Loved the exposition on Gregg shorthand, I tried and failed to master it in college sadly, but it also gave me new respect for the archivists who decipher notes on the margins of older texts, as those seem to be in their own shorthand, sometimes invented by the author of the margin note.
How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen
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Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen
#22I don't see the utility of shorthand anymore. If you're just taking short notes, you don't need to write 225wpm...and if you've recorded everything, then you can listen to the recording later and take notes or type up a transcript verbatim. It would seem better to learn a stenography system so you don't waste time inputting actual text, which surely you would need to do anyway? (How is the time the author saves writi…
There are specific professions in which it comes in handy. Journalism is one of them. Every now and then, you'll encounter someone who is willing to go on the record, but for whatever reason, doesn't feel comfortable being taped. (And by "every now and then," I mean somewhat greater than half the time.) And a lot of people are put off by the act of typing into a keyboard or tablet while you're speaking to them, even…
I guess I was thinking in the context of the author using this particular pen for shorthand - it records audio, so even if he's just writing shorthand, it's still recording.
Really good points though, it didn't occur to me that someone would be willing to go "on the record" but not be actually recorded.
There are some other solutions that use keyboards that wouldn't be as intrusive as a keyboard or tablet (and may be something to consider for you personally if you have a disability in only one side); things like portable one-handed chorded keyboards: http://www.handykey.com/ and http://chordite.com/
Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen
#23I don't see the utility of shorthand anymore. If you're just taking short notes, you don't need to write 225wpm...and if you've recorded everything, then you can listen to the recording later and take notes or type up a transcript verbatim. It would seem better to learn a stenography system so you don't waste time inputting actual text, which surely you would need to do anyway? (How is the time the author saves writi…
He only types up small portions of (apparently) long interviews, for quotes. In this case, the combination of shorthand and the camera and software is like a jump-to-where-I-mean feature for audio recordings, which sounds amazing , frankly, for this use case.
It does sound really cool. I just don't get why the shorthand part is important. Why not jot "grandma" and "poodle" and then tap the pen there for when the interviewee starts talking about his grandma and his poodle.
Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen
#24I don't see the utility of shorthand anymore. If you're just taking short notes, you don't need to write 225wpm...and if you've recorded everything, then you can listen to the recording later and take notes or type up a transcript verbatim. It would seem better to learn a stenography system so you don't waste time inputting actual text, which surely you would need to do anyway? (How is the time the author saves writi…
There are specific professions in which it comes in handy. Journalism is one of them. Every now and then, you'll encounter someone who is willing to go on the record, but for whatever reason, doesn't feel comfortable being taped. (And by "every now and then," I mean somewhat greater than half the time.) And a lot of people are put off by the act of typing into a keyboard or tablet while you're speaking to them, even…
I know a few people who maintain eye contact while typing, for instance, while I'm running a meeting. Man, it always feels creepy to me.
Am I the only one that gets that feeling?
Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
He only types up small portions of (apparently) long interviews, for quotes. In this case, the combination of shorthand and the camera and software is like a jump-to-where-I-mean feature for audio recordings, which sounds amazing , frankly, for this use case.
It does sound really cool. I just don't get why the shorthand part is important. Why not jot "grandma" and "poodle" and then tap the pen there for when the interviewee starts talking about his grandma and his poodle.
I was thinking about this. The pen sounded like a great way to create a fluid index of there conversation in a really simple outline form. No if it's setup to work like that at all
I'd actually really like something similar with a computer while I type and record.
Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen
#26I got so excited when he said that it really was possible to write at 100 words a minute but then he said that it's nearly impossible to actually learn Gregg, I wonder if there's a website somewhere.... About the Livescribe: it's an okay pen but difficult to hold. and somewhat awkward because of the camera at the tip, but it could depend on the way you hold pens.
The old manuals are on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/1916GreggShorthandManual-5thVers...
Just want to add that there are other shorthands which are pretty solid (and more easily available). For example, Pitmans: http://www.long-live-pitmans-shorthand.org.uk/
Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen
#27While Gregg shorthand is great for English, its not much use for anything technical. Many of the shorthand idioms are based on the word-sound, not the word-spelling, so it's okay if you're taking notes for yourself, reading someone else's shorthand becomes an exercise in decoding the word in context because you were not there for their experience during note-taking. If you don't stay fresh with your own shorthand, ju…
My understanding is that it was not generally expected that notes taken by one person would be interpretable by another. This is what I've been told by my mother, who learned and used Pitman shorthand. She says she never had to read anyone else's notes, nor did anyone else ever have a need to read hers.
Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen
#28I was really hoping this article would end with the author revealing the Livescribe pen could expand Gregg shorthand written with it into standard characters on a computer.
Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen
#29I wonder how difficult it'd be to write OCR-style software for Gregg. It'd have to be more sophisticated; character recognition alone wouldn't be enough, you'd have to do a bit of Markov modelling with most probable sentences/words too. I guess it's so niche no one will ever do it, but it sounds like a fun project.
Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen
#30For programmers, I don't think shorthand is the right technology to learn - stenographic typing has the same kind of advantages and speed, and directly inputs to the computer. Learning shorthand does make stenographic typing easier to learn (and vice-versa), since it's the same sort of syllable-based contraction.
For a stenographic typing solution that can work on a pc check Plover: http://plover.stenoknight.com/