Dorko's Comments on Paperless challenge Podcast:

I've been busy studying for anatomy this week so haven't got around to posting this but if you didn't know there is a very good podcast from Tracy from Student Tablet PC and Eric Mack who I learned also has an excellent blog about working with a Tablet PC. Both them talk about the tools and software they use in this first podcast and I definetly recomend you listen to it.

I found it interesting that they mentioned that they needed the use of an extra monitor. I personally have found this very important as well and I wonder what they would think if they also had to deal with ebooks instead of regular textbooks. I have concluded if I ever have the money a small cheap laptop would have to one day replace the textbook and the my current tablet would be used to take notes. Actually a slate model would be ideal for this in my opinion. Of course if it ever goes totally paperless I think the need for multiple models or ever digital paper would have to come into play. I've seen articles on flexible digital paper and these are all things I look foward to. I guess I mention this because although Tracy says she would love the idea of digital paper I still have my doubts. I was as eager as anyone when I learned two of my book would be available as ebooks but have since come to the conclusions of dealing with them for about a month now that there are definetly some negatives. I'd like to point this out later but let me just say for now that ebooks are definetly something that needs to be looked into on a personal level. Try the demos first and check my blog for opinions as I go as I have certainly learned a lot by working and trying to work with them this semester.
I guess everyone likes the idea of ebooks and I wish I could recomend this without any regrets but like the whole paperless situatoin we still have a ways to go. The steps are definetly starting to take shape but there still seems to be so holes that need to be filled.

Well I just thought I would comment on that since I have a lot of experience with it but also in their article they mentioned a lot of the software the use and I must say I use much of the same software myself. GoBinder, OneNote, PDF annotator, and Acrobat are all tools that I have equipped my laptop with. Both of them also mention the use of a program called mind manager. I looked into the program and it looks interesting. I may even download it myself and give it a try. I looked into purchasing it since I never liked to get hooked on a trial and then soon relaize that if I want to keep it I am going to have shell out a ton of money. A student edition of MindManager basic costs $115 which in my opinion is A LOT of money. Unless I totally love it then I am going to have to keep that program out of my list of recomendations and put it in the if you have extra money category since as beneficial as the program looks thats a lot of money.

Of course even with my doubts it doesn't change the fact the paperless challenge and podcast that they are doing is incredibly awesome and again would like to thank them for sharing their thoughs and putting it out for us all to listen to. Awesome job guys! Keep up the good work!

Well that's it for now. I'll have some time tomorrow I think so I'll post some of my frustrations I am having with my Adobe ebook as its really starting to annoy me although I have found somthing that kind of works but more on that tomorrow.

posted by Jason Dorko at 11:20 PM 0 comments links to this post