The Patterson School’s iPad project continues to draw significant interest and support from across the tech community.  Director Cavanaugh attended last week’s Mac World Expo in San Francisco and met with dozens of software developers and accessory manufacturers, detailing our project and the impact the iPad has already had toward improving graduate study of international affairs.  He highlighted in particular the merits of the iPad as an information delivery device, particularly for news from around the world.    The New York Times was in attendance (Patterson students’ 2^nd most popular news app), but unfortunately The Economist and PressReader were not

 Many MacWorld attendees Cavanaugh met were impressed by the volume of material (and the range of languages) that PressReader offers and intrigued by how it was being used by Patterson School students to keep tabs on breaking developments in some of the planet’s most remote locales.

Companies have been exploring ways to enhance the iPad’s utility in information management and production, and many displayed new products at MacWorld to remedy some shortcomings Patterson School students have identified.  Happily, several are also prepared to assist our project and we will report on those in the months ahead.  Cavanaugh spotted a variety of new applications and accessories that should help facilitate iPad use in higher education.  These range from devices to ease information input – like the cleverly-designed new iKeyboard – to improved contact and time management software to new hardware and apps that smooth the creation of presentations, podcasts, and videos. 

One particularly intriguing app, CoBook (now only available in beta), was produced by a Latvian company.  This new smart address book smoothly taps social media (like LinkedIn) to collect data.  We hope to use it to improve alumni lists, for general communications, and possibly to assist with development efforts.  Other accessories simply make the iPad easier to use like spiderArm, the nifty aluminum capacitive stylus that Proof is now bringing to market, or LensPen’s new Sidekick iPad screen cleaner.

One of the most interesting items unveiled at MacWorld was a new microphone developed by Dev/Audio in Australia.   The “Microcone” is a multidirectional microphone designed to record six separate audio channels simultaneously.  When coupled with related software, it can not only produce professional quality recording of a group discussion, but enables group conversation transcription.  We see considerable utility with this new device in producing clear recordings for podcast of policy discussions.

Finally, in March Arizona-based i4Software will release a new version of its Video Camera app that will enable worldwide remote input of video clips.  Cavanaugh met with CEO Michael Zalatel and they discussed possibly working together this summer to assess the apps potential as Patterson School students spread across the country and around the planet on internships and for foreign language study.

In the meantime, we encourage students to check out SlideShark which should let you view and show PowerPoint presentations on your iPad.  Now, there’s a prayer answered.  It’s also free.

A major challenge for students of international affairs is staying abreast of significant political and economic news in their subspecialty (diplomacy, security/intelligence, commerce, development) and specific geographic region of interest, as well as in the world writ large.  Patterson School students report that the iPad offers particular value here, simplifying this complex task by providing ready access to breaking developments from sources major and obscure, in a multitude of languages.

Each student crafts his or her own personal mix of sources – print, radio, and video – to meet their individual needs.  This typically includes a combination of individual news apps, RSS feeds, and subscription services.  On occasion, it also includes using news aggregators or personalized magazines (with Flipboard and Zite being the most popular).

The entire Patterson School has access to PressReader from NewspaperDirect.  This brings to the iPad over 2,000 full content newspapers and magazines from 95 countries in 51 languages (we will report more on PressReader later).  For most students, this has resolved how to cover the more obscure.  Whether, their interest is Belarus (Narodnaya Gazeta), Mauritius (Le Matinal), Sudan (Al-Raed), or Malaysia (The Borneo Post), this app and subscription service typically provides the newspaper coverage students need.

When it comes to more general apps for national and world news, our students have picked clear favorites.  In a recent survey large percentages of Patterson School students identified regularly using the following apps as key sources for information:

Not surprisingly, The Economist, New York Times, and BBC were big winners.  Subsumed under the “other” column above were apps focused on foreign developments such as Al Jazeera, Stratfor, and Foreign Policy; more general services like Reuters News Pro and AP; as well as apps that are directed more toward domestic politics like the Huffington Post and Drudge Report. 

For news, the iPad appears to occupy a unique place between access by surfing the web and print media.  Many of the news sources detailed above can be tapped with a laptop or desktop computer, but not exactly in the same way.  Students declare that what sets the iPad apart is its portability, unobtrusiveness, and ease of use.  Turning it on, collecting updates, reading and sharing information, all can be done on the fly – literally – without every slowing down for a plug, a desk or counter.  Using your iPad is not a big deal, one student noted, it almost seemed nonchalant.  Finally, they report that many iPad apps have been so well designed that they are far more functional and efficient than visiting the same media’s regular website on a computer.  

Our students do not see the iPad as a replacement for their laptop.  Indeed, they readily identify serious shortcomings in creating documents or presentations on the iPad compared to using their regular computers.  Instead, they believe it to be a valuable supplement.  This is especially the case in this key area: assembling and monitoring the information they require to become foreign policy professionals.  For this purpose the device may in fact already be on the edge of revolutionary.  It provides the information heretofore conveyed in newspapers, magazines, on radio and on television, in a form that is far more accessible, useable and affordable.

From the vantage point of school director, I have no doubt that the iPad is helping ensure that Patterson School remain at the top of their game.

Carey Cavanaugh

While it remains an open question when iPads or other tablet devices will become standard diplomatic equipment, the Patterson School’s iPad trial has already shown the considerable benefits this transformative technology may provide one of the world’s most traditional professions.

After a year with all of our students, faculty, and staff using iPads, the device has become a must have item.   And, in our context, “must have” has actually meant “must have with you” at any given moment.  Students almost always bring their iPads to class, but where the device has had the greatest impact is everywhere else:  in the corridor, on a bus, at lunch, waiting for a plane. 

The iPad has shined most not in content creation, but content delivery.  Coupled with PressReader (which provides instant access to over two thousand newspapers), it lets international policy wonks in training stay current on breaking events from Caracas to Cairo to Cape Town to Canberra.  Other apps offer up live BBC and NPR broadcasts, the evening TV news, or the featured author last night on The Daily Show.  In many ways the iPad is an unbeatable media device.  Light enough to always have at hand, battery life sufficient to go all day, and a screen that is large and bright enough to make reading enjoyable. 

From the educator perspective, using the iPad has enhanced student teamwork and information sharing, provided an easy vehicle to convey class content and required readings, and improved student presentations.  In a recent survey, over 90% of our students said the iPad had enhanced their academic experience, with more than 80% believing the device would be valuable in their future profession (a third said “extremely valuable”). 

Way back when I acquired my iPad for this project, I was given the choice of a 3G or wireless only device. The choice was relatively easy for me to make, given that this was a trial and the iPad came free.  Nevertheless, I have consistently been pleased with the decision to go with a 3G machine.  3G makes travel, whether by car or plane (or presumably train or boat) a much easier proposition; low bandwidth services (such as e-mail or Kindle) are extremely useful to have in travel situations.  Because I often write on deadline, having access to the iPad (using either Quickoffice or Pages) for editing and finishing has been very helpful.  I went with the 2 GB data plan, which was probably the correct decision despite the fact that I’ve only gone over 250 MB once or twice.  Not having to worry about running out of data is worth something in and of itself, although if I felt constrained I probably could have modified my behavior.  For my situation, 3G was clearly the correct choice to make.  

-Dr. Robert Farley

Earlier this year Patterson students and faculty received gratis copies of Pages and Keynote.  As I’d already invested in Quickoffice, I hadn’t had much of a chance to use either.  During comprehensive exams, however, I found it very easy and efficient to open Word files sent by e-mail in Pages. iCloud was helpful in that it allowed me to view them on my new Mac and other devices, but the bulk of work went down on the iPad.  I made notes, then used the iPad during the comprehensive exam oral defenses.  Seems to have worked out pretty well, although I do wish that Pages had something approaching the “Track Changes” function that you find in Word; would mean fewer font and color changes for the comments I add.  

- Dr. Robert Farley

See Jacqui Cheng’s review of the iOS 5 for iPad and iPhone.  Long story short, the new operating system has furthered development of the aspects of the iPad that make it most attractive to Patterson students, including most importantly the capacity to share information across apps, between people, and across platforms.  The tabbed browsing in Safari is also very nice.

—Dr. Robert Farley

This is network centric warfare…

When Marines are in a firefight in Afghanistan and need back up, they call in helicopters to blast the enemy from the sky. Sounds simple enough, but it’s not — according to current standard operating procedures for close-air strikes, ground troops radio coordinates to a pilot who then has to rifle through 60 to 80 pounds of maps to find the building he’s supposed to hit. Radio signals cut out, coordinates get jumbled and, even with half a grown man’s weight in maps in the cockpit, sometimes the pilot doesn’t have a detailed image of the target area. But this may all change soon.

The Marines recently took a baby step towards a more efficient future when the 3rd Aircraft Wing bought 32 iPads. The total purchase — not quite $20,000 worth of tablets and accessories, according to Defense News — was merely “a hiccup in the grand scheme of defense spending,” a former deputy G-3 for operations pointed out. But it could be a crucial advance in aerial warfare.

Capt. Jim Carlson, a Cobra pilot in a Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron (HMLA), is responsible for piquing the interest of his higher-ups. He was annoyed with the current communication system so he decided to mess around with his personal iPad, which he discovered could be digitally linked to troops on the ground. All 80 cartographical pounds could be easily uploaded to the device and manipulated like any other map app — broad area maps hyperlinked to detailed sections.

As additional government agencies adopt the iPad, compatibility issues will arise; I wonder if the iPad is capturing enough of the government market to become essential to a government career.

-Dr. Robert Farley

The purpose of the Patterson iPad trial is to investigate the utility of the iPad for instruction in a Master’s program of the size and caliber of Patterson, and by extension the utility of the iPad in a professional foreign policy oriented setting. A couple of recent short articles have examined how the iPad has moved into other professional circles.  Mike Elgan:

It used to be that professional mobile devices were specially designed, purpose-built vertical devices that cost four times as much as comparable consumer devices. They came as part of an integrated front-end, back-end “turn-key” “solution.”

I think that what companies and organizations are discovering is that it’s more important for professional mobile devices to specially designed for the user, rather than the task.

iPads are ideal for many professional applications because they’re cheap, they don’t require much training, they’re easy to build apps for, they’re small and light and everybody loves using them.

The concept that mobile devices should be human compatible, rather than purpose built is incredibly threatening to the entire IT industry, which is built on the concept of high-margin, low volume products — not cheap consumer gadgets available at BestBuy.

See also the comment thread to that post, which includes a number of innovative professional uses of the iPad. 

Ed Sutherland makes the argument that the iPad will continue to dominate the tablet market for the foreseeable future. This matters for businesses and organizations considering a shift to tablets; the iPad should remain a vital, well-supported platform as long as it continues to perform well in the marketplace.  

-Dr. Robert Farley

Not directly related to the Patterson iPad trial, but hard not to share:

Engel now spends 20 minutes three to four days a week working with two orangutans called MJ and Mahal, with whom he shares his device. However, they can’t be left alone with the precious tablet, according to Richard Zimmerman, executive director of Orangutan Outreach:

“One of the biggest hurdles we face is that an orangutan can snap an iPad like you or I could rip cardboard. Even the little guys like Mahal are incredibly strong. A big male could take it apart in about five seconds.”

I must admit, I have felt the urge to do this myself when Angry Birds isn’t quite going my way.

So that his device wasn’t smashed to pieces, Engel began by showing it to the orangutans through the glass where visitors stand, using the front-facing camera to mirror their image. ”It was amazing to see how they welcomed this strange device into their area,” he said.

Once they were used to seeing the device, keepers began placing the device at their cage doors so that the orangutans could reach through and play with it.

This is the relevant part; thus far, I haven’t heard of any student involved in the trial who has broken or severely damaged an iPad. Orangutans, it appears, we are not. Also, the iPad appears to be a sufficiently robust device to absorb the tough love of our students. Given the number of laptops that manage to destroy themselves over the course of a semester, this is no mean feat.

-Dr. Robert Farley

Shawn Blanc has a good, detailed post on the experience of reading on the iPad:

My iPad’s primary function has always been as my reading device. I read and skim headlines in Reeder, I use Instapaper to catch up on articles I came across during the day, I read ebooks in iBooks, and I read Wired andThe New Yorker in their respective apps.

Ironically, the worst reading experiences are with the apps designed by the “professionals” that are based on the age-old history of reading in print: Apple’s own iBooks, and the Condé Nast apps. The best reading experiences on the iPad are Instapaper and Reeder. In part because they are easy to keep up-to-date, but also because their designs have the least amount of frilly bits, and therefore make reading of the actual text the easiest.

Shawn goes on to discuss the downsides of conceiving of electronic reading devices as fancy books or magazines.  One of the chief virtues of Instapaper, for example, is its stripped down, easy to digest nature. Blanc has some thoughts on the implications of the iPad for the future of publishing:

There is a mindset that says printed content is of a higher quality and value than online content. Or, put another way, content in printed form has value simply by virtue of being printed. Therefore, the content provider is justified in selling that printed content, yet has a hard time selling non-printed content…

Instead of trying to find that spot between print and iOS, they should leave the historical traditions of print design altogether. Instead of leaning on the perceived value of a physical printed periodical they should look to the iPad’s new value of delight, ubiquity, and instantaneous digital access. Moreover, they need to find better ways to bring their articles to their iPad readership. Magazines need to cater their layout design and interaction design to the iPad rather than attempting to fit the iPad around their previous print-tested designs.

- Dr. Robert Farley