Application of Direct Electronic Data Entry in the Field by Digital Pen

Direct capture of fisheries data in electronic format can improve speed and accuracy and eliminate the separate step of data input.  While tools such as ruggedized laptop computers, tablet computers, PDAs and data loggers have been used for this purpose, concerns remain about durability, potential data loss, inconvenience,  poor screen visibility in some light conditions, and hard to use buttons.  Those concerns were eliminated by the digital pen, which serves the dual function of entering data electronically into Excel while creating a written record.  Digital pens were used on several fisheries field projects in Idaho, Montana and Oregon during 2010 with good results.  Key concerns were accuracy of character recognition, durability and cost.  Accuracy was one or two errors per completed data sheet, with direct comparison and correction on the same screen.   No failures or loss of battery power were encountered, even in cold temperatures and one pen being dropped in the water.  There are several purchase options with variable costs, the highest being for a single pen with stand alone software for ~$1,400, with lower costs per pen with larger orders and use of a ‘cloud’ computing option.  The digital pen met expectations, was simple to use, provided a written backup of data, and proved to be a useful tool.