THE AVION
B2 Industry Work Smarter, Not Harder: Smart Notebooks Jessyca Derby and Jacob Benedict Correspondents
ent locations (Google Drive folders, Dropbox, email, and more) so Jessyca and Jacob are graduate students in you can easily orgathe Research in User eXperience (RUX) Lab in nize your notes. One the Department of Human Factors and Behav- interesting thing we ioral Neurobiology. RUX investigates the usability found was that the and user experience of technology in our every- feeling of the paper day world. This is a regular column that explores was slightly different different technologies typically used by Emb- than normal notery-Riddle students. books. It feels odd at first, but it is easy to get Have you ever been trying to study for an exam used to and did not and can't find those important notes you took in impact our ability to class? Or are you trying to plan a study session write on the paper. In with friends? Smart notebooks are a new way fact, it enhances the to plan and take notes. They allow you to take experience because notes with a pen and paper and then upload this glossy paper allows them to a wide variety of cloud-based platforms you to erase notes by such as Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and using the included pen Dropbox. Or, you can create a schedule on pa- and its eraser, or by per and then upload it to a digital calendar, like dampening the paper Google Calendar. Just how well do these smart with water and wiping Image Couresty: Jacob Benedict notebooks really work? How usable are they? it with the cloth providLeft: Scanning the clock face diagram with the Slice Planner app. We chose two different smart notebooks, ed. Right: Editing a schedule within the app. the Rocketbook Mini and the Slice Planner. The Overall, it was an Rocketbook Mini ($16) can be used to take effective smart notebook that was easy to use. events and your current planned schedule for notes on paper and upload them to different This product would be useful for organizing and that day. Already scheduled plans will show up cloud based locations. The Slice Planner ($35) sharing handwritten notes. in gray, conflicting plans will be in red, and open allows you to schedule and upload plans to your times will appear green. This allows you to see digital calendar (though the name sounds like The Slice Planner quickly what times are open and potential conit may be a tool to plan your next pizza party!). The Slice Planner differs from the Rocketbook flicts. However, these colors, and the fact they in that its main focus is calendar scheduling. The cannot be changed, is a potential issue for color The Rocketbook Mini planner has pages for each day with a 12-hour blind individuals. The app is not consistent with Rocketbook makes smart notebooks that al- radial clock face diagram. To use the clock, you producing these colored highlights if it doesn't low you to write notes and upload them to a fill in the time with a pen and draw a line with a understand your handwriting as well. Also, the digital format. These notebooks are also reus- title. Then, scan the page with the Slice Planner monthly calendar cannot be uploaded to your able, you can erase pages with an included app and it will upload your new appointment digital calendar with the rest of your schedule erasable pen or cloth and water. There is also a into your digital calendar of choice. This plan- only the daily can. The dotted notebook page version that allows you to erase by putting the ner also includes an undated monthly calendar cannot be scanned or uploaded - it is only for notebook in the microwave with a mug of water and dotted notebook page that can be used handwritten notes. for 30 seconds! Pretty cool, though it is limited to for any notes about the appointments or anyOverall, this was a quality planner with some only 5 times, while the pen and cloth are unlim- thing else about the day. smart capabilities. It is helpful if you want to ited. We found that the Slice Planner felt like a qual- quickly transfer your written schedule to your ity hard-cover note- digital calendar. This could be helpful if you book; it was also easy schedule meetings in class. to set up. However, you do need to scan Conclusions the QR code includOverall, we found that each smart notebook ed with the planner has its strengths and weaknesses, but each has to first set it up, other- the potential to be a useful tool for students for wise, you will not be taking notes and scheduling. It is important to able to link your digital remember that these are just two examples of calendar to the note- an emerging market of smart notebooks. There book. This QR code is have been recent reviews in online tech sourcon a separate card es such as Popular Science and Engadget that that comes on top of compare many different types of smart notethe planner when you books with lots of different features. Whether open the package. they will replace the spiral notebooks you curAlso, if your digital cal- rently use remains to be seen. At first glance, endars are not already these two smart notebooks appear to be helpful linked to your phone additions to your backpack. through your settings, If you would like to suggest a device or technology for us to evaluate for this column then Photo Courtesy: Jessyca Derby it can become confusThe Rocketbook Mini, included cloth and erasable pen. ing to add them to the please use the QR code below and leave your Slice Planner app, so it suggestions there. We found that it was easy to set up an ac- is helpful to do this first. count with Rocketbook, link to your preferred During the first use of the Slice Planner, we cloud-based storage location, and learn how to found that the monthly calendar is not filled use the notebook right away. In order to upload out for a specific year so you have to fill in the your notes to the cloud, you scan the pages in months and days. The smart capabilities of this the notebook from your phone app. Make sure notebook are limited to the radial clock face diyou are completely done with the page before agram. We enjoyed how this diagram allowed scanning it though! You cannot edit your notes us to see our schedules visually, but it also felt once they are scanned. limiting since the clock only let us schedule up Scanning notes is very straight forward. You to 12 hours instead of 24 hours. This was solved simply open the app and tap new scan, and after scanning the page because it was easy line up the notebook to the virtual square on to edit your schedule in the app itself. Anothyour phone. After scanning the note pages, the er interesting feature is that while scanning the app lets you assign different symbols to differ- radial clock, the app will show you conflicting