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The NY Times asks does handwriting matter? The Common Core standards stop teaching handwriting after the first grade, preferring a proficiency in typing after that.
However, studies are showing that children learn faster, are able to retain more information, and generate new ideas when they first learn to write by hand. The process of thinking about how to form a letter and putting it on the page stimulates more areas of the brain. This come from the inherent messiness in free-form writing, which can be a valuable learning tool.
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Unix: Some say the learning curve is steep, but you only have to climb it once.
-- Karl Lehenbauer
(Score: 1) by Lazarus on Wednesday June 04 2014, @04:07PM
I find that using a keyboard to take notes is MUCH faster than writing by hand, and does not result in the wrist/thumb cramps that go with extended periods of hand-writing. This has the additional advantage of being readable by anyone. It's a bummer if there's really a downside to only hand-writing very short documents and lists, and typing the rest.
(Score: 2) by DrMag on Wednesday June 04 2014, @04:22PM
Yep. You trade the cramps for carpal tunnel.
On a less sarcastic note, I discovered some years ago that the size of my pen had a lot to do with the cramps. If I use a wide-body pen or pencil, I can write for much longer periods of time than I can with a narrow-body.
(Score: 2) by evilviper on Wednesday June 04 2014, @05:13PM
He didn't specify an exact keyboard, so you really can't assert that. On crap keyboards, sure, maybe that will become a problem, but it's unlikely on anything decent, and extremely so on some of the awesome keyboards available out there. Some ergonomic keyboards are worse than regular junk.
Start off with the TypeMatrix. It should reduce the stress in days: http://typematrix.com/ [typematrix.com]
And you'll get a dramatic improvement if you switch layouts from QWERTY to Dvorak.
Though, to tell you the truth, in many years of working in several large companies, with hundreds of high-speed data entry workers, I have yet to meet someone who has issues with carpal tunnel syndrome. I must assume that it is actually extremely rare.
Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.
(Score: 1) by RobotLove on Wednesday June 04 2014, @06:50PM
I'm just going to throw Colemak into the ring. It's got two key advantages over Dvorak:
1. Cut/Paste/Copy/Undo are not moved. In Dvorak these all become two-hand gestures which means you must take your hand off the mouse.
2. CAPS LOCK mapped to Backspace. This is an unbelievable game-changer. I own a TypeMatrix (and 3 MS Natural 4000s, and a Truly Ergonomic Keyboard and am building 2 Ergo Dox), and I couldn't use it because it's "more convenient backspace in the middle" wasn't half as nice as having it in the traditional CAPS LOCK position, and TypeMatrix doesn't really work with mapping backspace there.
But other than that, I completely agree with you. :)
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday June 05 2014, @12:15AM
I'm going to throw Dvorak into the trash.
I've tried it. I once used it for an entire winter, (all 9 months of an Alaskan winter). In the spring, I went back to my summer cabin and the old QWERTY keyboard and was astounded at how much faster it was. So I started doing some research.
It was best summed up in this article: [reason.com] (Yeah, you gotta answer a question to read the whole thing...deal with it).
"The belief that the Dvorak keyboard is superior to QWERTY can be traced to a few key sources. A book published by Dvorak and several co-authors in 1936 presented Dvorak's own investigations, which might charitably be called less than objective. Their book has the feel of a late-night television infomercial rather than scientific work. "
It turns out ALL the studies of Dvorak were rigged. Go read the the linked article.
In my office, a large organization, we had over the years exactly one person demand a Dvorak keyboard. He was no faster or more accurate than any other clerk. But when he left, that's when I glomed on to his keyboard and tried to train myself to use it all for the next nine months. Junked it.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by evilviper on Thursday June 05 2014, @06:49AM
The record-setting, fastest (alphanumeric) typists in the world use Dvorak keyboard layouts. End of story. Your little anecdotes are utterly pointless.
http://web.archive.org/web/20100520063145/http://rcranger.mysite.syr.edu/famhist/blackburn.htm [archive.org]
The Dvorak layout doesn't necessarily promise faster speeds and fewer errors, though that can be a byproduct. What it actually guarantees is: "63% of the finger motion required by QWERTY" for much less exertion and stress. That can greatly reduce medical problems for frequent typists.
Your link is an utterly-mindless hit piece that makes Fox News look reputable by comparison... Their criticisms ALL amount to utterly and totally baseless speculation that SOMETHING dishonest might have been happening behind the scenes, in ALL the studies that found Dvorak superior, but of course they have ZERO evidence to back up their wild-ass speculation.
Meanwhile, the very-few studies they use to support their claims, have widely-known problems, which they completely fail to ever even mention! And any studies done that favor Dvorak, that they don't have any easy way to try and discredit, they just DON'T MENTION at all, like this peer-reviewed paper:
https://web.archive.org/web/20131031035039/http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ458816 [archive.org]
Finally, there's no reason at all to believe these two ECONOMISTS have any experience in the field that makes them capable of accurately evaluating the relevant studies. Instead, they make it clear their intention is only to undermine the claim that the free-market isn't always perfect, and they'll obviously stop at nothing to do so. They have NOT produced a peer-reviewed study on typing, just a long, extremely biased, opinion piece.
Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday June 05 2014, @03:51PM
Whoa, nerve hit!
The truth is, there are hundreds of such re-analysis write ups on the web, but the Dvorak mafia simply scream "hit piece" and sing la la la la when there is any light shined on the hype. Go read "The Fable of the Keys".
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by evilviper on Thursday June 05 2014, @04:02PM
Funny...
I'm the one who posted facts, figures, and sources which rebut your claims.
You're the one who's unable to dispute any of them, immediately resorting to ad hominem attacks.
Maybe you need to sing a little louder...
Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday June 05 2014, @05:21PM
I gave you a link to the seminal study in this field, far more rigorous than anything you've posted, a highly cited piece of economic research, and you stomped off calling it a hit piece.
Why would I dig up any more links for you?
Ask your self this:
With the electronic keyboard, there is ZERO additional cost to offering a Dvorak keyboard, and according to Dvorak, training takes but a week, and the costs are recouped in two or three months.
Dvorak keyboards are available for as little as $15.
So how is it that no major corporation (other than the tiny Dvorak Inc.) has ever pursued this inexpensive avenue of profit by cutting wholesale over to Dvorak?
Quoting Economist Deirdre McCloskey:
Nor is there any "lock in" for standard keyboards. Railway track gauge used world wide has a huge lock in, even thought the original choice of 4 feet 8-1/2 inches was purely arbitrary. The cost of relaying the world's rail lines locks in that gauge. Not so with Dvorak. They cost the same as regular keyboards, and learning to use it is easy.
So:
1) No significant cost to adopt Dvorak.
2) No significant retraining.
3) Supposed benefits accrue almost instantly, faster typists, lower medical bills
Yet the world ignores Devork, except a few fanatics.
Its been 78 years!!
The inescapable answer is that there is no benefit. None. Homeopathy has a better track record!
In fact, the economics strongly suggest that QWERTY is better.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by evilviper on Thursday June 05 2014, @06:29PM
"Seminal study" my ass... Right-wing think-tanks push out crap all the time. You want to promote it it because it agrees with you.
The "field" isn't even right. Economists know jack about keyboards, or analyzing studies on them. They're batting zero on evidence for their claims, anyhow.
There are millions of possible answers. You picked one explanation that supports your biases, for which you have no evidence in support, and plenty of counter evidence.
The economics strongly suggest that a Honda is vastly superior to a Mercedes-Benz, too. Economics is not useful when you want to know about science.
Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday June 05 2014, @06:45PM
There is no science behind Dvorak. NONE!
You've been duped. Face it. Your fad is ignored by the world.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by evilviper on Thursday June 05 2014, @07:21PM
Not even the peer-reviewed scientific study I linked? Strange. I could swear it existed.
You just keep on singing...
Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday June 05 2014, @07:54PM
Your so called peer reviewed study is paywalled.
We don't eve know if the peers agreed or disagreed!!
In fact, that study was referenced on only one other study, which found at best, a modest 4% difference in "digraph speed" [santafe.edu], a contrived test using only keys that are pressed with the same hand. This didn't translate to over all typing speed.
So there you have it. The independent (non Dvorak inc) studies show 4% speed increase only on certain letter combinations, but no over all affect on prose typing speed.
Which is why the corporate world has ignored Dvorak. It yields no measurable improvement.
Spend the same amount of learning time on Qwerty and your speed will increase by much more than 4%.
Homeopathy!
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by evilviper on Friday June 06 2014, @07:30AM
You're sure helpless, aren't you?
http://www.worldcat.org/title/relative-efficiencies-of-the-standard-and-dvorak-simplified-keyboards/oclc/425403487 [worldcat.org]
That's one study. There are many others.
Besides, you need to get off the "speed" kick. I've already said that speed/accuracy aren't necessarily benefits. LESS STRESS always is, which reduces pain and injuries, and is precisely what the above study found.
Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Thursday June 05 2014, @10:58PM
How many data entry clerks do you know who know where the setting is to change the keyboard layout? Sure, the company could have their IT guys do it, but good luck finding people willing to use a different layout at home and at work. Might have been feasible a few decades ago before home PCs were common, but no way that's gonna fly today. Not to mention that most companies would rather pay a bit more every week than pay a lot up front to retrain all their staff. How often have we heard the story of the company that destroyed its future because it looked good on next quarter's balance sheet?
And it's a *global* standard; are you seriously implying there's no inertia to that? Generally when anyone else sees my Model M with the keycaps arranged for Dvorak, they first ask 'what the hell is that?' And after I explain that I changed the layout, they then react with 'You can do that?!?' When I hand my computer to someone else and forget to change the keyboard layout, the reaction is 'Hey, your computer is broken, I swear I didn't do it!' Sure, it's easy enough to change *to us*, but to most people QWERTY is just the way all keyboards are.
Personally, I've been using Dvorak since highschool. I get the same speed I used to get on QWERTY (just north of 100WPM -- not that speed tests say anything about real-world usage) with slightly better accuracy. But more importantly, my wrists don't hurt from typing anymore. That used to happen almost every single night. But I can't recall it happening even once since switching. Even on the crappiest of laptop keyboards (The Lenovo T400 I'm using at work is absolutely atrocious; I do have a Model M on my ancient desktop at home but mostly I'm using a laptop with "chicklet" keys)
Oh, and just for fun regarding the thing about railways -- it was my understanding that railway gauge wasn't arbitrary at all, it was based on the jigs already used by wagon makers (who were making the early train cars) and those jigs were based on the ruts in old Roman roads (if your wagon didn't fit those ruts you were likely to break an axle) and the width of the Roman chariots was based on the width of a horse's rear. That could be an urban legend or something though.