2008 Woodie Awards
Little gadgets become big tools for students
By Brandon Himes
Rocket Web Editor
Issue date: 11/11/05 Section: Life
Personal Digital Assistants or PDAs have become a fact of life for many university students. PDA also stands for Public Displays of Affection. In truth, PDA is a bad acronym. Of course it's personal.
A cell phone is personal, but we don't go around calling them PCPs, not to mention all of the angel dust references that would be made. So really a Personal Digital Assistant is just a digital assistant. We should call it a DA if we're going to be that acronym obsessed. However, for simplicity's sake I'm going to use the parlance of our time and use the acronym PDA.
For some these devices improperly called PDAs are merely an infrequently used tool while others have come to rely on their PDAs as heavily as they do their personal computers. Due to their newly gained popularity it is not uncommon to see PDAs being used around campus, often giving the owner of the PDA a very geeky air. This stigma is unavoidably carried with any new technology such as a PDA. What is it that is causing the millennial student (those born between the early 1980's and the present) to flock to these devices despite their social disrepute?
If you've somehow managed to miss the influx of PDAs into commercials, the media and everyday life, a PDA is most commonly a flat device which has a screen that is used for input via a stylus, which is little more than a plastic stick with a point. PDAs range widely in functionality, however they share the same basic set of applications.
Virtually all PDAs include a calendar which holds dates and times, a contact list, a task checklist and a short note application. Others sport such seductive features as wireless internet access, MP3 playback, a camera/camcorder, and receiver for the global positioning system (GPS). As you might imagine, prices range from reasonably attainable to an arm, a leg and your first born child.
PDAs offer plenty of utility. They can be used to effectively manage ones schedule using the calendar application. Entering an entire schedule into the calendar provides the user with a quick reference of events to come as well as a daily overview of appointments.
A cell phone is personal, but we don't go around calling them PCPs, not to mention all of the angel dust references that would be made. So really a Personal Digital Assistant is just a digital assistant. We should call it a DA if we're going to be that acronym obsessed. However, for simplicity's sake I'm going to use the parlance of our time and use the acronym PDA.
For some these devices improperly called PDAs are merely an infrequently used tool while others have come to rely on their PDAs as heavily as they do their personal computers. Due to their newly gained popularity it is not uncommon to see PDAs being used around campus, often giving the owner of the PDA a very geeky air. This stigma is unavoidably carried with any new technology such as a PDA. What is it that is causing the millennial student (those born between the early 1980's and the present) to flock to these devices despite their social disrepute?
If you've somehow managed to miss the influx of PDAs into commercials, the media and everyday life, a PDA is most commonly a flat device which has a screen that is used for input via a stylus, which is little more than a plastic stick with a point. PDAs range widely in functionality, however they share the same basic set of applications.
Virtually all PDAs include a calendar which holds dates and times, a contact list, a task checklist and a short note application. Others sport such seductive features as wireless internet access, MP3 playback, a camera/camcorder, and receiver for the global positioning system (GPS). As you might imagine, prices range from reasonably attainable to an arm, a leg and your first born child.
PDAs offer plenty of utility. They can be used to effectively manage ones schedule using the calendar application. Entering an entire schedule into the calendar provides the user with a quick reference of events to come as well as a daily overview of appointments.
