LOVE it that would be fabulous! This is innovative -how clever you are to
think of this.
It's pretty neat how most of us, while working hands-on everyday can have
ideas like this come to mind so seemingly quickly (of course it's our
experiences and education that allow this to occur)...and we don't have to spend
hours brainstorming!
Sometimes it can be the most simple detail that can make a difference. So I
am reminded of an occurrence in an archaeology lab I worked in. A student was
sorting a soil sample for iron scale (unaided -no magnifier).
For those of you not familiar with soil samples...when we 'float' soil
samples, the light organic matter floats to the top of the water (and
we refer to this as 'float'), and the heavy particles stay at the
bottom (we call this 'sink'). Once they are dry, we sort through them by
spreading them out on a clean surface and pick out objects like shell, wampum,
and brass beads - with tweezers. Tedious work.
Gawd knows how many soil samples we all sorted - mostly picking
out shell which wasn't too hard but, I looked at the girl picking out the
iron scale (which looks like that from the gadget puzzle thing my son has,
and I find those around the house 'unaided' no problem!) from the sink and I
just blurted out (without much thought) that she should run a magnet over the
soil sample!
So from then on us lab tech were able to separate ferrous/non ferrous which
saved us much time, money and eye strain!
It's hard and a shame to wait for technology and affordability to catch up!
I was lucky to at least work for one CRM firm that used hand-held computers in
the field. But that had me thinking, since I was waitressing too - that would be
great for taking orders! A server wouldn't have to write down (or memorize) the
order and run over to the POS (which then sends to the kitchen).
Well what restaurant can afford that???? Well they wouldn't need the POS,
which probably costs more and there would be savings in labor $$$ (and would
expedite the food order). Low and behold I saw the hand-helds in use a few
months later at a dine-in movie theater in Maine! Haven't seen them anywhere
else since!
Kewl stuff! A shame though when the technology exists and we can't use it
for one reason or another. Sorry to go on, I am like a kid in a candy store when
it comes to these things. I'll go back now to the rustic museum where I
belong...hoping the telephone line doesn't get struck by lightning
again....cleaning up mouse poopies and wondering if I am going to get to see
that red squirrel again when it runs in ahead of me when I open the door,
lol,,,ah lamenting.
Pam
In a message dated 8/22/2005 7:21:42 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Tying
bar code labelling to the dialogue of last week
with respect to labelling
of exhibits, it would be
great if you could somehow have the bar code
readers
for patrons as they travel through exhibits and get a
more
appropriate bit of background (mask the fields
you don't want exposed to
the public) about the piece.
Giving the public a hand held device with
typeface
that toggles larger or smaller may be a real plus in
the days
to come if/when the technology decreases
in
expense.