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To the end-user The
Point! appears as a small notebook or a normal Personal Digital Assistant
(PDA) depending on the selected form factor. The device can present full
color graphical images and large legible text, not unlike a standard,
high quality web page.
Each screen within the form that is displayed to the user is interactive
and uses the inherent touch screen abilities of the devices to receive
input. Forms designed with large buttons and a good use of color allow
for a comfortable user experience, rarely experienced on such small devices.
The combined effect is a visually stimulating user-friendly experience
that draws attention and promotes participation. To those in need of information,
that translates into extraordinarily efficient collection of far more
data than conventional collection methods can achieve. The Point! has
achieved unheard of response levels in astonishingly short timeframes.
Each machine supports
multiple surveys, and is limited only by the amount of memory on the specific
device. Groups of surveys are loaded on to the device via a link with
a standard PC either by serial cable or by IR port. Potential wireless
technologies, capable of enhancing user experience and increasing available
bandwidth, are under exploration. Surveys or forms range in detail from
extremely simple to highly complex.
Simple surveys include a set of form screens with large buttons that users
touch to record discrete information. As well, free-form text and numeric
entry is made possible by an onscreen keyboard in QWERTY, alpha ordered
or numeric format. On PPC devices, only numeric keyboards are provided
due to screen size.
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complex surveys can contain multiple languages (generally starting with
a “Select your language” form) as well as supporting 2 styles of branching,
or form skipping information.
Branching is determined
as an assigned object attribute, or via a brand-sequencing wizard within
The Point! Maker. Simple branching means that respondents are guided through
different screens based upon different responses. Complex branching takes
into account all touches since beginning the user session, and scans touches
from any number of form screens to determine the next screen to produce.
This provides much more than a simple decision tree, and can lead to greater
understanding of user information. The ability to manage a highly sophisticated
survey design is a significant step forward in automated data collection.
The compact size of The Point!, and anticipated 10 to 12 hour battery
power enable mobile data collection where previously none was possible.
Technically, the software operates on any Windows CE device and offers
broad support on the 2 main CE platforms – the Hand Held PC (HPC - i.e.
the MainStreet Networks Clio which is the standard unit we use most often)
and the Pocket PC (PPC – i.e. the Cassieopia E100/E105 or Compaq Aero).
For HPC devices standard support is provided at resolutions of 640 x 480
and 640 x 240. For PPC devices, a screen resolution of 240 x 320 have
become the predominant standard. Each screen touch is recorded in a highly
compact CE database and contains information regarding the time of the
touch allowing for greater statistical analysis. This platform flexibility
and full Windows compatibility brings automated data collection to clients
in a form that connects seamlessly to their own operating environment.
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Point!Form
for HPC |
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The
Casio E100, shown above is another of the available form
factors for the Point System.
The Casio E100 provides 240 x 320 x 64k color screen and
fits in the palm of your hand!
www.casio.com
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Edge Strategeze Inc. has a well-established history in the development of
kiosking technology. With our base business centered in marketing research,
we have long held the ambition to optimize our methods of data collection.
From our inception, our fundamental data collection methods have been scanning
and faxing of forms that incorporate intelligent mark-sense, bar-code, and
printed character recognition. For this reason, The Edge’s first effort
in kiosking (which we called A.R.K.@the_edge for Automated Response Kiosk)
integrated Teleform’s form scanning software with a touchscreen and camera.
It would be fair to describe the A.R.K. as “very cool”, but big, awkward
and unreliable - and a bit ahead of its time. From there we turned to an
electronic clipboard technique using the CrossPad and forms that as they
were filled out on paper recorded an “electronic ink” version in the background.
When the integration of the electronic data with our forms software failed
to reach fruition we pretty much resigned ourselves to reliance on pencil
and paper.
Finally however, we
reached The Point! Our creative process was stimulated by seeing a hard-coded
form operating in a standard PDA. At this juncture, we realized that if
a software packaged were developed within the Window CE environment to
create touchscreen activated questionnaires, complete automation of data
gathering and portability would be our reward.
Hence The Point!
System: a higher point than we had anticipated.
Because The Point!
System was developed initially for Windows CE, it is inherently capable
of running on any and all Windows platforms — from the smallest and most
portable PDA to the largest permanent kiosk display. Each day we continue
to be intrigued by its potential. It may be hard to imagine data collection
that is completely portable, wirelessly connected to the Internet, interfaced
with scanners, printers, cameras, and voice recording — yet cost effective
and easy to use, but we hope that you are starting to get The Point!
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