What the iPad and Tablets are good at?

So if you haven't gotten a tablet device as yet, I guess this post may be useful in helping you decide whether or not the device is a good fit for you and your lifestyle. Here in bullet points, I summarize what the iPad in particular and tablets in general are good at. While I conclude that the iPad is bad for typing, tablets in general are good for media consumption, and for some types of media generation. Here is my list of what the iPad is good for:

With tablet technologies you can:

• read e-books
• listen to audio-books
• surf the web (with quality of web surfing limited to those sites that provide a mobile website)
• check email (with quality of email access dependent on the email provider providing a mobile email app)
• play games 
• watch video
• take or capture photographs or video

However, you can't use the iPad to replace a laptop or PC. In fact, the iPad is best functional when synchronised with other devices (such as an iPhone, PC or laptop). This especially because not all Websites and Web services are fully functional when viewed by a tablet. Secondly, there are certain things better down on a laptop or PC with a large screen and a keyboard that is large enough for you to type 60 to 120 words per minute.

Mobile apps coexisting with the printed book?

I had the opportunity this summer to explore mobile apps on the iPad. In addition to experimenting with the tablet and mostly free mobile apps, I also completed my online course on "the future of storytelling". In this course, one of the final segments was on transmedia storytelling, which mentioned how the narrative of a traditionally published novel was extended through the use of mobile apps. Through this particular segment, I learned about MirrorWorld and Mirada. In this blog post or entry, I briefly introduce both MirrorWorld and Mirada, with some discussion of how these represent a new trend of convergence between traditional book publishing and mobile app development.

To begin, MirrorWorld is one of the works of Mirada in modern storytelling that mixes both traditional and technological techniques to expand on a story world first told by a novel. According to Mirada's About page,  Mirada is "a studio designed for storytellers" (Mirada 2014, "About"). They specialise in "synthesizing archetypal oral tradition with modern technique" (Mirada 2014, "About", para. 2). Mirada further dubs Mirror World as the "World’s First Living Storybook" (Mirada 2014, "Cornelia"). In my understanding of Mirror World, Mirada built a mobile app that functioned as a story engine or database that permits users to explore the story world and be immersed into an interactive experience while exploring the story. For more information on this (or if you want to check out the app for yourself), explore the following websites:

• http://mirrorworldnovels.com/
• http://www.corneliafunke.com/index.php?page=app&lang=en

However, I just wanted to opine here that after seeing Mirror World and learning about the development of the app to expand on the novel, I think the future of traditional book publishing will persist. Hence, future books being published will have accompanying apps. These accompanying apps will expand the story world of the traditionally published book visually and otherwise. What this means in my opinion is that the printed book is not yet dead, but will co-exist in the future with apps that expands upon the narrative that the book tells.


References:

Mirada (2014). About. Retrieved from http://mirada.com/about

---(2014). Cornelia Funke’s mirror world: Crafting the World’s First Living Storybook.
Retrieved from http://mirada.com/stories/mirrorworld

iPad experiment reflections: Part 2

So I took another shot at the iPad. Hence I borrowed it from my library to play with and get a feel of the technology and its applications. I recognise the need to take the time to learn and seize learning opportunities that I may not have in Jamaica, due to prohibition of price or opportunity.


From my first experiment, I realised after problem shooting with the library staff, that the strength of the iPad depends upon a reliable Internet connection. Hence wireless connectivity is the first issue for those who seek to implement it.

However, today, I saw that the iPad is not perfect for user generated textual content, except in the case of micro-blogging. The experience is a bit like text messaging, but an improvement. I have a virtual keyboard, but it is not as comprehensive as the PC or mobile with everything that I need in one place. I begin with the letters, and to access numbers, I have to click an additional button before the numbers come up. For capitalisation, there is no CAPLOCKS key. Hence, there is some readjustment required as the familiar keyboard interface is not the same.

Secondly, my experience reminded me of my dislike for touch pad mouses. Even with my laptop, I prefer to use a mouse to navigate the screen and to click and select options.

Finally, I recognised a truth that was not readily apparent. Because tablets are based on the cloud computing concept, unlike with PCs, where your software are with you on CDs, with tablets, it is like subscribing to cable tv. Hence you get what you subscribe for and cannot transfer other software from CDs or other storage devices to the new hardware device. 

As such, personally, I would not yet purchase a tablet, as  it does not yet meet my personal computing needs. If only I needed to use it to view slide presentations or YouTube videos, but it is not for me in terms of creating textual content, for which I rely heavily on a familiar keyboard interface and a mouse that gives me more control.

Experiment with the iPad: Part 1 of the story

As I am researching tablets technology for a course that I am pursuing, I learned from the professor that my library, the Graduate Resource Center of the Faculty of Information and Media Studies loans iPads. So I decided to borrow it to test it for myself and draw conclusions based on practical experience and not just from reported speech.


So my first task was to put it to test to access a scanned reading in PDF, which is sideways and could not be manipulated by my computer or laptop. Hence, my first test was to see how the iPad would help me, seeing that while I can't turn my laptop sideways, I could do so with the iPad.


Difficulties begin

I went to the Google app, but realised that it was an app and not a browser. As such, I could not type the URL that I wanted. Instead, I had to search for the website, and click. Unfortunately there was a particular link that I kept clicking but could not access through the Website. As such, I had to abandon that app, in favour of the Safari browser.


I am not familiar with the Safari browser. However that failed too, as the browser could not open the desired page URL as it was "not connected to the Internet".

Hence for the first task or experiment, the tablet technology failed.
Now I have to ask the library staff what went wrong.

Sorry Tablets. That is one point for PC and laptops.