Why do they still use paper?
Field personnel need the right tools for both the job and the job site, whether they are working in an underground tunnel or high up in a cherry picker. Digital tools that provide many benefits in an office environment, may have the opposite effect in the field. To accommodate these tools, field personnel may have to make substantial changes to their established work flows and productivity. Workers are often reluctant to bring expensive electronic devices into dirty or hazardous environments. Tablets are heavy, expensive, and get in the way. They have limited battery life and screens that are difficult to see in bright sun. And they require extra attention, which means that workers have less time for the job at hand. The small size of a PDA greatly limits spatial perspective, and places its own substantial cognitive load on users, resulting in dra-matic increases in help calls (ref.) When faced with such inadequate technological options, it is not surprising that field personnel naturally revert to what they
know best - pen and paper.
Field workers choose paper and pen because the tools are:
• Familiar and easy to use
• Suitable for field conditions
• Support opportunistic face to face collaboration
• Quick to deploy (no boot time)
• Don't fail
• Provide high-resolution images on a large or small scale
• Inexpensive, lightweight, portable, and predictable
However, despite all of the advantages of pen and paper, the written data must somehow be converted to digital form. And with standard pen and paper, that means manual data entry, which reduces the efficiency of the information system and greatly increases the risk of error.
How can you get the best of both worlds?
Products are available uniquely suited to improving information management in field conditions. A mobile computing product treats paper as a computing device. As field personnel data stored in the pen is then uploaded to a computer through a portable docking station. On the computer, software processes pen strokes, so that each is registered to the location and content of any digital document, such as a map, satellite photo, or journal page. Essentially, any paper-based business practice can be digitized using a digital pen, digitally-imprinted paper, and software.
How does it work?
Documents are printed on ordinary paper using digital form software. During the process, the software converts the paper to digital paper by imprinting a pattern of tiny black dots, called an Anoto pattern.
As a field worker writes on the digital paper with a digital Pen, infrared light from the pen illuminates the dot pattern, which is picked up by a tiny sensor.
The pen decodes the dot pattern as the pen moves across the paper and stores the data using a processor, memory, and a battery. In addition, the pens use a waterproof ink cartridge for allweather operation.
The pattern is comprised of a tiny grid, with dots offset from the intersecting grid lines north, south, east, or west. Because the dots are printed in a carbon black ink that reflects infrared light, the sensor in the pen records the dots, but not the other colors printed on the page. The pen has a field of view of 7 square millimeters. Therefore with 1200 dots per inch, the pen can see 336 dots horizontally and vertically, or about 113,000 dots at a time. Each dot can be in one of four positions, so the pattern can encode a huge space of possible locations on a page.
With this unique encoding of dots, the pen can read a location on a page within 0.2mm, and identify precisely which page it is. As the pen moves across the page, it stores the X-Y locations of the pen tip. The data is then uploaded to a computer and the software uses the stored coordinates to reproduce the writing or sketches in a new document or an existing file, such as a drawing or map.
The software interprets handwritten data from the field, and then integrates it with documents, images and drawings running on platforms you already use. It can extends a number of major software applications, such as Microsoft Office OneNote, ArcGIS, and AutoCAD.
Notes from the field are an indispensable part of a company's intellectual property. They may describe the condition of a transformer on a particular utility pole, or serve as a repository for actions that a customer must take. For government field personnel, such as first responders, field notes may constitute evidence that must be preserved in the original state for presentation at trial.
Though paper is most often preferred for taking notes, digital notes are preferred by companies because information is much easier to store, search and share in digital form. Users can locate notes instantly from a computer desktop, rather than thumbing through hard copy notebooks and files.
With a digital pen and paper solution, notes can be taken on paper and stored digitally in a OneNote notebook.
An engineer or inspector can take notes and make sketches on site, and then send data back to a computer at the office in real time via the docking station and a USB connection. Because no other hands have touched the data, the notes can become a true record of observations in the field.
In addition, each page of the digital notebook contains an exclusive geo-location writing field that can digitally link your notes to any GIS application you specify. Because everything written and sketched with a digital pen becomes part of a digital notebook, the paper notebook can be thought of as an extension of the computer. Continue to work as normal, but with the power of the computer forgathering, storing, and sharing information. You can convert your handwriting to digital form and retain the original paper document. You can organize your notes, share them with others over a network, and use the powerful search features built in to OneNote.
Usability Advantages
Two recent studies point to the reason why digital paper and pen have the advantage over laptops and PDAs for data collection in the field.
One study with radiologists compared forms based data entry using digital pen and paper, PDA, a hybrid PDA plus digitizer, and tablet computer interfaces [Cole et al., 2006]. It was found that, compared to PDAs, the use of digital pen and paper led to an 8-fold decrease in the need for help calls, as well as a 30% increase in productivity and significantly greater user satisfaction.
In all categories, the digital pen scored equally to a tablet PC at 10 times less cost. The study showed that even for users as sophisticated as radiologists, existing computing devices were unnecessarily complex and expensive. Digital paper and pen provide a familiar usage paradigm that has been shown to encourage rapid adoption by field personnel. This finding of minimal support for digital data collection is bound to have significant implications when considering the total cost of ownership for a proposed field force solution.
Cognitive Load
Popular computing technologies that promise increased efficiency and productivity can actually fail to support users with real tasks to perform. Another series of studies compared use of ordinary pen and paper, digital pen and paper, and tablet user interfaces for simple mathematical problem solving [Oviatt et al., 2006; Oviatt et al, 2007]. It was discovered that digital pen and paper supported faster and more accurate problem solving than tablet computer interfaces. The more the interface resembled ordinary paper and pen, the better the users performed. Essentially, because people possess a limited amount of cognitive resources, interfaces that provide the least cognitive load leave more resources available to devote to the task. Because field personnel already know how to use pen and paper, they can devote more of their cognitive resources to engaging in their primary task than in thinking about the interface.
Summary
Digital pen and paper technology is ideal for supporting mobile and field users because they are more natural and intuitive to use. When walking, riding or standing outside, a keyboard and mouse won't work. For users trying to see a detailed map or plan of terrain or a building, a PDA won't suffice. For people who just need to get to work, a user interface and operating system get in the way. No one needs much training to use a pen!
Annabelle Ross - Online Marketing for IT Resellers, Distributors and vendors
For further information, please see http://www.phormiumit.co.uk/Adapx-Digital-Pen-and-Paper or contact Phormium IT on 01825 733222
Or watch the video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgSf1hXJnwc
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