[Reader-list] A Case for PDA Student Computing

[human being]

hi Are, yes, i've read of the Simputer and it is partly
because of this that the idea became clearer to me, but
i also have a lot of experience with earlier electronic
organizers (sharps), a used-Psion, and now a Handspring
that is unable to sync with my Mac OS X. i am not writing
so much from how these devices, as they have evolved, are
used today, but how they could be used and designed, and
in this way i do think the software and OS' are a limit,
and determines certain possibilities and user behaviors.
this also relates to this week's news about the pending
death of the PDA, and also trends in that industry which
seems to have suffered more setbacks than other form factors
(Apple Newtons, myriad hybrid devices).

the aspect of the Simputer that surprised me was the price,
as it seemed like a lot of money. yet, if it is customized
for the uses intended, it may well be worth the cost. yet,
to me, if such a device is to function somewhat autonomously,
it has seemed that the cost of batteries would be critical
to users being able to afford using current devices which
are notorious for eating batteries, and without recharging
the cost of the device could be had in batteries within its
lifetime. therefore, i thought that the Simputer should be
packaged with a hand-crank or solar-panel and adapter and
charging station for rechargeable batteries, if cost is an
issue, and use will be mostly done with batteries.

Psion is an interesting company in the field of PDAs, even
though their dominance or niche market has changed. they
sell consumer-grade devices, but also retailing computers
that look like those devices used in warehouses for scanning
and inputting information into a database, either with a
wand or some scanning code-reader for UPC symbols, etc.
they are used for retailing, such as clothes, for grocers
to document their inventory, and now traditional PDAs also
have such wand attachments for turning a consumer-grade
device, to specialize/customize it for such industry uses.

the reason this is important for PDAs is that they can be
customized in ways that scientists and other professional
fields are doing it, with probes, measuring devices, etc,
which could greatly help in issues of education and utility,
where a science class, say, would need just the attachment
probes to make a device, and not a customized piece of
equipment to do basic science education work. so too, a
PDA could (possibly, i'm guessing) become an oscillator,
teach basic programming for young people to young adults,
could help learn logic through basic (virtual) electronics,
and other SIMulations programs, whether for biology or
for economics. the other aspect is that some PDAs go into
strange but unique areas that offer possibilities of the
range of these (small) computers, and that is software
can turn them into music-teaching devices (MIDI controllers,
even, i think, and a theremin, too) and brain-wave bio-
feedback setups (including this just for range). these
are attachments, and software could do much by itself-
if only it existed. and it could, if the platform were
repurposed and became more valuable through development.

this makes me wonder about developers, as i've known or
intuited the potential of these devices yet am always
underwhelmed when the reality of where PDA and computers
are at, and my attempts at programming are stuck in trying
to learn code still, so becoming a PDA developer is far
from something everyone can do by themselves, unless it
becomes part of basic education (or, at least its a hope).
i've always wanted to have an etymology dictionary, say,
on a PDA, yet such tools are not yet developed, and to
find the relatively few developers for a platform that
might find similar interest determines that possibility,
then, also, if it is to be a commercial or free program.
yet, there are a large range of wonderful programs (in
miniature) for PDAs, including planetariums, star-viewing
programs, music, drawing programs, databases, and other
programs which could be refocused for education and beyond.

and maybe this is why PDAs are stuck or may become extinct
for awhile again, in that they have all the bells & whistles
of a confused device which has no clear plan for development.
they do succeed in certain areas, such as with the military
where some devices become part of a whole battlespace network
and diagnostics and logistics device, or at least some are
proposed as being such, and probably today's working proto-
types could bring fuel-cell batteries or some type of OS
or some development that may be done through academic R&D
networks or public funding that could help bring devices
to another level of economy, reliability, and usefulness.

maybe there are two devices in this model, an internet-
hybrid device, and dedicated standard devices (for education
where Internet/multimedia use is not mission-critical when
a dedicated lab might be better suited for media-rich work).
the hybrid devices may have bells & whistles, a bunch of
features and devices built-in, such as internet-connectivity,
audio recording, video playback, broadband wireless, GPS/
GIS, mp3, and the rest. all the things that would probably
be going the opposite direction of what educators may need,
or want to have kids exploring on their computers in class
or at home. yet, the major aspect of PDAs for me has been
that they are indeed very capable computers, and could be
further developed in a way that expands ubiquitous computing
so that the majority of functionality may not need to rely
on a desktop or even laptop system but one may be able to
fare rather well with a PDA-as-satellite-computer-system.
current web-based applications such as downloading daily
news to PDA is a killer application for regular devices,
if the main computer OS has the software, but the industry
is in a major fiasco with regards to issues of stability,
reliability, and having a mission for the devices.

one aspect of feature-rich applications and technology
that could work with PDAs for education, for basic computing
may be having a wireless phone modem for text messaging,
to work as a pager. and there is a company that was a start-
up that uses radio signals to broadcast news to PDAs. in
this way, say even with the Simputer, the radio infrastructure
could be coupled with the adpated-PDA to receive news and
weather and information (one-way) without needing to have
the power to transmit information back (batttery/cost) and
thus to ramp-up some of the services available, from various
levels of centrality (radio broadcast of information) and
dispersal (local software crafted for specific needs). it
is in this way that the PDA could be shaped/formed into
a more useful device. and much of it relies on the way it
is perceived, and the way it is developed, and by whom.
and, while there are glimmers of hope with software on
occasion, to take the full resources of a state-based
education system, or some larger structure such as a
community initiative, such devices could make 'community
mapping' (visual database of local resources, for use
by members of a community) a killer app that has little
to do with typical large-scale commerce, and is into a
type of micro-commerce, or intra-community commerce,
which might share traits with open-development planning.

i think Are also hit on a major aspect that could be
beneficial in that, if control over the platform could
be developed such that there could be some open-development
for an education computer (my assumption of what is needed
to make this happen, a PDA based on specification standards,
and in large enough quantity to make manufacturers interested
in Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) of devices through
rebranding or modifying today's basic technology). if such
a platform exists, it would allow a computer that is not
controlled but controllable, which starts off open- and
not closed- to independent possibilities, that current OS'
and hardware seemed plagued with. and another aspect is
that such a device need not even be nation-specific, and
worldwide scales could be had, such that if someone in
the USA won't develop it because of opposition, another
place might, where private influence is not dictating
what can and cannot happen with computing devices and
their potential. it is almost an issue of 'free computing'
as in, 'free speech', by not restricting free development
versus one of a type of enslavement to corporate models
of hardware and software development and the ideologies
which place certain things at the top of the list, and
others off-the-table or impossible, because of special-
interests and potential loss-of-current-profit models.

all of this is guesswork. regarding the first feedback
on the list, most issues were dealt with in the text-
about media-specific computing (art-computer) there
could be used, dedicated computers with wacom-tablets
(digital drawing tablets) that are donated/used and
a computer with painting software, or a music computer
with MIDI instruments and this could help bring arts
to students that may not have supplies or teachers
but people with knowledge of these devices could help
revive the arts within schools by using computers in
the way (it seems) they were intended to be used, for
the betterment of people and as social devices, not
as a replacement for these. brian