Stewart,
I'm not sue if I know what you mean by "Notepad". I'm assuming you mean
something like the IBM CrossPad.
I bought a Newton Message pad for around $800.00 US for an ethnography of
a school I'm now conducting.
The negative side of it is that hand writing recognition technology is
still not that great. For the life of me, I can't get the machine to
recognize simple things like the word "talk". THough I ve been using it
since the start of the school year, I still revert to the attachable
keyboard as often as I can. Worst of all is that I know I have lost data
in that it takes so long to write appropriately for the machine.
On the positive side, I've have shaved hours off my transcription time in
that the notes get downloaded directly to my word processor requiring
only a spell checking to find the errors (before I code them etc).
Different from the Notepad, my message pad recognizes the word and puts
them in typed characters immediately.
For you, trying the hand writing recognition software IMB uses before you
spend the $300-400 on their new Notpad (CrossPad) might be advisable.
If you can learn to write to the software well enough, than its a good
match.
I have also believe there is hand writing recognition software that
allows one to scan notes into a word processor, than apply the software.
In this way, you could buy a cheap scanner and the software rather than a
Notpad.
Best of luck,
-James
_________________________
James Mullooly
Ph.D. Candidate
Teachers College,
Columbia University
e-mail:< [log in to unmask]> or < [log in to unmask]>
On Tue, 16 Feb 1999 08:53:40 +0 "STEWART CABLE" <[log in to unmask]>
writes:
>Can anyone offer me advice. I am currently undertaking an
>observational study into the nature of clinical education for medical
>and nursing students. My field notes are currently being written at a
>rate of about 8-10 A4 sheets per hour. After the observational
>periods I am making additional notes and then categorising the notes
>into methodological, observational and theoretical notes as I
>transcribe. However, this is proving extrememly time-consuming and I
>wonder if anyone could offer me there experiences of using a Notepad.
>Are they accurate, expensive, adaptable - in short worth the
>investment?
>
>I would be grateful for anysuggestions that might relieve my writer's
>cramp/
> typer's cramp!!.
>
>Stuart Cable
>PhD Research Student
>School of Nursing and Midwifery
>University of Dundee
>Scotland
>
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