LD Resources

© 1989 Richard Wanderman

I’ve never owned a Rolodex or a DayTimer. I’ve never owned an electronic organizer. Some people can’t live without a Rolodex or a DayTimer, even with a computer on their desk. Some people can’t live without a small electronic organizer, even though they have a computer on their desk. For me, the Rolodex and the Daytimer aren’t useful because they rely on handwriting: I can’t read my own handwriting very well. I’ve been intrigued with electronic organizers but I never broke down and bought one.

I recently broke down and bought an inexpensive Sharp Electronic Organizer. It only has 10K of memory and it was on sale at a price low enough so that it was worth experimenting with. Many people have told me that this kind of tool ought to be in my Learning Disabilities and Tools presentation so I knew it was about time I looked into them.

After getting this very small gizmo home, I decided that I’d only use it to hold phone numbers. I was just about to go on a trip to Portland, Oregon and I decided to put the phone numbers of the people I was going to visit in Oregon into the organizer. In doing this I found out it’s quite easy to hand-enter information, so I put in the phone numbers of various mail order places people at conferences are always asking me about. I put in a few hundred names and numbers. I checked the memory indicator and it said I had hardly dented the thing. This was a good sign. I was quite worried that I’d run out of space before I filled it up.

I went on my trip and found myself using the Sharp Organizer more than my PowerBook and Claris Organizer, even if Claris Organizer was running!

Now I’m home and I’ve entered more phone numbers into it. I find I’m using it much more than I thought I would and I’m a bit sorry I didn’t get the model with more memory because 10K just doesn’t sound like a enough (although the memory indicator still says I haven’t dented the thing). Also, the slightly higher-end models have optional computer interfaces that allow you to update them from a computer, as well as dump their contents onto your computer. This is useful in that if/when mine dies, I’ll have to re-enter all the information.

Would I recommend this Organizer? Yes. As a single place to store frequently used phone numbers or even addresses, it’s wonderful. For traveling it can’t be beat.

There are many models to choose from; some by Sharp, some by Casio, some by Texas Instruments, and many other manufacturers.

Postscript
Since this was written the world of hand-held organizers has changed considerably. However, this was my first foray into this area and it really worked for me. I since had a Newton and various models of Palm handheld organizers and at this point (Summer, 2002) I’m using my iPod mp3 player to hold both names and addresses and my calendar.