Prof. Boerner's Explorations

by Gerald Boerner

We continue to examine Renaissance Architecture in Italy with the consideration of a sample of the architects during the different periods of the Italian Renaissance. During these periods we have looked at the work of Brunelleschi, Bramante, Raphael and Michelangelo. Their work produced some of the unforgettable works of the Renaissance, including those in Florence, Venice, and the Vatican.

Tomorrow we will examine how these influences transitioned to the Baroque period and then spread beyond Italy to other art centers in Europe. Join us for that examination.  GLB

“A man of eighty has outlived probably three new schools of painting, two of architecture and poetry and a hundred in dress.”
— Lord Byron

“All architecture is great architecture after sunset; perhaps architecture is really a nocturnal art, like the art of fireworks.”
— Gilbert K. Chesterton

“All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons in that space.”
— Philip Johnson

“All the revision in the world will not save a bad first draft: for the architecture of the thing comes, or fails to come, in the first conception, and revision only affects the detail and ornament, alas!”
— T.E. Lawrence

“Any architectural project we do takes at least four or five years, so increasingly there is a discrepancy between the acceleration of culture and the continuing slowness of architecture.”
— Rem Koolhaas

“Any work of architecture that has with it some discussion, some polemic, I think is good. It shows that people are interested, people are involved.”
— Richard Meier

“Architecture can’t fully represent the chaos and turmoil that are part of the human personality, but you need to put some of that turmoil into the architecture, or it isn’t real.”
— Frank Stella

“After about the first Millennium, Italy was the cradle of Romanesque architecture, which spread throughout Europe, much of it extending the structural daring with minimal visual elaboration..”
— Harry Seidler

Note:
This posting is intended for the educational use of photographers and photography students and complies with the “educational fair use” provisions of copyright law. For readers who might wish to reuse some of these images should check out their compliance with copyright limitations that might apply to that use.

GLB

The Renaissance: Renaissance Architecture (Part 2)

Francesco Baratta. Saint Francis in Ecstasy, c. 1640.
Raimondi Chapel, San Pietro in Montorio.

Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, in which there was a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance architecture followed Gothic architecture and was succeeded by Baroque architecture.

The Renaissance style places emphasis on symmetry, proportion, geometry and the regularity of parts as they are demonstrated in the architecture of classical antiquity and in particular ancient Roman architecture, of which many examples remained. Orderly arrangements of columns, pilasters and lintels, as well as the use of semicircular arches, hemispherical domes, niches and aedicules replaced the more complex proportional systems and irregular profiles of medieval buildings.

Developed first in Florence, with Filippo Brunelleschi as one of its innovators, the Renaissance style quickly spread to other Italian cities and then to France, Germany, England, Russia and elsewhere.

The word "Renaissance" derived from the term "la rinascita" ("rebirth") which first appeared in Giorgio Vasari’s Vite de’ più eccellenti architetti, pittori, et scultori Italiani (The Lives of the Artists, 1550–68).

Although the term Renaissance was used first by the French historian Jules Michelet, it was given its more lasting definition from the Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt, whose book, Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien 1860, was influential in the development of the modern interpretation of the Italian Renaissance. The folio of measured drawings Édifices de Rome moderne; ou, Recueil des palais, maisons, églises, couvents et autres monuments (The Buildings of Modern Rome), first published in 1840 by Paul Letarouilly, also played an important part in the revival of interest in this period. The Renaissance style was recognized by contemporaries in the term "all’antica", or "in the ancient manner" (of the Romans).

NOTE:
Due to space limitations, we will include only selected profiles within each period. Please check out the full article for a fuller coverage of those profiles of architects not covered here.

Early Renaissance

The leading architects of the Early Renaissance or Quattrocento were Brunelleschi, Michelozzo and Alberti.

Brunelleschi

Ospedale degli Innocenti
in Florence.

The person generally credited with bringing about the Renaissance view of architecture is Filippo Brunelleschi, (1377–1446). The underlying feature of the work of Brunelleschi was "order".

In the early 1400s Brunelleschi began to look at the world to see what the rules were that governed one’s way of seeing. He observed that the way one sees regular structures such as the Baptistery of Florence and the tiled pavement surrounding it follows a mathematical order—linear perspective.

The buildings remaining among the ruins of ancient Rome appeared to respect a simple mathematical order in the way that Gothic buildings did not. One incontrovertible rule governed all Ancient Roman architecture—a semi-circular arch is exactly twice as wide as it is high. A fixed proportion with implications of such magnitude occurred nowhere in Gothic architecture. A Gothic pointed arch could be extended upwards or flattened to any proportion that suited the location. Arches of differing angles frequently occurred within the same structure. No set rules of proportion applied.

The dome of Basilica di
Santa Maria del Fiore

From the observation of the architecture of Rome came a desire for symmetry and careful proportion in which the form and composition of the building as a whole and all its subsidiary details have fixed relationships, each section in proportion to the next, and the architectural features serving to define exactly what those rules of proportion are. Brunelleschi gained the support of a number of wealthy Florentine patrons, including the Silk Guild and Cosimo de’ Medici.

Cathedral of Florence

The church of San Lorenzo

Brunelleschi’s first major architectural commission was for the enormous brick dome which covers the central space that of Florence’s cathedral, designed by Arnolfo di Cambio in the 14th century but left unroofed. While often described as the first building of the Renaissance, Brunelleschi’s daring design utilizes the pointed Gothic arch and Gothic ribs. It seems certain, however, that while stylistically Gothic, in keeping with the building it surmounts, the dome is in fact structurally influenced by the great dome of Ancient Rome, which Brunelleschi could hardly have ignored in seeking a solution. This is the dome of the Pantheon, a circular temple, now a church.

Inside the Pantheon’s single-shell concrete dome is coffering which greatly decreases the weight. The vertical partitions of the coffering effectively serve as ribs, although this feature does not dominate visually. At the apex of the Pantheon’s dome is an opening, 8 meters across. Brunelleschi was aware that a dome of enormous proportion could in fact be engineered without a keystone. The dome in Florence is supported by the eight large ribs and sixteen more internal ones holding a brick shell, with the bricks arranged in a herringbone manner. Although the techniques employed are different, in practice both domes comprise a thick network of ribs supporting very much lighter and thinner infilling. And both have a large opening at the top.

San Lorenzo

The new architectural philosophy is best demonstrated in the churches of San Lorenzo, and Santo Spirito in Florence. Designed by Brunelleschi in about 1425 and 1428 respectively, both have the shape of the Latin cross. Each has a modular plan, each portion being a multiple of the square bay of the aisle. This same formula controlled also the vertical dimensions. In the case of Santo Spirito, which is entirely regular in plan, transepts and chancel are identical, while the nave is an extended version of these. In 1434 Brunelleschi designed the first Renaissance central planned building, Santa Maria degli Angeli of Florence. It is composed of a central octagon surrounded by a circuit of eight smaller chapels. From this date onwards numerous churches were built in variations of these designs.

The Spread of the Renaissance in Italy

Scuola Grande di San Marco, Venice

In the fifteenth century the courts of certain other Italian states became centres for spreading of Renaissance philosophy, art and architecture.

In Mantua at the court of the Gonzaga, Alberti designed two churches, the Basilica of Sant’Andrea and San Sebastiano.

Urbino was an important centre with a new ducal palace being built there. Ferrara, under the Este, was expanded in the late fifteenth century, with several new palaces being built such as the Palazzo dei Diamanti and Palazzo Schifanoia for Borso d’Este. In Milan, under the Visconti, the Certosa di Pavia was completed, and then later under the Sforza, the Castello Sforzesco was built.

In Venice, San Zaccaria received its Renaissance façade at the hands of Antonio Gambello and Mauro Codussi, begun in the 1480s. Giovanni Maria Falconetto, the Veronese architect-sculptor, introduced Renaissance architecture to Padua with the Loggia Cornaro in the garden of Alvise Cornaro.

In southern Italy, Renaissance masters were called to Naples by Alfonso V of Aragon after his conquest of the Kingdom of Naples. The most notable examples of Renaissance architecture in that city are the Cappella Caracciolo, attributed to Bramante, and the Palazzo Orsini di Gravina, built by Gabriele d’Angelo between 1513 and 1549.

High Renaissance

In the late 15th century and early 16th century architects such as Bramante, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and others showed a mastery of the revived style and ability to apply it to buildings such as churches and city palazzo which were quite different from the structures of ancient times. The style became more decorated and ornamental, statuary, domes and cupolas becoming very evident. The architectural period is known as the "High Renaissance" and coincides with the age of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael.

Bramante

Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.

Donato Bramante, (1444–1514), was born in Urbino and turned from painting to architecture, found his first important patronage under Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, for whom he produced a number of buildings over 20 years. After the fall of Milan to the French in 1499, Bramante travelled to Rome where he achieved great success under papal patronage.

Bramante’s finest architectural achievement in Milan is his addition of crossing and choir to the abbey church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Milan). This is a brick structure, the form of which owes much to the Northern Italian tradition of square domed baptisteries. The new building is almost centrally planned, except that, because of the site, the chancel extends further than the transept arms. The hemispherical dome, of approximately 20 metres across, rises up hidden inside an octagonal drum pierced at the upper level with arched classical openings. The whole exterior has delineated details decorated with the local terracotta ornamentation.

In Rome Bramante created what has been described as "a perfect architectural gem", the Tempietto in the Cloister of San Pietro in Montorio. This small circular temple marks the spot where St Peter was martyred and is thus the most sacred site in Rome. The building adapts the style apparent in the remains of the Temple of Vesta, the most sacred site of Ancient Rome. It is enclosed by and in spatial contrast with the cloister which surrounds it. As approached from the cloister, as in the picture above, it is seen framed by an arch and columns, the shape of which are echoed in its free-standing form.

Bramante went on to work at the Vatican where he designed the impressive Cortili of St. Damaso and of the Belvedere. In 1506 Bramante’s design for Pope Julius II’s rebuilding of St. Peter’s Basilica was selected, and the foundation stone laid. After Bramante’s death and many changes of plan, Michelangelo, as chief architect, reverted to something closer to Bramante’s original proposal.

Raphael

Raphael, (1483–1520), Urbino, trained under Perugino in Perugia before moving to Florence, was for a time the chief architect for St. Peter’s, working in conjunction with Antonio Sangallo. He also designed a number of buildings, most of which were finished by others. His single most influential work is the Palazzo Pandolfini in Florence with its two stories of strongly articulated windows of a "tabernacle" type, each set around with ordered pilasters, cornice and alternate arched and triangular pediments.

Mannerism

Mannerism in architecture was marked by widely diverging tendencies in the work of Michelangelo, Giulio Romano, Baldassare Peruzzi and Andrea Palladio, that led to the Baroque style in which the same architectural vocabulary was used for very different rhetoric.

Peruzzi

Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne.

Baldassare Peruzzi, (1481–1536), was an architect born in Siena, but working in Rome, whose work bridges the High Renaissance and the Mannerist. His Villa Farnesina of 1509 is a very regular monumental cube of two equal stories, the bays being strongly articulated by orders of pilasters. The building is unusual for its frescoed walls.

Peruzzi’s most famous work is the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne in Rome. The unusual features of this building are that its façade curves gently around a curving street. It has in its ground floor a dark central portico running parallel to the street, but as a semi enclosed space, rather than an open loggia. Above this rise three undifferentiated floors, the upper two with identical small horizontal windows in thin flat frames which contrast strangely with the deep porch, which has served, from the time of its construction, as a refuge to the city’s poor.

Palazzo Te

Michelangelo

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) was one of the creative giants whose achievements mark the High Renaissance. He excelled in each of the fields of painting, sculpture and architecture and his achievements brought about significant changes in each area. His architectural fame lies chiefly in two buildings: the interiors of the Laurentian Library and its lobby at the monastery of San Lorenzo in Florence, and the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome.

St Peter’s was "the greatest creation of the Renaissance", and a great number of architects contributed their skills to it. But at its completion, there was more of Michelangelo’s design than of any other architect, before or after him.

St. Peter’s Basilica

St. Peter’s The plan that was accepted at the laying of the foundation stone in 1506 was that by Bramante. Various changes in plan occurred in the series of architects that succeeded him, but Michelangelo, when he took over the project in 1546, reverted to Bramante’s Greek-cross plan and redesigned the piers, the walls and the dome, giving the lower weight-bearing members massive proportions and eliminating the encircling aisles from the chancel and identical transept arms. Helen Gardner says: "Michelangelo, with a few strokes of the pen, converted its snowflake complexity into a massive, cohesive unity."

Michelangelo’s dome was a masterpiece of design using two masonry shells, one within the other and crowned by a massive lantern supported, as at Florence, on ribs. For the exterior of the building he designed a giant order which defines every external bay, the whole lot being held together by a wide cornice which runs unbroken like a rippling ribbon around the entire building.

There is a wooden model of the dome, showing its outer shell as hemispherical. When Michelangelo died in 1564, the building had reached the height of the drum. The architect who succeeded Michelangelo was Giacomo della Porta. The dome, as built, has a much steeper projection than the dome of the model. It is generally presumed that it was della Porta who made this change to the design, to lessen the outward thrust. But, in fact it is unknown who it was that made this change, and it equally possible, and in fact a stylistic likelihood that the person who decided upon the more dynamic outline was Michelangelo himself, at some time during the years that he supervised the project.

Laurentian Library

The vestibule of the Laurentian Library

Michelangelo was at his most Mannerist in the design of the vestibule of the Laurentian Library, also built by him to house the Medici collection of books at the convent of San Lorenzo in Florence, the same San Lorenzo’s at which Brunelleschi had recast church architecture into a Classical mold and established clear formula for the use of Classical orders and their various components.

Michelangelo takes all Brunelleschi’s components and bends them to his will. The Library is upstairs. It is a long low building with an ornate wooden ceiling, a matching floor and crowded with corrals finished by his successors to Michelangelo’s design. But it is a light room, the natural lighting streaming through a long row of windows that appear positively crammed between the order of pilasters that march along the wall. The vestibule, on the other hand, is tall, taller than it is wide and is crowded by a large staircase that pours out of the library in what Pevsner refers to as a “flow of lava”, and bursts in three directions when it meets the balustrade of the landing. It is an intimidating staircase, made all the more so because the rise of the stairs at the center is steeper than at the two sides, fitting only eight steps into the space of nine.

The space is crowded and it is to be expected that the wall spaces would be divided by pilasters of low projection. But Michelangelo has chosen to use paired columns, which, instead of standing out boldly from the wall, he has sunk deep into recesses within the wall itself. In San Lorenzo’s church nearby, Brunelleschi used little scrolling console brackets to break the strongly horizontal line of the course above the arcade. Michelangelo has borrowed Brunelleschi’s motifs and stood each pair of sunken columns on a pair of twin console brackets. Pevsner says the “Laurenziana… reveals Mannerism in its most sublime architectural form”.

Il Gesù, designed by Giacomo della Porta.

References

Background and biographical information is from Wikipedia articles on:

Wikipedia: Renaissance… 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance

Wikipedia: Italian Renaissance… 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_architecture

Web Sites and Blogs:

Brainy Quote: Architectural Quotes…
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/architecture.html

by Gerald Boerner

Today we start exploring a new path. This path started in the early 1990s and has culminated with the recent introduction of the “hot” iPad. What are we talking about? None other than the “Personal Digital Assistant”, or PDA, that started with HP and the Palm Pilot. We will examine a progression of developments in these devices as they evolved from small computers to dedicated organizers to smartphones and now back to small computers. We hope you will enjoy this journey as we start with an overview today and progress onward.  GLB

“The Palm OS I think will be the dominant platform for the disconnected and sometimes connected PDA, … But that market is shrinking and the margins are diminishing. They’re in a tough spot.”
— Rob Sanderson

“In general, people haven’t really taken strongly to these combination products, including phone in a PDA and PDA in a phone,”
— Allen Nogee

“Our field inspectors were writing everything down and nothing was being captured. So we were looking to do performance management and live data capture. The PDA was chosen over a laptop because it was cheaper.”
— Jay Marshall

“People can criticize Microsoft for supporting this TV thing for the past eight years, but it is a long-term bet, … There is not any other software business that is as dedicated to the vision of the TV and the PDA [personal digital assistant] as we are.”
— Bill Gates

“A growing portion of new users and users who are upgrading want better messaging capabilities, such as access to corporate e-mail, short message services, wireless LAN, or integration of a PDA with a mobile phone,”
— Todd Kort

“When people are looking for a phone or PDA, generally they think of one product at a time, … It’s hard enough to wade through all the selections of one device. When you combine the two together, it can be almost overwhelming.”
— Allen Nogee

“You can use PDAs for patient information as well, labs and data. We have a system where all the lab results that are in the hospital computer can get hot-synced into your PDA, so that for the patients you’re caring for in the hospital you have their potassium, and their creatinine, and their CK-MBs, etc.”
— Christopher Cannon

“We’ll have a PDA (personal digital assistant) and cell phone for different uses and they should have wireless capability built into them, then we might have a car and we may be carrying a notebook PC. Those will have wireless capabilities built into them so it’s very reasonable to assume that we will have more than a few devices that will have wireless capability built into them and of course service providers will have that much more revenue stream so I think the price per service will be reduced significantly just to stay connected.”
— George Hoffman

History of Hand-Held Computers: An Introduction to PDAs

A personal digital assistant (PDA), also known as a palmtop computer, is a mobile device which functions as a Personal information manager and connects to the internet. The PDA has an electronic visual display enabling it to include a web browser, but some newer models also have audio capabilities, enabling them to be used as mobile phones or portable media players. Many PDAs can access the internet, intranets or extranets via Wi-Fi, or Wireless Wide Area Networks (WWANs). Many PDAs employ touch screen technology.

The term PDA was first used on January 7, 1992, by Apple Computer CEO John Sculley at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, referring to the Apple Newton. In 1996, Nokia introduced the first mobile phone with full PDA functionality, the 9000 Communicator, which has since grown to become the world’s best-selling PDA and which spawned a category of phones called the smartphone. Today the vast majority of all PDAs are smartphones, selling over 150 million units while non-phone (“stand-alone”) PDAs sell only about 3 million units per year. The RIM BlackBerry, the Apple iPhone and the Nokia N-Series and HTC are typical smartphones.

Typical Features

Currently, a typical PDA has touch screen for entering data, a memory card slot for data storage and at least one of the following for connectivity: IrDA, Bluetooth and/or WiFi. However, many PDAs (typically those used primarily as telephones) may not have a touch screen, using softkeys, a directional pad and either the numeric keypad or a thumb keyboard for input.

Software typically required to be a PDA includes an appointment calendar, a to-do list, an address book for contacts and some sort of note program. Connected PDAs also typically include E-mail and Web support.

Touch Screen

Many of the original PDAs, such as the Apple Newton and Palm Pilot, featured touchscreen for user interaction, having only a few buttons usually reserved for shortcuts to often used programs. Touch screen PDAs, including Windows Mobile devices, usually have a detachable stylus that can be used on the touch screen. Interaction is then done by tapping the screen to activate buttons or menu choices, and dragging the stylus to, for example, highlight.

Text input is usually done in one of four ways:

• Using a virtual keyboard, where a keyboard is shown on the touch screen. Input is done by tapping letters on the screen.
• Using external keyboard or chorded keyboard connected by USB, IR or Bluetooth.
• Using letter or word recognition, where letters or words are written on the touch screen, and then “translated” to letters in the currently activated text field. Despite rigorous research and development projects, end-users experience mixed results with this input method, with some finding it frustrating and inaccurate, while others are satisfied with the quality. Recognition and computation of handwritten horizontal and vertical formulas such as “1 + 2 =” was also under development.
• Stroke recognition (one Palm implementation is called Graffiti). In this system a predefined set of strokes represents the various characters used in input. The user learns to draw these strokes on the screen or in an input area. The strokes are often simplified character shapes to make them easier for the device to recognize.

PDAs for business use, including the BlackBerry and Palm Treo, have full keyboards and scroll wheels or thumb wheels to facilitate data entry and navigation, in addition to supporting touch-screen input. There are also full-size foldable keyboards available that plug directly, or use wireless technology to interface with the PDA and allow for normal typing. BlackBerry has additional functionality, such as push-based email and applications.

Newer PDAs, such as the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and Palm Pre include new user interfaces using other means of input. The iPhone and iPod touch uses a technology called Multi-touch, as does the Palm Pre and HTC HD2.

Memory Cards

Although many early PDAs did not have memory card slots now most have either an SD (Secure Digital) and/or a Compact Flash slot. Although originally designed for memory, SDIO and Compact Flash cards are available for such things as Wi-Fi and Webcams. Some PDAs also have a USB port, mainly for USB flash drives. Some PDAs are now compatible with micro SD cards, which are physically much smaller than standard SD cards.

Wired Connectivity

While many earlier PDAs connected via serial ports or other proprietary format, many today connect via USB cable. This served primarily to connect to a computer, and few, if any PDAs were able to connect to each other out of the box using cables, as USB requires one machine to act as a host – functionality which was not often planned. Some PDAs were able to connect to the internet, either by means of one of these cables, or by using an extension card with an ethernet port/RJ-45 adaptor.

Wireless Connectivity

Most modern PDAs have Bluetooth wireless connectivity, an increasingly popular tool for mobile devices. It can be used to connect keyboards, headsets, GPS and many other accessories, as well as sending files between PDAs. Many mid-range and superior PDAs have Wi-Fi/WLAN/802.11-connectivity, used for connecting to Wi-Fi hotspots or wireless networks. Older PDAs predominantly have an IrDA (infrared) port; however fewer current models have the technology, as it is slowly being phased out due to support for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. IrDA allows communication between two PDAs: a PDA and any device with an IrDA port or adapter. Most universal PDA keyboards use infrared technology because many older PDAs have it, and infrared technology is low-cost and has the advantage of being permitted aboard aircraft.

Synchronization

An important function of PDAs is synchronizing data with a PC. This allows up-to-date contact information stored on software such as Microsoft Outlook or ACT! to update the database on the PDA. The data synchronization ensures that the PDA has an accurate list of contacts, appointments and e-mail, allowing users to access the same information on the PDA as the host computer.

The synchronizing also prevents the loss of information stored on the device in case it is lost, stolen, or destroyed. Another advantage is that data input is usually a lot quicker on a PC, since text input via a touch screen is still not quite optimal. Transferring data to a PDA via the computer is therefore a lot quicker than having to manually input all data on the handheld device.

Most PDAs come with the ability to synchronize to a PC. This is done through synchronization software provided with the handheld, such as HotSync Manager, which comes with Palm OS handhelds, Microsoft ActiveSync for Windows XP and older operating systems, or Windows Mobile Device Center for Windows Vista, both of which sync with Microsoft Windows Mobile or Pocket PC devices.

These programs allow the PDA to be synchronized with a Personal information manager. This personal information manager may be an outside program or a proprietary program. For example, the BlackBerry PDA comes with the Desktop Manager program which can synchronize to both Microsoft Outlook and ACT!. Other PDAs come only with their own proprietary software. For example, some early Palm OS PDAs came only with Palm Desktop while later Palms such as the Treo 650 has the built-in ability to sync to Palm Desktop and/or Microsoft Outlook, while Microsoft’s ActiveSync and Windows Mobile Device Center only synchronize with Microsoft Outlook or a Microsoft Exchange server.

Third-party synchronization software is also available for many PDAs from companies like Intellisync and CompanionLink. This software synchronizes these handhelds to other personal information managers which are not supported by the PDA manufacturers, such as GoldMine and IBM Lotus Notes.

Uses

PDAs are used to store information that can be accessed at any time and anywhere.

Automobile Navigation

Many PDAs are used in car kits and are fitted with differential Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers to provide realtime automobile navigation. PDAs are increasingly being fitted as standard on new cars.

Many systems can also display traffic conditions, dynamic routing and roadside mobile radar guns. Popular software in Europe and in America for this functionality are TomTom, Garmin, iGO etc. showing road conditions and 2D or 3D environments.

Ruggedized PDAs

For many years businesses and government organizations have relied upon rugged PDAs also known as enterprise digital assistants (EDAs) for mobile data applications. Typical applications include supply chain management in warehouses, package delivery, route accounting, medical treatment and record keeping in hospitals, facilities maintenance and management, parking enforcement, access control and security, capital asset maintenance, meter reading by utilities, and “wireless waitress” applications in restaurants and hospitality venues. A common feature of EDAs are the integration of Data Capture devices like Bar Code, RFID and Smart Card Readers.

Medical and Scientific Uses

In medicine, PDAs have been shown to aid diagnosis and drug selection and some studies have concluded that their use by patients to record symptoms improves the effectiveness of communication with hospitals during follow-up. A range of resources have been developed to cater for the demand from the medical profession which supply drug databases, treatment information and relevant news in formats specific to mobile devices and services such as AvantGo translate medical journals into readable formats and provide updates from journals. WardWatch organizes medical records to remind doctors making ward rounds of information such as the treatment regimens of patients and programs. Finally, Pendragon and Syware provide tools for conducting research with mobile devices, and connecting to a central server allowing the user to enter data into a centralized database using their PDA. Additionally, Microsoft Visual Studio and Sun Java provide programming tools for developing survey instruments on the handheld. These development tools allow for integration with SQL databases that are stored on the handheld and can be synchronized with a desktop/server based database.

Recently the development of Sensor Web technology has led to discussion of using wearable bodily sensors to monitor ongoing conditions like diabetes and epilepsy and alerting medical staff or the patient themselves to the treatment required via communication between the web and PDAs.

Educational uses

As mobile technology becomes more common, it is increasingly being used as a learning tool. Some educational institutions have integrated PDAs into their teaching practices (MLearning).

PDAs and handheld devices are commonly allowed in the classroom for digital note taking. Students can spell-check, modify, and amend their class notes or e-notes. Some educators distribute course material through the use of the internet connectivity or infrared file sharing functions of the PDA. Textbook publishers have begun to release e-books, or electronic textbooks, which can be uploaded directly to a PDA, reducing the number of textbooks students must carry.

Software companies have developed programs to meet the instructional needs of educational institutions such as dictionaries, thesauri, word processing software, encyclopedias and digital planning lessons.

The increase in mobility of PDAs have caused some problems for school boards and educational institutions. School boards are now concerned about students utilizing the internet connectivity to share test answers or to gossip during class time. Many school boards have modernized their computer policies to address these new concerns. Software companies such as Scantron Corp. have now created programs for distributing digital quizzes which disables the infrared function on PDAs, which eliminates the possibility of information sharing between students during the examination. Many colleges, however, encourage the use of PDAs, and some business, nursing, and physician assistant (PA) programs even require them.

Sporting uses

PDAs may also be used by music enthusiasts. They can be used to play a variety of file formats (unlike most MP3 Players) during physical exercise (e.g. running), unlike certain larger devices such as laptops.

PDAs can be used by road rally enthusiasts. PDA software can be used for calculating distance, speed, time, and GPS navigation as well as unassisted navigation.

PDA’s may be used to plan decompression dive profiles, use of mixtures up to 100% oxygen with programmes such as V-planner. Nitrox, Trimix, TriOx, HeliOx, OC, SCR, CCR, RB80, KISS and multilevel dives.

PDA for People with Disabilities

PDAs offer varying degrees of accessibility for people with differing abilities, based on the particular device and service. People with vision, hearing, mobility, and speech impairments may be able to use PDAs on a limited basis, and this may be enhanced by the addition of accessibility software (e.g. speech recognition for verbal input instead of manual input). Universal design is relevant to PDAs as well as other technology, and a viable solution for many user-access issues, though it has yet to be consistently integrated into the design of popular consumer PDA devices.

PDAs have recently become quite useful in the Traumatic brain injury/Posttraumatic stress disorder population, especially seen in troops returning home from Operation Iraqi Freedom(OIF)/Operation Enduring Freedom(OEF). PDAs address memory issues and help these men and women out with daily life organization and reminders. As of quite recently, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA) has begun issuing thousands of PDAs to troops who present the need for them. Occupational therapists have taken on a crucial role within this population helping these veterans return to the normality of life they once had.

A Personal Perspective

While I have not used all of these various PDAs or Handheld devices, I have had experience with many of them. I will present a brief summary here of some of that experience:

• Palm…
  I started with the original Palm Pilot, upgraded through a number of steps through the Palm VII. I loved this set of devices; they enabled me to maintain a schedule and contact list that could be synched to my desktop, both Mac and PC/Windows. I stopped using them when Palm removed the wireless modem support for the VII. The size and weight was great and I found that the Graffiti handwriting recognition language worked well.
• Newton…
  While I never owned a Newton, I worked with dealers and universities that had them available. I was able to give them a workout and found it to be a bit awkward (size and weight) and I didn’t like the handwriting recognition as well as that of the Palm.
• Blackberry…
  I used the older Blackberry (8100) and found the keyboard somewhat difficult to use. The requirement to subscribe to a special serve-based service for full access to its features made it an expensive alternative to the other organizers. This reinforced my preference to have cell phone and PDA in separate devices!
• IPAQ…
  I have an IPAQ 4700 which I love. It has a standard VGA screen and is more than adequate for accessing most non-Java-based web sites. I even used it as the only computer that I took on a trip to Germany; I was able to write and post my blog updates on the road. The only problem I encountered with it was in accessing the Internet at the Hyatt Regency in Cologne, Germany!
• Smartphone…
  I have not invested in the iPhone, the Droid, or Google phone yet. When I have an opportunity to upgrade later this spring, though, I am leaning heavily on the Google Touch from T-Mobile. But in the meantime, I have successfully used the Dash from T-Mobile for both an organizer and cell phone. Does it do as good of a job as a separate cell phone and PDA? My answer at this point would have to be a resounding NO!

Well, there is a short history of my experience with PDAs. A time lapse of twenty years probably is not the best definition of “short”, but during that time I have seen these gadgets (some people call them “toys”) grow up into powerful tools. They are far more powerful than my first computer, a VIC-20 with 4KB of memory!

Over the next week or so, we will be looking at the historical development of these devices. Why? Because Apple has made a big “splash” (or is it a “belly flop”) with its iPad which claims to be the best thing since sliced bread. The iPhone was an impressive device, but can the iPad live up to this model? Time will tell. By the time we get to the end of our examination of PDAs, we should have enough information to judge the real pros and cons on the iPad.

We hope that you enjoy this excursion down memory lane.

Background and biographical information is from Wikipedia articles on:

Wikipedia: Personal Digital Assistant… 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDA

Think Exists: PDA Quotes…
http://thinkexist.com/search/searchQuotation.asp?search=PDA

by Gerald Boerner

One of the romantic periods of the old West communication was the Pony Express. This way of connecting the Pacific Coast (post-gold rush California) and the mid-west (Missouri). For the first time, messages could cross this vast western frontier in a matter of less than ten days from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast (or vice versa). This method of communication lasted for a mere 18 months before being supplanted by the telegraph. During its heyday, the riders traversed the wild west and fulfilled a necessary communication link that served to unite the country.   GLB

“Indians were frequently off their reservations.”
— Buffalo Bill

“Indians were frequently off their reservations.”
— Buffalo Bill

“Washington newspaper men know everything.”
— Buffalo Bill

“Excitement was plentiful during my two years’ service as a Pony Express rider.”
— Buffalo Bill

“My mother’s sympathies were strongly with the Union. She knew that war was bound to come, but so confident was she in the strength of the Federal Government that she devoutly believed that the struggle could not last longer than six months at the utmost.”
— Buffalo Bill

“It was because of my great interest in the West, and my belief that its development would be assisted by the interest I could awaken in others, that I decided to bring the West to the East through the medium of the Wild West Show.”
— Buffalo Bill

“I thought I was benefiting the Indians as well as the government, by taking them all over the United States, and giving them a correct idea of the customs, life, etc., of the pale faces, so that when they returned to their people they could make known all they had seen.”
— Buffalo Bill

“Stations were built at intervals averaging fifteen miles apart. A rider’s route covered three stations, with an exchange of horses at each, so that he was expected at the beginning to cover close to forty-five miles – a good ride when one must average fifteen miles an hour.”
— Buffalo Bill

The Pony Express

The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the North American continent from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 1860 to October 1861. It became the west’s most direct means of east-west communication before the telegraph and was vital for tying California closely with the Union just before the American Civil War.

The Pony Express was a mail delivery system of the Leavenworth & Pike’s Peak Express Company of 1849 which in 1850 became the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company. This firm was founded by William H. Russell, Alexander Majors, and William B. Waddell.

The original fast mail services had messages carried by horseback riders in relay across the prairies, plains, deserts, and mountains of the Western United States. For its 18 months of operation, it briefly reduced the time for mail to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to about ten days.

By having a shorter route and using mounted riders rather than stagecoaches, the founders of the Pony Express hoped to establish their service as a faster and more reliable conduit for the mail and win an exclusive government mail contract. Pony Express demonstrated that a unified transcontinental system could be built and operated continuously year round. Since its replacement by the telegraph, the Pony Express has become part of the lore of the American West. Its reliance on the ability and endurance of individual riders and horses over technological innovation was part of “American rugged individualism.”

Its route has been designated the Pony Express National Historic Trail. Approximately 120 historic sites along the trail may eventually be open to the public, including 50 stations or station ruins.

From 1866 until 1890, the Pony Express logo was used by Wells Fargo, which provided secure mail and freight services. The United States Postal Service (USPS) uses “Pony Express” as a trademark for postal services in the US. Freight Link international courier services, based in Russia, adopted the Pony Express trademark and a logo similar to that of the USPS.

April 1, 2010 was the Pony Express’ 150th anniversary. Located in St. Joseph, Missouri, the Patee House Museum, which was the Pony Express’ headquarters, hosted events celebrating the anniversary.

Operation

Pony Express Stables in
St. Joseph, Missouri

A total of about 190 Pony Express stations were placed at intervals of about 10 miles (16 km) along the approximately 2,000 miles (3,200 km) route. This was roughly the maximum distance a horse could travel at full gallop. The rider changed to a fresh horse at each station, taking only the mail pouch called a mochila (from the Spanish for pouch) with him. The employers stressed the importance of the pouch. They often said that, if it came to be, the horse and rider should perish before the mochila did. The mochila was thrown over the saddle and held in place by the weight of the rider sitting on it. Each corner had a cantina, or pocket. Bundles of mail were placed in these cantinas, which were padlocked for safety. The mochila could hold 20 pounds (10 kg) of mail along with the 20 pounds of material carried on the horse. Included in that 20 pounds were a water sack, a Bible, a horn for alerting the relay station master to prepare the next horse, a revolver, and a choice of a rifle or another revolver. Eventually, everything except one revolver and a water sack was removed, allowing for a total of 165 pounds (75 kg) on the horse’s back. Riders, who could not weigh over 125 pounds, changed about every 75–100 miles (120–160 km), and rode day and night. In emergencies, a given rider might ride two stages back to back, over 20 hours on a galloping horse.

It is unknown if riders tried crossing the Sierra Nevadas in winter, but they certainly crossed central Nevada. By 1860 there was a telegraph station in Carson City, Nevada. The riders received $25 per week as pay. A comparable wage for unskilled labor at the time was about $1 per week.

Alexander Majors, one of the founders of the Pony Express, had acquired more than 400 horses for the project. These averaged about 14½ hands (1.47 m) high and averaged 900 pounds (410 kg) each; thus, the name pony was appropriate, even if not strictly correct in all cases.

Route of the Pony Express

Pony Express map from National Park Service.

The roughly 1900 mile route roughly followed the Oregon Trail, and California Trail to Fort Bridger in Wyoming and then the Mormon Trail to Salt Lake City, Utah. From there it roughly followed the Central Nevada Route to Carson City, Nevada before passing over the Sierras into Sacramento, California.

The route started at St. Joseph, Missouri on the Missouri River, it then followed what is modern day US 36—the Pony Express Highway—to Marysville, Kansas, where it turned northwest following Little Blue River to Fort Kearny in Nebraska. Through Nebraska it followed the Great Platte River Road, cutting through Gothenburg, Nebraska and passing Courthouse Rock, Chimney Rock, and Scotts Bluff, clipping the edge of Colorado at Julesburg, Colorado, before arriving at Fort Laramie in Wyoming. From there it followed the Sweetwater River, passing Independence Rock, Devil’s Gate, and Split Rock, to Fort Caspar, through South Pass to Fort Bridger and then down to Salt Lake City. From Salt Lake City it generally followed the Central Nevada Route blazed by Captain James H. Simpson of the Corps of Topographical Engineers in 1859. This route roughly follows today’s U.S. Highway 50 across Nevada and Utah. It crossed the Great Basin, the Utah-Nevada Desert, and the Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe before arriving in Sacramento. Mail was then sent via steamer down the Sacramento River to San Francisco. On a few instances when the steamer was missed, riders took the mail via horseback to Oakland, California.

First Westbound Journey

This 25-cent stamp printed by
Wells Fargo was cancelled in
Virginia City, Nevada, and used
on a revived Pony Express run
between there and Sacramento
beginning in 1862.

The messenger delivering the mochila from New York and Washington missed a connection in Detroit and arrived in Hannibal, Missouri, two hours late. The railroad cleared the track and dispatched a special locomotive called the “Missouri” with a one-car train to make the 206-mile (332 km) trek across the state in a record 4 hours, 51 minutes — an average of 40 miles per hour (64 km/h). It arrived at Olive and 8th Street — a few blocks from the company’s new headquarters in a hotel at Patee House at 12th Street and Pennsylvania and the company’s nearby stables on Pennsylvania. The first pouch contained 49 letters, five private telegrams, and some papers for San Francisco and intermediate points.

St. Joseph Mayor M. Jeff Thompson, William H. Russell and Alexander Majors gave speeches before the mochila was handed off. The ride began at about 7:15 p.m. The St. Joseph Gazette was the only newspaper included in the bag.

The identity of the first rider has long been in dispute. The Weekly West (April 4, 1860) reported Johnson William Richardson was the first rider (see Footnote 358).

Pony Express statue in St. Joseph, Missouri

The first horse-ridden leg of the Express was only about a half mile (800 m) from the Express stables/railroad area to the Missouri River ferry at the foot of Jules Street. Johnny Fry is credited as the first westbound rider who carried the pouch across the Missouri River ferry to Elwood, Kansas. Reports indicated that horse and rider crossed the river. In later rides, the courier crossed the river without a horse and picked up his mount at a stable on the other side.

The first westbound mochila reached its destination, San Francisco, on April 14, at 1:00 a.m.

Eastbound

James Randall is credited as the first rider from the San Francisco Alta telegraph office, since he was on the steamship Antelope to go to Sacramento. At 2:45 a.m., William (Sam) Hamilton was the first rider to begin the journey from Sacramento.

Closing

The postal service running
pony logo used before 1970
was not inspired by the
Pony Express as many believe.

Although the Pony Express proved that the central/northern mail route was viable, Russell, Majors and Waddell did not get the contract to deliver mail over the route. The contract was instead awarded to Jeremy Dehut in March 1861, who had taken over the southern Congressionally favored Butterfield Overland Mail Stage Line. Holladay took over the Russell, Majors and Waddell stations for his stagecoaches.

Shortly after the contract was awarded, the start of the American Civil War caused the stage line to cease operation. From March 1861, the Pony Express ran mail only between Salt Lake City and Sacramento. The Pony Express announced its closure on October 26, 1861, two days after the transcontinental telegraph reached Salt Lake City and connected Omaha, Nebraska and Sacramento, California. Other telegraph lines connected points along the line and other cities on the east and west coasts.

The Pony Express had grossed $90,000 and lost $200,000. In 1866, after the American Civil War was over, Holladay sold the Pony Express assets along with the remnants of the Butterfield Stage to Wells Fargo for $1.5 million.

Legacy

Wells Fargo used the Pony Express logo for its guard and armored car service. The logo continued to be used when other companies took over the security business into the 1990s. Effective 2001, the Pony Express logo was no longer used for security businesses since the business has been sold.

In June 2006, the United States Postal Service announced it had trademarked “Pony Express” along with Air Mail.

“Pony Express” is a trademarked name used by Freight Link international courier services company in Russia; their logo is similar to the one trademarked by United States Postal Service with “Since 1860″ written under the image.

Pony Express memorial statues are in Sacramento; Stateline, Nevada; Reno, Nevada; Salt Lake City; Casper, Wyoming; Julesburg, Colorado; Marysville, Kansas; North Kansas City, Missouri; and St. Joseph. The original and most famous is the one dedicated on April 20, 1940, in St. Joseph. It was sculpted by Hermon Atkins MacNeil. It is at City Hall Park. The city has rejected proposals to move it to the park opposite the stables.

Eagle Mountain, Utah, located on the original Pony Express Trail in Utah, has several locations and events that commemorate the Pony Express.

• Pony Express Boulevard in Eagle Mountain, Utah may be the only street built on the original Pony Express Trail that is named after the Pony Express.
• Pony Express Days, the annual community celebration of Eagle Mountain, are celebrated the first week of June of each year.
• The Alpine School Districts’s Pony Express Elementary School is located in Eagle Mountain and is a K-5 elementary school.
• Eagle Mountain also has an official Pony Express monument on the site of the original Joe’s Dug Out station on the Pony Express Trail.
• Neighborhoods in Eagle Mountain are named after stations on the Pony Express Trail, such as: “Cold Spring”, “Kennekuk”, “Ash Point”, and “Kiowa”. A major road is named “Sweetwater”, after another station, and a charter High School is named “Rockwell.”
• The term “pony express” has come to be used as a type of genericized trademark for other similar mail routes.

References

Other Events on this Day:

• In 1614…
  Indian princess Pocahontas and Jamestown, Virginia, colonist John Rolfe are married.
• In 1621…
  The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth, Massachusetts, to return to England.
• In 1792…
  George Washington casts the first presidential veto, rejecting a bill to apportion representatives among the states.
• In 1933…
  Dr. Evarts A. Graham performs the first operation to remove a lung in St. Louis, Missouri.
• In 1984…
  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar becomes the highest-scoring NBA player, with 31,421 career points (late retiring with 38,387 points).

Dates and events based on:

William J. Bennett and John Cribb, (2008) The American Patriot’s Almanac Daily Readings on America. (Kindle Edition)

Background information is from Wikipedia articles on:

Wikipedia: Pony Express… 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_Express

Brainy Quote: Buffalo Bill Quotes…
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/buffalobil327166.html