Cursives, Foiled Again!.
Tablet PC Makers Embrace a Dying Art: Handwriting
"Like millions of Americans, Mr. Storch has found that the ease, speed and accuracy of writing with a computer keyboard have vastly reduced the occasions on which he might turn to a pen or pencil. As a result, he and many others who spend hours a day using computers say that the penmanship they learned in school is deteriorating beyond recognition.
The trend is not likely to slow, proponents of penmanship say, as computers become even more common and school systems place less importance on teaching handwriting. Interest in teaching penmanship has reached such a low point, in fact, that the National Cursive Handwriting Contest for elementary school students will not be held during the coming year for the first time in its century-old history....
How paradoxical, then, that at a time when handwriting is in such decline, the computer industry is making a new push to embrace it. Led by Microsoft's development of the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system, hardware makers like Acer, ViewSonic and Fujitsu are this year releasing tablet PC's, laptop-like devices that permit users to write directly on the screen with a stylus and then manipulate the handwritten text....
But the new crop of tablet PC's represent much more than machines mimicking pen and paper. Computer makers say that technology is forcing handwriting to evolve in terms of how and when it is used. The tablet PC's may not only reflect those changes but also hasten them.
'I don't think we are physically losing our ability to write with a pen and pencil, but I do see changes,' said Edie Adams, manager of hardware user research for Microsoft. For example, she said, handwriting has become more useful as a thinking aid, for taking brief notes and working out ideas. Tablet PC technology is designed to take advantage of this aspect of handwriting ó as 'one to one, or even one to self' communication, Ms. Adams said....
The computer keyboard did not set handwriting on its path of decline. That honor belongs to the typewriter, which became commercially available in 1874.
But the computer keyboard had a far more profound impact, according to Nan DeLuca, a calligrapher and a board member of the Society of Scribes, a New York-based group that preserves and promotes fine penmanship.
Unlike the typewriter, which was primarily adopted by business, the computer proliferated in homes and schools as well as offices. Add all the permutations of keyboard-based digital technologies like hand-held organizers, two-way pagers, cellphones and even automatic teller machines, and the need to write something by hand in cursive or block letters diminishes.
Ms. DeLuca says that she has 'nice handwriting' when she is writing to others but that for most other things, her penmanship 'has gone down the tubes.'
Some computer users say they have not only grown more accustomed to writing with a computer keyboard, but are also increasingly hesitant to write anything by hand because there is no spelling- or grammar-checking software to fall back on." [New York Times: Technology]
Recently, I was lamenting the state of public education with a friend of mine who is a teacher. She said she spends way too much time teaching cursive writing, especially when you consider how much else falls by the wayside in its stead. I hadn't really thought about it until she brought this up but unfortunately, I think she's right.
I'd rather see Kailee's and Brent's teachers providing instruction in information literacy and computer concepts (versus just computer software) than teaching cursive writing. I write very little on paper anymore and when I do, it's a mish mash of sloppy print and cursive letters. In fact, I can't remember the last time I wrote an entire letter or document in all cursive. Will tablet PCs and voice recognition software (someday when it's a feasible alternative) be the final nails in the coffin?
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The Shifted Librarian]
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Can I Write These Off As A Business Deduction?....
And You Thought That Gadgets Were Only For the Kitchen, Part 2....We're Back!
"In a follow-up to the 2001 Presentation 60 Gadgets in 60 Minutes, we have compiled another list of sixty gadgets which appear below and on the subsequent few pages. This new series of gadgets were presented and discussed at the annual meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries in Orlando, Florida. The presentation has been condensed below for quick browsing and review. Preceeding the list of gadgets is a quick summary of some sources for finding and purchasing gadgets. Note that three of the items mentioned at the presentation were actually software programs and one is for an electric car. We unintentionally presented sixty-four items. If you subtract the four non-gadget items, there are still 60 Gadgets. In a sense, you get almost 7% more gadgets this time around!!" [LLRX.com]
Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! Do not, I repeat do NOT, follow the above link unless you have removed all of the credit cards from your wallet and have handed them over to a responsible party for the duration of your visit.
[The Shifted Librarian]
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Star Wars Episode II DVD Release on Nov. 12 [Slashdot]
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News briefs: August 1. Satellite data has revealed that the Earth's equator has been bulging for the last... [spacetoday.net]
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