Is Handwriting History?
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Is Handwriting History?
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Re: Is Handwriting History?
#2TL;DR: No
(personally, 'no' as well. I sometimes work places where electronic devices aren't allowed)
Re: Is Handwriting History?
#3If only... I recently had to take a standardized business knowledge test and I had to write a disclaimer (eg: "I hereby certify that...") in CURSIVE.
When I asked if we really had to write in 19th century writing, she replied that this was the "writing of the business world".
No words.
Re: Is Handwriting History?
#4Mine is. I had better handwriting in primary school. It can be quite embarrassing on the odd occasion where I need to fill out a paper form (which itself is rarer these days).
Re: Is Handwriting History?
#5I always carry a pen.
I prefer handwriting to taking electronic notes and have never found a touch device I'd rather write on than paper.
Aside: Teaching kids cursive also still has value in teaching fine motor skills.
Re: Is Handwriting History?
#6If only... I recently had to take a standardized business knowledge test and I had to write a disclaimer (eg: "I hereby certify that...") in CURSIVE. When I asked if we really had to write in 19th century writing, she replied that this was the "writing of the business world". No words.
Historically, block letters were taught to young children first because they were seen as less difficult to form, and therefore writing by someone with little fine motor control would be somewhat legible. Cursive was how adults wrote. In that sense, she was correct.
That said, "the writing of the business world" today is Times New Roman (or maybe Helvetica Neue). It replaced the Palmer Method of Business Writing[1], which is quite distinct from the the cursive that is taught in schools today (Zaner-Bloser[2] or D'Nealian[3]).
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Method
2: http://content.yudu.com/web/y5b2/0A3vbrb/16Grade6Student/htm...
Re: Is Handwriting History?
#7If only... I recently had to take a standardized business knowledge test and I had to write a disclaimer (eg: "I hereby certify that...") in CURSIVE. When I asked if we really had to write in 19th century writing, she replied that this was the "writing of the business world". No words.
IMHO cursive script is optimised for writability, but not readability. If asked to use it, I'd probably say "I can try if you really insist, but you're unlikely to be able to read it" --- instead, I'll use my "personal font" which looks like either Futura or Courier depending on what I'm writing, and which others have commented quite positively on the legibility of.
Re: Is Handwriting History?
#8Taking note is still faster in with a pen and paper. Thinking as well. And I'm on the very upper scale of computer skills.
Lately I even removed some part of my project management tooling to replace it with paper. Very short term actionable data is more productive on paper for me.
Re: Is Handwriting History?
#9I always carry a pen. I prefer handwriting to taking electronic notes and have never found a touch device I'd rather write on than paper. Aside: Teaching kids cursive also still has value in teaching fine motor skills.
> Aside: Teaching kids cursive also still has value in teaching fine motor skills.
It's also been shown to be helpful for students with dyslexia.
Re: Is Handwriting History?
#10Taking note is still faster in with a pen and paper. Thinking as well. And I'm on the very upper scale of computer skills. Lately I even removed some part of my project management tooling to replace it with paper. Very short term actionable data is more productive on paper for me.
You must be a very slow typist :). I can write on a keyboard much faster than on paper, and I'll bet I can outpace any regular person in this way. One could try and compete by employing some stenography shenanigans, but at that point I'll just enable abbrev mode in my Emacs and beat them again.
Where typing fails me, though, is anything other than writing regular, linear text. The moment I expect needing to write a lot of math formulas, or drawing any kind of diagram, I get my paper and pens. Writing by hand is amazingly flexible.