Process: Organization of Scraps

“Ideas are the cheapest part of writing. They are free. The hard part is what you do with the ideas you have gathered.” -Jane Yolen

Alphabetical
Organizing individual pages or entire e-scrapbooks using alphabetical order is an interesting approach. For example, you might create a tribute to a person using key words or a trip to the zoo using words like Anteater, Bear, and Cougar. Use Jan Thornhill's books The Wildlife ABC: A Nature Alphabet and The Wildlife 123: A Nature Counting Book for ideas. Also look for the Alpabet series including M is for Majestic.

Explore other approaches to using words and alphabetical order:

• Related Topics:
  • Word Focus
  • Word Collage
• Examples: Ben's ABCs
• Website:
  • ABC theme scrapbooks from Scrapbooking.com
  • ABC Albums Everywhere from Creative Scrapbooking

Chronological
Many projects are organized chronologically. They may record events in the order of their occurrence, trace an idea over time, or sequence steps in a process. Timelines are often used to visualize chronological projects.

Hazel's Bolger's electronic scrapbook is interactive based on a timeline (below). Her story is told through the photos below.

Explore the following examples:

• Lifetime: Biography or Autobiography
• Family: Heritage books, Family Tree
• Significant Event: 911, Louis and Clark Journey
• Yearbook: Chronicle a Year, Senior Yearbook, Class Scrapbook

In the example below, the e-scrapbook is organized by decade.

Hierarchical
Organize based on a hierarchy. You might use a top-down approach starting with a broad topic and getting more and more specific. For example, the Animal Kingdom can be thought of as a hierarchy with more and more specific identification.

Information Map
A master visual can be used to represent information, concepts, and ideas. This is often used when doing comparisons or demonstrating an analysis. Consider a cluster map, Venn Diagram, or flowchart. Use A Taxonomy of Information Patterns by Bernie Dodge for ideas.

• Mindmap. Place text (word, definition, idea, poem quote) or photo (i.e., setting, person, object) on a page. Draw lines out from the key text/word reflecting your perspective, ideas, concerns, reflections.

Geographical or Regional
Organize based on a geographic feature, area, or comparison. Use a map, aerial photo, or other visual to represent the area. It might be a country, state, or local map. Consider a specialize make such as a topo map, national park map, or hand-drawn creation.

Also consider regions or areas of a visual such as photograph of a heart or brain. It might also be areas such as different habitats (i.e., wetlands, prairie, desert, woodlands).

• Examples: national parks visits, places I've lived, places I want to visit, places with wetlands

Thematic
Many people use a thematic focus for their e-scrapbooks exploring a particular topic and organizing ideas based on the demands of the topic.

• Historical
  (event, time period)
  • Remembering and Scrapbooking 911 from About
    Includes links to articles; fonts, graphics, and patterns, and historical information.
• Literature Genre
  (poetry, historical fiction short story)

The follow e-scrapbook follows my cousin Kelsey's Olympic Dream.

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