21st October 2008, 03:46 PM
The joy of the VERA stuff is that at any one time, the data is stored at 3 remote locations so little chance of losing the data at the same time everywhere.
Plus they use digital pens, on real paper (camera in digital pen uses tiny marks on the paper to work everything out, whilst real biro writes the data), so there is a paper record of everything created at the same time (4 records!). Tablets are a bit less reliable apparently, and drawing sketches isn't as good.
If you really wanted, apparently it is possible to have context sheets printed out but more pricey, rather than using blank books that you write the field titles in (e.g. context = ####)...simplicity itself! Cost of pens is less than tablets, and will pay for themselves quickly as post-ex time is redundant. Data goes straight into a database...rather than a massive non-searchable Word document table (NO NO NO!!!)
With mobile broadband becoming a tangible reality this kind of kit is becoming increasingly useful...sign me up!
Plus they use digital pens, on real paper (camera in digital pen uses tiny marks on the paper to work everything out, whilst real biro writes the data), so there is a paper record of everything created at the same time (4 records!). Tablets are a bit less reliable apparently, and drawing sketches isn't as good.
If you really wanted, apparently it is possible to have context sheets printed out but more pricey, rather than using blank books that you write the field titles in (e.g. context = ####)...simplicity itself! Cost of pens is less than tablets, and will pay for themselves quickly as post-ex time is redundant. Data goes straight into a database...rather than a massive non-searchable Word document table (NO NO NO!!!)
With mobile broadband becoming a tangible reality this kind of kit is becoming increasingly useful...sign me up!