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Type 225 Words per Minute with a Stenographic Keyboard (Video)

Posted by Roblimo on from the you-can-type-faster-if-you-use-more-than-one-finger-at-a-time dept.

Joshua Lifton says you can learn to type at 225 words per minute with his Stenosaurus, an open source stenography keyboard that has a not-there-yet website with nothing but the words, "Stenography is about to evolve," on it as of this writing. If you've heard of Joshua it's probably because he's part of the team behind Crowd Supply, which claims, "Our projects raise an average of $43,600, over twice as much as Kickstarter." A brave boast, but there's plenty of brainpower behind the company. Joshua, himself. has a PhD from MIT, which according to his company bio means, "he's devoted a significant amount of his time learning how to make things that blink." But the steno machine is his own project, independent of Crowd Supply.

Stenotype machines are usually most visible when court reporters are using them. They've been around since the 1800s, when their output was holes in paper tape. Today's versions are essentially chorded keyboards that act as computer input devices. (Douglas Engelbart famously showed off a chorded keyboard during his 1968 Mother of All Demos.) Today you have The Open Steno Project, and Stenosaurus is a member. And while Joshua's project may not have an actual website quite yet, it has an active blog. And the 225 WPM claim? Totally possible. The world record for English language stenography is 360 WPM. And you thought the Dvorak Keyboard was fast. Hah! (Alternate Video Link)

3 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. Now this is funny. by LWATCDR · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sorry I worked for a company that built Stenomachines and wrote software for Court Reporters.
    1. Learning to write Steno is hard. It is very hard. A lot of full time students never break 180, 225 is what you need to graduate.
    2. The market is small.
    3. You have several companies that have been in the market for decades. Stenograph, Advantage Software, ProCat, and Stenovations are probably the market leaders.
    4. The requirement for support is super high.
    5. The market is shrinking.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    1. Re:Now this is funny. by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 3, Informative

      many courtrooms do not allow recording or electronic devices. thus, the courtroom sketches and transcribing of proceedings in realtime.

      Except the court reporter is generally exempt from such rules. I used to be one. Most of the time the record is keyed real time. However you can't always get it all and be 100% every time. The recording is used to clean up the transcription after the fact.

      The ban of recording devices is for the general public and reporters.

  2. Plover by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    No discussion of open source steno is complete without mentioning the excellent Plover program. If you're interested at all in steno, check it out:

    http://plover.stenoknight.com/