Cincinnati buys Mayor, other politicians Kindles to save $25K/year

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

Another example of the blind leading the blind in American politics and pandering under the guise of saving money.

My my, feeling a bit negative are we?

Originally Posted by brecklundin

I seriously doubt they will print one less sheet of paper thanks to these DX's.

While I concur that they probably won't save as much paper as they initially expect, the same would be the case with the original scheme, namely emailing PDF's. As we ebook users know, the recipients will quickly realize that it's much easier to carry a single thin device instead of a half dozen thick paper printouts. Similarly, ebook readers are making big inroads with movie studios, as it's a snap to use compared to carrying around dozens of scripts.

The city apparently spends over $31,000 per year on paper (i.e. the "save $25k per year" figure includes some continued printing). If they cut that in half, they're still saving around $7500 in the first year and $30,000 over the next two years, presuming they need to replace the devices every 3 years.

Even if the initial projections are too optimistic, I think it's pretty clear they will end up reducing their paper usage and cutting costs overall.

Originally Posted by brecklundin

Just how are the supposed to take notes during meetings putting the notes where they belong in the document relative to the discussion/debate?

By using the "Notes" feature.

Originally Posted by brecklundin

everything must go through Amazon via email then out to the DX's... how long before some sort of important confidential document is leaked out through the black hole that is Amazon?

• It's a municipality, not the DOD.
• Chances are all of these documents go into the public record anyway.
• The initial plan was to send PDF's via email, which is equally insecure. An email, after all, is almost as secure as a postcard.


Even if this does not end up as an ideal implementation, this is exactly where the advantages of ebooks can be leveraged for the benefit of the readers. IMO it's a good move and worth watching to see how it works out.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

It is an honor system...

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

hehehehe...I know, talk about an oxymoron when discussing politicians!!

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

Another example of the blind leading the blind in American politics and pandering under the guise of saving money. If the first universities which tested the DX for use by students came out with a very well reasoned look at what is wrong with the DX as a way to save paper and use for document management is not enough to show these people what sort of white heffalump they are buying into, well, I suppose people get the government they deserve.

What a monumental waste of resources...I seriously doubt they will print one less sheet of paper thanks to these DX's. Just how are the supposed to take notes during meetings putting the notes where they belong in the document relative to the discussion/debate? And not a change having one DX each is going to save $25k in printing fees...if each individual council member is printing $4k-$5k in documents per year then they have far worse issues to consider. What about the dozens of staff members who read, markup and review the documents before the council member even see them? Each of those folks will have their own print out, at least one if not several copies per reviewer will be printed. Now if those people were using true collaboration software and putting their comments into the document and sharing electronically, then we are talking...but no way this ends well...these DX's are going to end up in a surplus auction inside of a year. I would love to see the video from the first council meeting with every member looking at their DX for the first 20mins then grabbing the printed copy deftly tossing the DX into they bag or under their legal pad...

Best we can say is at least they tried...they failed before starting but it was at least a start. Hard to make a correct decision until they fail a few dozen times, it is our government after all...

Speaking as a long time participant in a large federal bureaucracy, I'd say you've nailed it, except for the part about the DXs being surplussed. A couple of people will convert them to personal use. The rest will put them in a desk drawer, where they will sit for several years. Many of them will be lost in office moves.

This is a classic bit of government technological stupidity. The technology is being given to the people at the top, who don't know how to use it, and who have no use for it anyway since the technology has not yet penetrated into the daily function of the offices. There are probably exceptions, but basically, all new technology should be introduced at the lower levels, and the usable stuff will rise up to the honchos over time. It takes five or ten years to happen.

[exreader]

they probably could have gottten refurbed lower end laptops (apples of course ;>) instead of DXs, setup mobile me accounts, or use google documents, or SOMETHING, and possibly come out ahead in costs... plus the laptop is better for notes, video, all that.

so, nice try, but wrong device imho.


ex

[katysax]

I'm an attorney and electronic evidence consultant. From the first moment that I tried the DX I saw potential for the replacement of printing certain documents by using the DX to read and store them. I think we are still too early in the adoption phase, but I do think eventually that attorneys and legislators will eventually use something like this to replace a lot of printed documents. It's too hard to do close reading of the kind required by legal documents on a laptop screen, and a laptop is too bulky.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

[i]Just how are the supposed to take notes during meetings putting the notes where they belong in the document relative to the discussion/debate?[/i
By using the "Notes" feature.

It was my understanding that the DX didn't allow annotation of PDFs.

Originally Posted by katysax

I'm an attorney and electronic evidence consultant. From the first moment that I tried the DX I saw potential for the replacement of printing certain documents by using the DX to read and store them. I think we are still too early in the adoption phase, but I do think eventually that attorneys and legislators will eventually use something like this to replace a lot of printed documents. It's too hard to do close reading of the kind required by legal documents on a laptop screen, and a laptop is too bulky.

I work in lit support, scanning & converting paper to digital docs for law firms. I think the DX is too limited to be really useful yet (it'd help a few people whose needs exactly match its abilities, but it's got too many limitations for more general use), although the other larger e-ink readers with better notation abilities, like the iRex or iLiad (?) would be good. (The other ones are just too expensive for general use.)

Eventually, I'm sure something like the DX, or a letter-sized tablet e-ink reader, will be standard in the legal industry for reviewing documents. I expect we've got a few years yet, while the hardware & software people (1) sort out actual bugs and (2) figure out what's needed *aside* from the ability to read popular novels.

I suspect the Cincinnati DX purchases will not save nearly as much paper as they'd like, and most of the good that this publicity gimmick is going to bring is an awareness of DRM to people who've never been annoyed by it before.

(Oh! Figured out what the $120/month allowance must be--file transfer/conversion fees.)

[bbusybookworm]

What I found interesting was that they didn't even look at other alternatives which do allow Note taking, or do any further research.

They could have gone with Tablets from companies like Fujitsu, Motion, etc which would be much more flexiable, and allow them to annotate the files with appropriate utilities. Of if an eInk device was needed, iRex's Digital reader is made for this task, to consume and annotate Documents, thoug it does not have the "sexy" over the air connectivity.

But then again expecting any government, especially local government to make tech decisions sensibly is a lost cause .