Any Ergonomic Downside to the Evolution of the PC?
By Karl BarksdaleSpeaking Solutions © 2002
The long-awaited debut of the Tablet PC took place on November 7th. One of the announcers for the Microsoft Insider Live program said, "This is the best thing since Abbott met Costello."
Of course, that comment can be taken two ways; either the Tablet is the big breakthrough in pen-based computing the industry has been awaiting for nearly 30 years, or it's going to be a laughable market flop. November 7th will be remembered as historic or hysterical!
I’m voting for historic.
Our local CompUSA sold out on the first day. Nearly everyone I know is planning on buying one, and everywhere I go people stop and ask me,“is that the new PC? Can I see how it works?” One skeptical man started out by saying, “I think this is a joke, isn’t it?” I gave him a demonstration of the speech and handwriting capabilities and it was all his wife could do to restrain him from buying one on the spot. A Novell employee told me that his boss has already ordered one … and he wants one too. This enthusiasm rivals the mania surrounding Palm Pilots and Pocket PCs a few years ago
But are there any downsides to consider? One in particular jumps to mind. Handwriting can cause injuries. If we're not careful, we may be trading one set of repetitive stress injuries for another. Those in assistive technologies can describe a litany of problems associated with handwriting. Fortunately, there are some techniques they use in severe cases, such as holding the pen between the index and the middle fingers. There are even specialized rings that can help hold a digital pen, taking the stress off the hand, and particularly the thumb.
Because the new handwriting tools have a relatively flat and short learning curve, it may take emphasis away from speech recognition instruction. While speech recognition training is of short duration, the learning curve is fairly steep at first. Any of us who have taught an entire class knows that it takes a great deal of work for two or three weeks to teach the basics. Relatively speaking, teaching a student to use digital ink is simple.
As the battle to prevent injuries continues, we must keep our eye on the ergonomic problems that are created by each input option. We know the keyboard and mouse cause injuries, but we also know that handwriting can cause injuries. And we also know that the voice can be injured if used improperly. Perhaps balancing these input technologies for the present is our best course of action until we know more about the ergonomic impacts of each input device.
We suggest going back to the original Speaking Solutions goal set way back in 1999; to reduce typing and mouse clicking by 50% by 2005and bring 50% speech and handwriting tools to the desktop in an effort to minimize the negative impacts of any one input tool. Certainly, percentages will need to be adjusted on a case by case basis. One thing is certain, the Tablet PC will change the way we teach, work, and play with technology.