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A lesson in the lost technology of shorthand (2014)

theatlantic.com

61–68 of 68 posts

Re: A lesson in the lost technology of shorthand (2014)

#61

How often do you need to write down exactly what was said? Studies[0] show that when students use laptops to take notes, they remember less than when they use a pen and paper. The suggested mechanism by the latter improves retention is that it forces you to understand and summarize the content due to limited output speed (thereby processing it more deeply); when you are able to produce output at near the speed of inp…

I do quite a few interviews and find that its easier to record exactly what was said mechanically because at another level, I'm also understanding and responding to it. This way, I keep a record of what happened for later without much thought to summarizing it at that time, and instead am able to take the conversation where i want it to. later, i look at the raw notes and re-visualize the conversation and THEN draw conclusions.

So yes, IMO, there's place for exact notes when you're both the scribe and active participant.

Re: A lesson in the lost technology of shorthand (2014)

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That only works if you can 1) write fast and 2) decipher what you wrote earlier. I'm fortunate enough to be able to meet both of of those characteristics, but I know one of my colleagues specifically learned LaTeX and emacs so that he could take notes quickly in math classes. LaTeX for equations, emacs drawing mode for ASCII art diagrams.

My first semester in college I discovered that I could not read my notes. With some effort, I fixed that. 40 years later, I can still read the notes, but I no longer understand them because they have no context (the professor's words). At the time the notes served to remind me of the lectures, but not anymore. I wish I had made audio recordings, but the idea never occurred to me, nor to anyone else. The lectures are…

Lecture notes a lost treasure? Which school did you went to? MIT?

Re: A lesson in the lost technology of shorthand (2014)

#63
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first semester in college I discovered that I could not read my notes. With some effort, I fixed that. 40 years later, I can still read the notes, but I no longer understand them because they have no context (the professor's words). At the time the notes served to remind me of the lectures, but not anymore. I wish I had made audio recordings, but the idea never occurred to me, nor to anyone else. The lectures are…

Lecture notes a lost treasure? Which school did you went to? MIT?

The notes, no. The lectures themselves. For example, one of them was a Feynman guest lecture on potato chip worlds, which I'm sure if it was recorded it would be a classic today.

I went to Caltech.

Re: A lesson in the lost technology of shorthand (2014)

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean just about anything as long as it's in English.

If you want a fully generalizable script, use IPA; if you want something designed to be fast for a particular language, use a method designed for that language. Quikscript is great for mid-century Received Pronunciation, but if you want something that's fast for Spanish, you'll likely want to change things a bit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quikscript

I don't find the Spanish version of Gregg shorthand too different from what I saw for English.

http://zonaforo.meristation.com/topic/2185985/

Re: A lesson in the lost technology of shorthand (2014)

#65
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lecture notes a lost treasure? Which school did you went to? MIT?

The notes, no. The lectures themselves. For example, one of them was a Feynman guest lecture on potato chip worlds, which I'm sure if it was recorded it would be a classic today. I went to Caltech.

Whoa.

Re: A lesson in the lost technology of shorthand (2014)

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean just about anything as long as it's in English.

If you want a fully generalizable script, use IPA; if you want something designed to be fast for a particular language, use a method designed for that language. Quikscript is great for mid-century Received Pronunciation, but if you want something that's fast for Spanish, you'll likely want to change things a bit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quikscript

[deleted]

Re: A lesson in the lost technology of shorthand (2014)

#67
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do push the pen. Otherwise how would you write an O? like ()? Similarly there are upward strokes in h, b, d, k, m, n, r... I would say that cursive ("joined up handwriting" as I know it) prefers downward strokes, and I don't think it ever begins a letter with an upward stroke.

You pull it on the upward strokes too. Have you used a fountain pen for long periods of time? The nib acts as a spring (in fact it's called a "feder" in German, which coincidentally can mean "spring" though it also means "feather" which, of course, is the sense in which it is used) if you push on it. Little kids learn with a special kid's pen which has a very strong nib because they tend to push down hard and to push…

I have used a fountain pen and no you don't "pull it up". You'd have to rotate the entire pen for each letter which would be impossible.

Take a look: https://youtu.be/q6rfoRiWa8A?t=77

Pen is always at the same angle so a lot of the time it is being pushed up the page (or up-right).

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