I wonder what the nutritional value of an ipad is – does it have the value of fast food which is wildly popular but terribly unhealthy or that of a hearty wholesome meal that not only tastes good but is good for the body as well?
I swing between being embarrassed that I own an ipad and openly talking about it and its capabilities. Embarrassed because I dislike being lumped with the gadget crazy crowd who prides in having what the latest technology has to offer but I also acknowledge that I do like the ipad very very much. Perhaps I am being hypocritical but in my defense, I never owned an iphone and probably never will. My ipad was a gift to my father who in turn gave it to me because he didn’t know how to use it. I suspect when he discovers its full capabilities, he’s going to want it back but for now, it’s mine.
The ipad changed a lot of the way I did things and it is a great example of how the medium defines the content and in some ways supersedes it. The ipad itself is an empty shell but lends itself to be adapted for different things, whether it’s surfing the web, reading, note-taking, gaming and I would say cooking as well. I never liked bringing my computer to school because I didn’t like typing my notes – I like to draw circles, scribble and draw maps – the ipad allows me to do all of these without pen and paper or the weight of a laptop. Reading academic papers has never been easier because I download them straight into the device which allows me to annotate them as well. Reading the news has also been easier with news aggregators that allow you to “flip” pages just as you would a physical paper.
The ipad appeals to my visual and kinesthetic self and is amazingly intuitive. I have never felt such great fondness for a computing device. I am a lover of physical books and traditional crafts but instead of competing with my interests, the ipad allows me to develop them – make lists of books while on the move, digitally draw out a new craft project, edit my photos or collect my ideas for a new piece of writing. As testimony to its intuitive nature, my grand aunt who is in her 70s is able to easily use it. Now that is what I call affordance.
I should also mention I cook with the ipad too – with youtube videos showing me how to prepare a meal step-by-step. At times like these, it is propped on the kitchen table as an aid to the terrible cook that I am.
Anyway, this is a lovely article on how the ipad has been used in different ways: How the ipad revolution has transformed working lives
Photo Note: There are 2 ipads because when there was 1, my husband and I had to squabble over it. We decided that in this case, 2 is better than 1 and now we play board games together over wi-fi.