[Air-L] why iPad

Sarah Roberts robert50 at illinois.edu
Sat Jul 17 15:21:12 PDT 2010


A few observations:

I think the form factor, and wow factor, of the iPad is central to the choice made to put them in the field.  I have a netbook, a laptop, and a million other devices, and the _pad_ nature of the iPad would be an intriguing tool for use for the reasons elucidated by boyd: for its unobtrusiveness, in some cases (e.g., flat against a table surface; cradled in arm like a legal pad; when screen viewing is paramount, as opposed to keyboarding or data entry). 

Further, Duke has a long history of both a relationship with Apple as well as a desire to be on the fore of implementing new technology in academia; about this I can speak firsthand, due to my association with Duke and with such projects in a previous life.  Perhaps most importantly, they frequently have the means to do it when not all others can.  

Is there a cool factor in jumping onto iPod, iMovie, iPad, and iWhatever's next at Duke and elsewhere for use in research?  Undeniably, yes.  But who ever said that the tools researchers use, aside from being utilitarian, can't also have a bonus of being fun for them to handle and use, too?  Why iPad?  Why not?

--Sarah

---

S a r a h  T.  R o b e r t s
Doctoral Student and Fellow, Information in Society 
Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS)
http://www.lis.illinois.edu/people/students/sarah-roberts-phd-student

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
http://www.lis.illinois.edu/programs/phd/infosociety/

> 
> Message: 7
> Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2010 23:11:39 -0400
> From: danah boyd <aoir.z3z at danah.org>
> To: Barry Wellman <wellman at CHASS.UTORONTO.CA>
> Cc: aoir list <air-l at aoir.org>
> Subject: Re: [Air-L] why iPad
> Message-ID: <0BD11815-B485-4C43-A43B-3097B7583BEC at danah.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> Personally, I bought an iPad for field research and it's been great so far.  What I needed was a reliable web browser that I could show to people I interview.  And the AT&T plan - as evil as it is - was a lot cheaper than any of the laptop aircards and required much less commitment.  
> 
> In the process, I learned something important.  When I put a computer in front of someone, people face the screen. I can watch them OR I can watch the screen.  Watching both is awkward and creates odd social dynamics because I have to sit next to the person. With the iPad, I could put it down on a table between us and watch the person's face while watching where they browse, albeit upside-down, but that's easy when I'm not trying to read the exact content.  Shared browsing is very easy to accommodate and it's quite easy to go through sites with someone. 
> 
> I'm not using it for taking notes or other text-heavy processes.  I'm looking to browse. And not to mimic browsing that one does on a computer.  Just outright stare-at-screen browsing while in the midst of an interview. And I'm very happy with it.
> 
> danah
> 
> 
> On Jul 15, 2010, at 6:07 PM, Barry Wellman wrote:
> 
>> After all the hype, I can't figger out why someone (even at Duke) would use an iPad rather than a netbook for their research. Sounds like kewl won over functionality. If I'm taking notes, I'd rather have a real keyboard. If I'm doing other stuff, I'd rather have the plethora of applications running on Win7/XP or MacOX than on the little apps running on iPods and iPhones with their baby OS. -- I've been using the iPhone 3GS for months now as a pocket phone etc and am continually frustrated on what it can't do.
>> End iRant. End PodHype
>> 
>> Barry Wellman
>> _______________________________________________________________________
>> 
>> S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC               NetLab Director
>> Department of Sociology                  725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388
>> University of Toronto   Toronto Canada M5S 2J4   twitter:barrywellman
>> http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman             fax:+1-416-978-3963
>> Updating history:      http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php



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