AP reports as the 69th Colorado General Assembly gets ready for tomorrow’s kickoff:
New this year – iPads for all 100 lawmakers. The Legislature has chosen to supply every lawmaker with one of the touch-screen tablets in an effort to cut down on the astonishing reams of paper the Legislature chews through. Lawmakers aim to eliminate much of the paper by 2014, though old-fashioned printed bills would still be available when requested.
A great idea to reduce the vast amount of paper consumed by each session of the legislature. One small moment of trepidation occurred when we overheard the words “CORA wonderland” in reference to these iPads–referring to the Colorado Open Records Act, and the interesting possibilities a state-property digital notepad for every legislator might create.
What would you expect to find on a legislative iPad? Keep your answer rated PG or better…
(as in, who might be charged with a crime if someone were to see what was on their iPad…)
Are they State property? Are they like PCs in that legislators only just them for legislative business and they’re wiped when they leave office and given to the next legislator?
that’s true of the laptops that Leg. Aides receive, for example.
Will have pictures of funny-looking trees, sunsets, and women’s behinds.
Max Tyler will download Words With Friends and play Dominic Moreno during the session’s duller moments.
Tracy Kraft-Tharp will probably just have a LOT of email on hers… she seems always to respond to email from her iPad already.
Brophy will have screensaver galleries of guns and big, juicy melons.
Newcomer Pettersen is a savvy gal, so I suspect she’ll download Evernote and use the search text in image feature to copyedit everyone else’s old paper bill drafts.
Can’t they just use computers?
Why do these people buy themselves new toys when there’s no money for anything else?
While I love my iPad, it’s nowhere near as functional as my laptop.
And after almost having the slippery little bugger slide out of my hands a few times, I finally got a leather case/stand for it.
I really wonder how effective they’ll be for the majority of the legislators? Younger staff — probably.
But sound like shiny new $600 toys.
with you and with Harry both.
…….cuz iPads are the cool and in thing. MUST HAVE IPAD….MUST HAVE IPAD….
When I was a volunteer aide to Morgan Carrol in 06 and 07, each legislator had only once connection to the server at a time! Morgan wound up buying her own cellular data service device and plan so she could use her laptop in chamber and let her elves use the one in the office!
Perhaps that Luddite policy is long gone, but if it isn’t, what use is an iPad with limited opportunity to use?
And, she had to buy printer ink and a lot of other items that “they” just couldn’t budge for. And those were in the good economic times.
And we think we can bring high tech here?