts, and feelings at that moment in time.  If I did not write about them, I probably would not remember everything I wrote about.  In addition, my writings helped me remember things I would otherwise not remember, some of which were not written.

In summary, the most important component in a scrapbook to me are the photos and the writings.

The other day, I started wondering if blind people scrapbooked.  If they did, what would they put into their scrapbooks?  Similar to me, they could put in their own writings but in Braille form and other tangible things that can fit into a scrapbook.  Unlike me, they would not put in any photos but instead, I think it would be interesting if they can put in sounds from a collection of sounds they have collected and are scrapbooking about the journey they took to collect those sounds.

If the technology was available, I wonder how a blind person would utilize such technology to create their own scrapbook.  As a person who can see, the photos enrich my experience as I read my own writing.  If I was blind, I would imagine that a recorded sound would enrich my experience as I read my Braille.  I prefer reading silently in my head or hearing myself speak out my own writing so I would imagine that a blind person who can read Braille would also prefer to read silently to themselves and have the options to hear the recorded sounds they collected at the right moment and activated by them. What do you think?  Anyways, I am going to investigate!