I thought I’d begin my post by saying how much I enjoy playing with my new iPad. The problem is simple. So far I have invested 3 hours getting things set up. With the exception of one tweet (you can follow me @DirkMateer) and downloading The Economist app, the entire time was spent off task.
Score: iPad 1, research 0.
Flying to SFO for a conference. Score one for research. I had my laptop on — until the battery died. The iPad let me keep working. Thanks iPad!
Updated score: iPad 1, research 1.
P. S. If I can successfully use the Splashtop app for my presentation tomorrow I’ll be very impressed.
I agree with Dirk’s sentiments here. The initial set up phase is taking me a bit longer than I anticipated. I currently do not have a wireless internet connection at home (I know that is lame, but we are on a budget!). I synched my iPad with my computer at home (not my computer at work) because I have most of my course research work (I am working on my MA in Art History) saved on my home computer. That is also where our main iTunes account is set up. However, without a wireless internet connection, I am restricted to working on setting up my iPad during work hours on campus. This is difficult at times because I am responsible for assisting student traffic, answering phone calls, and other administrative duties. It has been difficult for me to reserve enough time to set up all of the apps that I will end up using. I was hoping this set up phase would be a bit more user friendly. Nonetheless, I do see the potential in this device and I do think that once everything is set up my workflow will be streamlined. I am excited to see how the iPad will impact my workflow both in my administrative role in the College of the Liberal Arts and in my course/research work as an MA student.
See, now I am scared. You economists are so quantitative! OK, I am pulling hard for research … for the sake of both of us.
Chris, I agree with your comment. I thought it would be useful to keep a running score over the summer. Hopefully research will pull ahead over the long haul!
OK, I am chalking that up as an initial investment of time that will ultimately save you time – I hope. It would not be a good measure of the success of the project if a huge number of hours were wasted setting things up the iPad and perhaps watching a few movies on it and no research was done.
I do allocate some time to setup and to analyzing my workflow. But once I get things in order, I find that I can be much more productive. However, I have other productivity strategies too, which I plan to talk about here over the summer.