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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

#51

Post by jonnathanson »

muaddirac wrote: post #22
jonnathanson wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Yeah, it's kind of weird that people would go "on the record" but not want to be recorded. But there's something about pulling out a tape recorder (or in my case, an iPhone with a recording app) that freaks people out. I think part of this fear stems from the age we live in, with the 24 hour news cycle and "gotcha" journalism. People half suspect you're going to use something they said against them, as if it's a police interrogation. :)

I like to reassure people that I record them for my own accuracy, and that it actually behooves both of us to do a recording. Even still, about 50-60% of people will decline. Younger people seem more likely to decline than older people, at least in my anecdotal experience, which strikes me as interesting. There might be something worth exploring there.

Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen

#52

Post by lelandbatey »

EdwardCoffin wrote: post #27
sj4nz wrote: post #2

While 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.

This is largely why note taking is a two pass process for me. The first is the pen and paper notes taken while speaking with someone else. The second is the process of transcribing and editing those notes onto some digital medium. I end up with a really nicely fleshed out document covering much more information, much more thoroughly. For example, for a more complex point in a discussion I may add an additional paragraph or two of background and context to what was actually talked about.

I've found this process to be the best I've tried, and others who I share my notes with have voiced their liking.

Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen

#53

Post by dhruvmittal »

doorhammer wrote: post #24
jonnathanson wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I do this pretty often, and people pretty much always complain. Less so people my age (college-aged), but a lot of professors, TAs, and my parents all claim that it's entirely too creepy. My parents have actually told me that they'd prefer if I just looked at the screen the whole time.

But on the other hand, why would I look at what I'm typing? I already know what it says- I hardly have to read it again. A good typist knows when they've hit the wrong key and should be able to correct for it without having to read.

Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen

#54

Post by ars »

err4nt wrote: post #31
Osmium wrote: post #29

I 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.

I used to have a palm pilot and I LOVED the 'graffiti' input mode with the stylus. You had an alphabet of simplified shapes and it made it very easy to enter something quickly without needing to ‘hunt and peck' on a miniature keyboard for the shift key or using shift keys to change modes. I wondered why nobody brought gesture-based inout to iOS this way. I don't care about 'handwriting recognition' of my own writing,…

> why nobody brought gesture-based inout to iOS

It's available for android:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.access_com...

Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen

#56

Post by vacri »

jdewald wrote: post #14
BonsaiDen wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least for me - a native German speaker with English as a self taught second language - I find that the `y` in bay actually makes it easier to figure out the correct pronunciation. Since `a` is pronounced as `ah` in German, just having `ba` would make the `a` sound like the one in `bra`, which would make it hard to distinguish between `ba(y)` and `ba(h)` when first learning the language. Removing the y's would also…

I thought that at first as well (about the potential confusion), but then recalled that most of the "possible" alternatives aren't real English words: "bah" is really only a sort of exclamation and the sound of a sheep, not something you'd really have appear in an interview. As you pointed out, "awa(h)", "ga(h)", "sla(h)" and "sta(h)" aren't English words [1] that you'd confuse in context so "away", "gay", "slay" and…

"only possibility for them" is not "the letter 'y' is silent", which the over-downmodded OP is complaining about. That it's not necessary for shorthand is not the same as being a silent letter.

For example, the vietnamese "chicken noodle soup" is spelled phở gà. It's pronounced something like fur gah. Every native English speaker I've heard (including me) that has seen that term written tries it out first as foe gah. If what the article was saying is true and the letter 'y' was irrelevant in such words, that first attempt would at least sometimes be foe gay - and I've never heard it that way at all.

Regarding 'sla', it's probably not going to be mistaken in context, but 'sla' is also a three-letter acronym that is moderately common - Service Level Agreement.

Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen

#57

Post by Grae »

sj4nz wrote: post #2

While 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…

That is precisely why the author relies on his smartpen:

"After all, shorthand—at least my shorthand—isn’t foolproof. Even though, for short stretches, I can write 120 words per minute, the average American now speaks at more than 150 words a minute, so something is inevitably lost in the translation. With my trusty Sky smartpen, though, I don’t have to worry. Most of the time, when I get around to writing the story, I can rely on my handwritten notes for short quotes and background information. But when I need a longer, verbatim quote, I can use my notes as a kind of index to find the right part of the interview, and tap there with my pen to hear the playback. No more of the forward/reverse dance with a digital recorder when it’s time to transcribe. It’s an almost flawless system."

The article isn't just about a cool old technology (though he does spend a lot of time on it), but to demonstrate the novel combination of complementary old and new technologies.

Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen

#58

Post by wpietri »

egypturnash wrote: post #4

"As a journalist, I begin most interviews by..." ...talking about my cool pen and Gregg Shorthand for a couple of minutes. Well that's a great way to spend the possibly limited time your interviewee has to talk to you.

When I do user interviews, I always try to talk a little bit at the beginning about something not directly relevant. It's especially good when I can offer something about myself; if I open up to people, they'll often open up more to me. It may look like a waste of time, but the better results say otherwise.

Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen

#59

Post by harmegido »

eru wrote: post #48
xrjn wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think an excellent input method for mobiles is Swiftkey. It has incredible accuracy, and it learns really fast as to what and how you type. Its intelligence beat all other keyboards that I tried, and I'm able to peak at over 60 WPM using SK with two fingers, and 40 WPM with 1 finger and flow. However, it gets tricky as soon as you get sloppy or start writing technical stuff, so I tend to stick with the traditional…

A friend of mine swears by Swiftkey, too. They seem to have taken a turn for the evil on Android recently, though: still usable as ever, but bugging you every once in a while to try out new themes, or asking for overly broad permissions.

yeah swiftkey is cool. I just tap normally, but you can be extremely sloppy with it (increasing speed) and it'll correct your mistakes as you go.

Only dig on it is that it leaves up a notification that you can't get rid of on some android phones. That's more an android issue from what I read though.

Re: How to Write 225 Words Per Minute With a Pen

#60

Post by robterrell »

err4nt wrote: post #31
Osmium wrote: post #29

I 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.

I used to have a palm pilot and I LOVED the 'graffiti' input mode with the stylus. You had an alphabet of simplified shapes and it made it very easy to enter something quickly without needing to ‘hunt and peck' on a miniature keyboard for the shift key or using shift keys to change modes. I wondered why nobody brought gesture-based inout to iOS this way. I don't care about 'handwriting recognition' of my own writing,…

I started on graffiti as a keyboard extension for iOS 8 during WWDC:

https://github.com/robterrell/graffiti-keyboard

Spent too much time simultaneously playing/fighting with Swift so it's far from complete (only has shape definitions for a half-dozen letters, and some are more accurate than others) but pull requests are welcome.

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