Holt Think: Ed, Creativity, Tech, Administration

Why Tablets are Content Creation Devices

From the article:

“How you have this conversation depends on your frame of reference, of course. Do gadget-focused bloggers who play with tablets fully appreciate how people outside their gadget-angled purview use these things? When I see debates about whether the iPad’s perfectly flat glass touchscreen fails in terms of its tactile fidelity, compared with a keyboard or mouse, or assertions that content creation on such devices given those “limitations” is “niche,” I worry something’s getting lost in translation.

I have no more proof than Gaywood that content creation isn’t niche, by the way, and my experience is probably circumscribed by my tendency to spend a lot of time with writers, musicians and visual artists. But the rate at which I’ve seen these people both assimilate and then integrate the iPad into their daily creation routines over the past two years has been astonishing. And the things I’ve seen casual users, i.e. friends, relatives and colleagues, produce with these devices — not just fiddling with them as toys — have at times been breathtaking.

I’m also not sure I fully agree that all computing devices are fundamentally compromised content creation devices. If we hold that as true, then don’t we also have to hold that all technology is fundamentally flawed, from pencils to erasers and paintbrushes to pianos, at which point the phrase “fundamentally compromised” loses its import? I’m not sure “compromised” is the right word here. Even our sensory abilities (eyes, ears, hands) can seem compromised at times, after all, in terms of translating ideas to Bristol board or staff paper.”