Taking a pad to engineering etc

[The Old Mixer]

Others have covered some good in-universe reasons why they might do it. The bottom line, though, is that it was a bit of routine physical business that seemed a lot more natural and intuitive at the time that the series was made, when most viewers weren't using the words "downloading" and "uploading" in their day-to-day lives.

 

[C.E. Evans]

And yet, even in TOS there were instances in which data was downloaded or uploaded, although in Kirk's day it was sometimes referred to as "tie-in" or "access."

 

[Ghrakh]

Honestly I think it's as simple as comfort. It's just easier to work on those things where you can and carry it around than sending crap back and forth to some console.

I agree. You can sit back or take it wherever you like, or need. Also, it appears they can be personalized, which consoles meant to be used by any number of people are definitely not.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ By TNG's time, they are. Computer consoles are software-only by that time - no physical controls (except in 'tactile interface' for use by blind crewmembers, but that can also be activated at any console). They can, presumably, be configured any way the user wants.

 

[Jonas Grumby]

Lots of good reasons already posted above.

Also, a lot of the reason could just be good manners and common courtesy. Holding up your PADD and saying, "Hey, here's something I need to show you. Take a look," seems to me to be a lot more polite than, "Hey, I've got something you need to see, so tell one of your guys to interrupt what he's doing and blank his screen so I can show it to you."

 

[F. King Daniel]

Writers with no grasp of and no thought toward how technology would actually affect day-to-day lives. The frequent stacks of PADDs seen throughout TNG, DS9 and Voyager is ridiculous.

 

[Ghrakh]

^ By TNG's time, they are. Computer consoles are software-only by that time - no physical controls (except in 'tactile interface' for use by blind crewmembers, but that can also be activated at any console). They can, presumably, be configured any way the user wants.

Perhaps, but for example in "A Matter Of Honor", Mendon was going around suggesting "improvements" to the consoles and was getting quizzical looks, suggesting they didn't alter them. Now maybe that was in their operation and not so much the interface, but with rotating crewmembers, or a situation where they beam over to a disabled federation ship to help with repairs, on-board emergencies ("Deanna, take the Helm!"), I think they would keep the consoles standardized.

 

[Ghrakh]

Writers with no grasp of and no thought toward how technology would actually affect day-to-day lives. The frequent stacks of PADDs seen throughout TNG, DS9 and Voyager is ridiculous.

Anyone who's tried to go through a several-thousand page pdf or doc in a single file on a single screen would appreciate having multiple, separate screens organized by sections, making it much easier to cross-reference.

 

[SicOne]

"You want to know the reason why they carry the padds down to Engineering? I'll tell you why, honey. It's so you can ask stupid annoying questions in the middle of my show. THAT'S why. Do I ask you stupid annoying questions in the middle of YOUR shows? Of course not. Oh Jeezus, quit cryin'. Hustle that cute ass back into the kitchen and fix me a sammich."

A few of those, Hux ol' boy, and your life will be profoundly more quiet during your Treking

I'm gonna tell her the stuff in bold above (really sell it to her and see if that works)

C'mon on back and let us know how it worked. Or did not work.

 

[Ithekro]

For the captain and staff officers, I would assume each individual PADD is a report from a different person under their command. Each personally submitted to their commanding officer for review. This would explain the stack of PADDs.

 

[Push The Button]

My iPhone is my PADD. I have it with me all day, and use it for email, text messages, trading stocks, as a camera, to get weather forecasts, to listen to music (and to drown out annoying coworkers), to read ebooks, and the list goes on. TNG really was ahead of its time with that prop (or perhaps someone just copied the idea from 2001.)

 

[The Wormhole]

Writers with no grasp of and no thought toward how technology would actually affect day-to-day lives. The frequent stacks of PADDs seen throughout TNG, DS9 and Voyager is ridiculous.

Ah, the PADD stacks really get me. Especially when to emphasize how large a file something is, they do so by having it stored within crates filled with PADDs. Assuming this information is stored within the ship's main computer, one PADD should be sufficient to access it regardless its size.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Perhaps there are certain pieces of information about key systems or workings of others, that are off limits to standard personal and for security reasons are not transfered via the ships' communication system, be it vocally or by computer.

You put it on a pad and the person who has the pad has to enter a code or the pad recognizes the holder, or something, and the information is secure as can be.


I know, how secure is something really, and why not encode transmissions.
Why take lifts? Why not transport?
If you can set a hand phaser to wide dispusal pattern (been seen before), why fire single shots at incoming targets?
If you got multiple phaser arrays, why not fire more than one at a time?

There are a lot of holes here and there.

 

[The Wormhole]

Perhaps there are certain pieces of information about key systems or workings of others, that are off limits to standard personal and for security reasons are not transfered via the ships' communication system, be it vocally or by computer.

You put it on a pad and the person who has the pad has to enter a code or the pad recognizes the holder, or something, and the information is secure as can be.

Except, most of the times they weren't dealing with secure or sensitive information. Take for example, Voyager's Dark Frontier, where Seven of Nine, and later other characters, are reviewing her parents' log files on the Borg, which are stored on something like thirty PADDs. Seems overkill, the logs are public information, stored in Voyager's database, one PADD or computer terminal should be all that's needed to access it, lugging around thirty PADDS (kept in multiple crates) is shockingly inefficient computer storage.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Which could also suggest that again, for security reasons, the storage capacity of a standard pad (the official name is PADD, right?) -- since we've seen various versions over the TNG run (for example) -- is limited so large chunks of information, sensitive or not, can't be saved to them and snuck off the ship.

 

[hux]

My iPhone is my PADD. I have it with me all day, and use it for email, text messages, trading stocks, as a camera, to get weather forecasts, to listen to music (and to drown out annoying coworkers), to read ebooks, and the list goes on. TNG really was ahead of its time with that prop (or perhaps someone just copied the idea from 2001.)

That would be fine if that's how padds had been used on Trek (as a personal thing) but they were primarily used in the show as a means to transfer work related information. A better analogy would be.....imagine a navy ship and someone on the bridge has some computer information he wants to give to another guy in engineering.....would he put the information on an iphone then personally take it down to engineering or would he just put it on the main computer and contact engineering to let them know he's sending them some information

Which could also suggest that again, for security reasons, the storage capacity of a standard pad is limited so large chunks of information, sensitive or not, can't be saved to them and snuck off the ship.

But that still doesn't explain why you would put information on 30 different padds rather than just look at the information on a console......and if you did want to look at the information using a padd then why not just use one (delete the info that you've read and then download the next bit of info) having to wade through 30 padds just seems weird

Yeah, none of this makes much sense (i think this is just one of those things)

C'mon on back and let us know how it worked. Or did not work.

Yeah, she didn't buy it (i don't blame her to be honest cos neither do i)

 

[Nerys Myk]

Writers with no grasp of and no thought toward how technology would actually affect day-to-day lives. The frequent stacks of PADDs seen throughout TNG, DS9 and Voyager is ridiculous.

Ah, the PADD stacks really get me. Especially when to emphasize how large a file something is, they do so by having it stored within crates filled with PADDs. Assuming this information is stored within the ship's main computer, one PADD should be sufficient to access it regardless its size.

Very much a hold over from the days of physical media. A way to show being overwhelmed and over worked. Like stacks of paper, files or books on a desk.

 

[Ghrakh]

But that still doesn't explain why you would put information on 30 different padds rather than just look at the information on a console......and if you did want to look at the information using a padd then why not just use one (delete the info that you've read and then download the next bit of info) having to wade through 30 padds just seems weird

We've known they've had to work their way through long legal documents to get themselves or others out of some predicament, for example the Sheliak treaty, Klingon laws in "Sins of the Father", Federation laws in "Measure of a Man" etc. Now I don't recall multiple PADDs being explicitly seen in those examples, but as I mentioned in a prior post, having a very large document on multiple screens could be a benefit.

I think this exchange from ENT explains it well, and is completely familiar to anyone who's had to go through something like this:

_____________
(The table is covered in PADDs.)

TRAVIS: Look at this. Either combatant can postpone a duel indefinitely if there are no children to continue his clan.

HOSHI: How does that help us?

TRAVIS: As far as I know, Captain Archer doesn't have any kids. If he's killed, his clan would die with him.

HOSHI: That rule only applies if he's married.

TRAVIS: Don't suppose we can find him a wife in the next four hours.

HOSHI: Even if we could, something tells me the Andorians would cry foul. There are twelve thousand amendments to this ridiculous honour code. There has got to be one that can get him out of this.

TRAVIS: Instead of looking for a loophole, maybe we should be trying to find a way for the Captain to win.

HOSHI: If the Captain wins, Shran's dead. The alliance falls apart.

TRAVIS: Have you ever been to Nobelia Prime?

HOSHI: Not recently.

TRAVIS: The tribal elders there, they can challenge you to a duel if you look at them the wrong way. Happened to my father.

HOSHI: How did he get out of it?

TRAVIS: Which one of these has the combat rules?
_____________

Just doesn't seem it would work as well with just one PADD.

 

[The Wormhole]

Which could also suggest that again, for security reasons, the storage capacity of a standard pad (the official name is PADD, right?) -- since we've seen various versions over the TNG run (for example) -- is limited so large chunks of information, sensitive or not, can't be saved to them and snuck off the ship.

That still doesn't explain why you'd need to lug around thirty PADDs. One PADD to access the main computer, with safeguards in place so that nothing can be copied from the computer and stored onto the PADD.

But that still doesn't explain why you would put information on 30 different padds rather than just look at the information on a console......and if you did want to look at the information using a padd then why not just use one (delete the info that you've read and then download the next bit of info) having to wade through 30 padds just seems weird

We've known they've had to work their way through long legal documents to get themselves or others out of some predicament, for example the Sheliak treaty, Klingon laws in "Sins of the Father", Federation laws in "Measure of a Man" etc. Now I don't recall multiple PADDs being explicitly seen in those examples, but as I mentioned in a prior post, having a very large document on multiple screens could be a benefit.

What we can't open multiple windows on the same PADD? Assuming they can't, then just move work over to a computer terminal where you can.

Multiple PADDs is just visual shorthand to make it clear to the audience the characters are overwhelmed with lots on their plate. There is no logical in-universe necessity for it.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Thread title sounds like one of Treks classic analogies.

MCCOY: "It would be like taking a padd to engineering!"

SPOCK: "A simple yet accurate analogy, doctor."

SCOTT: "Aye, but it might work."