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Why I’m happily bitextual

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This is being written on an iPad with a proper keyboard. Not the on-screen, virtual keyboard, but an actual piece of equipment with slightly spongy black keys which I need to depress in order for the type to appear on the screen. How could this piece of navel gazing be of possible interest? Just the thought that, for lots of reasons, most of us will soon be ‘bitextual’, combining the benefits of a touch screen with a certain type of universal literacy – keyboard skills. It shouldn’t be a surprise – we are, after all, living in the ‘post PC’ era.

Exhibit A M’lud – an earlier draft on my iPad-3-with-Zaggfolio-keyboard / case

The wierd thing from my perspective is that there isn’t a neutral consideration about the right tool for the job. That would be far too sensible for the technology-obsessed consumerism that passes for normal conversation. The implied narcissism of even writing this post is a case in point, of course.  A more typical reaction was puzzlement when I was looking into my options –   “But why would you want a keyboard with an iPad?” as if it is a question of misplaced loyalty or even heresy.

This is my second iPad. I have to have one as part of my business is knowing about and talking about mobile learning. The iPad is the best tool for demonstrating what is possible when well designed software (apps) meet with a clever and amazingly intuitive operating system all encased in a triumph of design. Yada, yada, yada.

Never mind that they are premium products beyond the reach of many (I am fortunate) or indeed, from an education development point of view iPad is probably not the most relevant education platform of the future. Until very recently, if you wanted to know about apps and / or get a hands on feel for how touch screens are revolutionising publishing, media consumption, web design and a few other miscellaneous areas of personal and business activity, you have to have an iPad.

Times are a changing but a few months ago when I needed to replace my first generation iPad, another one seemed to be the best choice. But I also need to be to carry a machine which will allow me to take notes, write up short pieces quickly and occasionally view the odd spreadsheet. Until I came across this keyboard solution, my three year old, underpowered Asus netbook still did a better job. It is very unsexy, creakingly slow, runs out of memory, doesn’t display e-books in a format I would want to read much less be my platform of choice to watch a film or catch-up TV but .. . it was and is an effective portable productivity tool: document review and editing? check; spreadsheets?  Check;  Image editing and updating websites? Ok, on a small scale. iPads and touchscreen devices haven’t been very good at that until recently.

We don’t tend to think of iPads as productivity devices as tablets are mainly marketed and used as great devices for ‘consuming media’. If you asked most people to think of a productivity tool, they will say “Microsoft Office”. Now Microsoft have had their own reasons for being slow to supply this to other people’s tablets though apparently it is coming. A lot of people use the Pages app for managing documents on iPad.  I also use the DocsToGo app (Paid for) which allows reading and writing of non-complex Office documents. QuickOffice Pro HD is another one.

Having accepted that a keyboard was a good idea, I checked to see if it was possible to get a mouse that worked with an iPad. (It’s not). Splutter, rant. Incomprehension turned to abuse in the case of those foolish people who had asked that question before me on message boards. “How stupid could anybody be to want a mouse with an iPad. I mean, don’t they GET it?” etc. Luckily that is not the whole picture. It was in fact a card-carrying, Apple fanboy technophile who put me on to the keyboard solution in the first place. Thank you David.

So here we are and writing documents on a touch screen is different. Being able to touch the screen somehow provides a more meaningful relationship with the text than on a PC as I can scroll up and down with my finger which is not unlike the tactile relationship I have when reviewing a print out. Text selection can be tricky so that mouse would be handy sometimes.

Overall though, I am now happily bitextual.


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