Unlocking a new method of typing?
Hello everyone, I hope you’re doing well today. I have been fascinated by keyboarding at miraculous speeds, so much so that I had quickly been addicted to typing tests and seeing how fast I could truly get. Since I was a kid, I remember typing 60 words per minute without much effort, and then it slowly crept up to 80.
One of my most fond memories was when I was in a technology class and the teacher had made a deal with me that if I could beat him in a typing test, he would let me play flash games for the rest of the year. Now, the day came where we did this challenge, and I remember all the classmates grouped around my computer to see if I could get a higher speed than him. In the midst of all the pressure from a ton of people around me, I definitely slowed down, but I beat him by a single word per minute. To this day, I wish I had won by a larger margin, but I was slipping up from the pressure. Despite that fact though, I had claimed the victory, and I was able to carry that and have fun banter with this teacher.
I became known for my typing speed from my friends and family, and this is when I had early passion to do transcription. I remember having planned to do this as a student, thinking I could do it as a means of making money, but honestly looking back at the paid transcription work I was able to do, I’m glad I chose a different career path. It wasn’t for me, as I got to experience it eventually, having rough audio with verbatim requirements and heavy accents, background noise, and all that jazz.
I honestly enjoyed the transcription moments and the things I typed, though I cannot go into detail due to contracts and non-disclosure agreements. It helped me provide value to a business doing something I was pretty happy doing, and I don’t remember having all that much a problem with it, more so the recordings themselves and some strange grading standards with the particular company I transcribed for.
So, now, over time since around 2017, I remember doing typing tests, trying so hard for 100 words per minute and being so proud when I was able to achieve that (on the QWERTY layout that everyone knows and loves). But, that wasn’t enough!! I remember pushing it to 105, 110, 115, 120, just trying and trying to get faster and faster. It was a fun challenge for me and sometimes I would spend a whole day trying to break a record.
Well, fast forward to today, and my personal best as of July 31st, 2023, is attached below as a screenshot:
As you can see, my speeds have gotten pretty fast, with my QWERTY tests topping out at about an average of 125 words per minute, and a personal best of 171 words per minute on a 15 second test!
But, that wasn’t enough!! Of course it’s not…
Anddddd.. that’s where stenography comes in.
What is Stenography?
Stenography is a method of typing that takes the standard key-by-key approach and throws it on steroids. Instead of typing letter by letter until you build a word, it’s more like playing a piano and pressing multiple keys at the same time to hammer out one word or phrase. This is the concept that which not only makes it simpler and easier on your hands, but it makes it rapid fast. It takes advantage of phonetic sounds to build words and has a fraction of the keys as a normal keyboard. Granted, I do not have my stenography keyboard yet, but I have taken the plunge to order one and I can’t wait to start learning. It is most often used in court reporting where speeds can top up to at least 300 words per minute or even higher. How’s that for being able to communicate your thoughts at a rapid pace, and almost at the rate of human speech itself.
I had heard about this for a while, in addition to other ways of typing like the DVORAK layout, and a brief history about keyboarding led me to understand that QWERTY was inefficient on purpose to slow down typing speeds so typewriters wouldn’t jam. But, I had not had the opportunity to practice stenography because there was a barrier of entry, which was, getting the platform in which I could actually practice… until now!
Now what?
Well, unfortunately, I have to wait for this keyboard to arrive till I can comment on any further progress, but this is my official announcement regarding this endeavor of mine.
Were you wondering how this ties in with information security? Well, imagine being able to report your findings on an incident in double the time you would usually. Imagine being able to even script or program with such a method of typing, assuming you get familiar, because of course that’s going to be the drawback, but it’s most certainly possible. Not to mention, the community behind stenography is growing, and there’s a certain open source software out there that lessens the cost, called Plover, it is well documented and emulates keyboard technology to make things a breeze for beginners and hobbyists, versus the traditional trade schools that would otherwise charge you thousands.
A huge shout-out to the Plover community and Stenography keyboard suppliers who make things like this possible to a large demographic of consumers at next-to-nothing.
As always, stay tuned for updates on this post as I will definitely have lots to share with my stenography adventures, both good and bad, and it will be a way for me to learn. I can’t wait to explore all the possibilities with stenography, like being able to run Packet Tracer and configure a switch or router at rapid speed? Sounds like a fun time. Until next time! (Update: July 27 2023)