[Sigia-l] RE: We could just use whiteboards instead.

[Davis.Michael at ic.gc.ca]

Greetings all,

I apologize for my decidedly late entry into this fray but I was one of the
many suffering from post-apocalypse syndrome in Ottawa last week and was
without access to the list. I would like to let a sleeping dog lie but I
noticed that one of the main reasons for my personal production of paperized
profundity has not been mentioned. Now while I do accept that we are making
digital products (or at least the framework for digital products) I must
admit that starting out in a digital format does not work for me. Why?
Because I think better on paper. Though I write faster with a keyboard I
find I cannot think as fast with a keyboard. Whenever I have to start out on
a fairly substantial project I find picking up a pen and scratching all over
a piece of paper a lot more productive than tapping on a keyboard, erasing,
and retapping. Is this merely my own preference? Possibly not. I do remember
hearing that people use different aspects of their brain for each of these
functions. I can only provide hearsay for that but I can offer myself as
proof of the fact that some people need paper. I generally start out by
writing drivel (be it sentences on a paper, bubbles on whiteboard, or
whatnot), distilling that back onto the paper/white board and repeating.
Eventually I pick up mental inertia to put it all in digital form and finish
the project. It's not a question of whether I want to be "retro" or
"redundant" (depends on who you agree with in this conversation). This is a
question of how I, and many others, seem to be set up, be it psychologically
or physiologically. We think better with a pen. I look forward to the day
when tablet pcs are extraordinarily affordable and at 98-99% recognition
rates because I do recognize the fact that I am personally being redundant
in this situation. Until that time, I'm going to have using the sticky pad
and whiteboard. 

Alliteratively yours, 

Mike Davis

(ps. I lost count after 20 p's. This is what happens when you condense a
week's worth of information into my head in one day)