Читать книгу Doing Field Projects - John Forrest - Страница 20

Your smartphone can replace many of the traditional tools of the fieldworker including notepad, camera, and voice recorder, and can be used as such from time to time. There are, however, several dangers in using your smartphone for all your fieldwork needs. First and foremost, there are multiple ways that your phone can fail, including damage, battery failure, and loss of signal. Thus, even if you are comfortable multitasking on your phone, you should always have a backup system for everything (notes, photos, voice recording) – always. In any event, it is much more functional if you can have separate, dedicated equipment for voice recording, photography, and note taking. Imagine trying to hold an interview concerning a skilled process, take photos, and keep notes all at the same time using a smartphone only.

One major problem with a smartphone is that it is a phone. You do not want to be in the middle of an interview only to have a text message or a phone call come through. You can silence these options, of course, and you should during fieldwork even when you have other devices with you. On the whole, though, it is a much simpler option to have separate equipment with you dedicated to voice recording and photography, as needed. With many smartphones you also have to contend with memory issues. If your phone is packed with selfies and holiday pix, you may run into memory shortages at critical junctures. This problem is especially acute when it comes to lengthy voice recordings. You do not want to be halfway through an interview and run out of memory. You could also run into battery issues with voice or video recording.

Technology has the bad habit of failing on you at the worst possible time, meaning that you can miss opportunities, some of which may be gone forever. Therefore, redundancy is always important. Not only will you be grateful for having a notebook and voice recorder with you when your smartphone battery dies, but you will also be relieved of having to use your phone for every fieldwork function. On the other hand, if your voice recorder or camera malfunctions, you will be glad that your smartphone can pick up the slack (especially if you carry a portable power pack with you for instant recharging). REDUNDANCY!!!