1 00:00:00,083 --> 00:00:07,093 This is a talk about Plover, the world's first Open Source steno software. 2 00:00:07,093 --> 00:00:13,067 The steno machine, in its current form, was invented somewhere around 1913. 3 00:00:13,067 --> 00:00:17,080 It's a phonetic-mnemonic chording system, 4 00:00:17,080 --> 00:00:20,088 which means basically that everything you write 5 00:00:20,088 --> 00:00:26,048 is tied to a lexicon of anywhere between 100,000 and 200,000 words -- 6 00:00:26,048 --> 00:00:30,000 some of which are completely phonetic words, 7 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:35,042 some of which are sort of arbitrarily determined by the stenographer. 8 00:00:35,042 --> 00:00:38,067 So each stenographer has their own individual dictionary, 9 00:00:38,067 --> 00:00:43,038 which can vary greatly in its content and form. 10 00:00:43,038 --> 00:00:45,006 Steno is still -- 11 00:00:45,006 --> 00:00:48,098 even though it was originally invented in 1913 and hasn't really been improved, 12 00:00:48,098 --> 00:00:50,068 except that it's now computer-compatible, 13 00:00:50,068 --> 00:00:52,046 ever since the 80's -- 14 00:00:52,046 --> 00:00:56,079 steno is still the fastest text input method that there is. 15 00:00:56,079 --> 00:00:58,078 Speech-recognition doesn't touch it. 16 00:01:00,041 --> 00:01:01,082 Dvorak... 17 00:01:01,082 --> 00:01:06,093 Is kind of a joke, in comparison. 18 00:01:06,093 --> 00:01:14,041 Professional stenographers regularly write at speeds up to anywhere between 200 and 240 words per minute. 19 00:01:14,041 --> 00:01:17,035 That's considered the mark of a good stenographer. 20 00:01:17,035 --> 00:01:19,049 But the world record, as you can see, 21 00:01:19,049 --> 00:01:23,044 is 360 words per minute, at 97% accuracy. 22 00:01:23,044 --> 00:01:24,044 I can't do that. 23 00:01:24,044 --> 00:01:26,039 But maybe some of you will, someday. 24 00:01:26,039 --> 00:01:28,040 Who knows? 25 00:01:30,036 --> 00:01:33,052 Just because geeks like knowing the nuts and bolts of things, 26 00:01:33,052 --> 00:01:38,065 I figured I'd give you a brief intro of how it works, before I tell you why you care. 27 00:01:38,065 --> 00:01:42,014 The left hand handles the initial consonants of each syllable. 28 00:01:42,014 --> 00:01:45,057 The right hand handles the ending consonants of each syllable. 29 00:01:45,057 --> 00:01:47,072 And the thumbs handle the vowels. 30 00:01:47,072 --> 00:01:50,072 So, for example, if you wanted to write the word "gauge," 31 00:01:50,072 --> 00:01:54,065 you do the chord that makes up G on the left hand, 32 00:01:54,065 --> 00:01:58,097 the chord that makes up the J sound -- because it's not orthographic; it's phonetic -- 33 00:01:58,097 --> 00:02:00,072 on the right hand. 34 00:02:00,072 --> 00:02:02,087 And then the long A sound, 35 00:02:02,087 --> 00:02:06,040 which is a chord made up of several vowels with the thumbs. 36 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,066 So together you get TKPW: G, 37 00:02:09,066 --> 00:02:11,046 AEU: A, 38 00:02:11,046 --> 00:02:14,051 and PBLG: J. 39 00:02:14,051 --> 00:02:16,090 Put it together, you get "gauge." 40 00:02:16,090 --> 00:02:18,080 It's pretty simple. 41 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:22,094 And you can, like I said -- you have many of these strictly phonetic words 42 00:02:22,094 --> 00:02:27,022 that just are written exactly as they sound in English, 43 00:02:27,022 --> 00:02:31,096 and then you have many, many more words, phrases, combinations of words 44 00:02:31,096 --> 00:02:34,044 that are determined by the stenographer, 45 00:02:34,044 --> 00:02:37,032 out of their own head. 46 00:02:37,032 --> 00:02:40,099 So why do we need Open Source steno? 47 00:02:40,099 --> 00:02:45,001 Steno has been a locked-up industry since the beginning, 48 00:02:45,001 --> 00:02:49,016 but especially since the advent of computer-compatible steno machines. 49 00:02:49,016 --> 00:02:53,055 You know, there's a single company with a stranglehold on the market. 50 00:02:53,055 --> 00:02:55,088 There are a handful of other companies. 51 00:02:55,088 --> 00:03:00,001 And they all just charge egregious prices for bloated software 52 00:03:00,001 --> 00:03:04,008 that breaks all the time and has horrible DRM 53 00:03:04,008 --> 00:03:07,036 and is completely inaccessible to people 54 00:03:07,036 --> 00:03:08,056 who aren't professional stenographers. 55 00:03:08,056 --> 00:03:09,067 Yes? 56 00:03:09,067 --> 00:03:11,026 >> Do they only run on Windows, by any chance? 57 00:03:11,026 --> 00:03:12,039 Yes, indeed. 58 00:03:12,039 --> 00:03:18,023 Well, I think some people have got it running using, like, Windows Bootcamp or whatever, within Macs. 59 00:03:18,023 --> 00:03:22,012 But certainly there's no proprietary steno software that runs on Linux. 60 00:03:22,012 --> 00:03:24,062 I think some of it still runs on DOS, if that helps! 61 00:03:24,062 --> 00:03:28,046 I still know some working stenographers who run DOS software. 62 00:03:28,046 --> 00:03:30,004 But yeah. 63 00:03:30,004 --> 00:03:31,050 It's a hidebound system. 64 00:03:31,050 --> 00:03:32,095 It's locked in. 65 00:03:32,095 --> 00:03:34,033 It's expensive as hell. 66 00:03:34,033 --> 00:03:39,038 And that's why no one uses this incredible technology for anything except making a living, 67 00:03:39,038 --> 00:03:40,099 which is a real shame. 68 00:03:40,099 --> 00:03:44,027 So I discovered... 69 00:03:44,027 --> 00:03:46,068 Well, I wanted to do Open Source steno for a long time, 70 00:03:46,068 --> 00:03:48,042 because I was so frustrated with my software, 71 00:03:48,042 --> 00:03:50,057 and because we're a shrinking industry, 72 00:03:50,057 --> 00:03:52,092 and I want to bring more people into the field. 73 00:03:52,092 --> 00:03:54,074 And because it's cool, and I like geeking out about it. 74 00:03:54,074 --> 00:04:02,022 But when I realized that Microsoft was making a gaming keyboard 75 00:04:02,022 --> 00:04:05,072 that had full n-key rollover, and priced at $45, 76 00:04:05,072 --> 00:04:08,034 I realized that's basically a steno machine. 77 00:04:08,034 --> 00:04:09,075 You know? 78 00:04:09,075 --> 00:04:12,048 A really, really cheap, easily available steno machine. 79 00:04:12,048 --> 00:04:13,074 Yeah? 80 00:04:13,074 --> 00:04:15,038 >> What is n-key rollover? 81 00:04:15,038 --> 00:04:16,034 Oh, sorry. 82 00:04:16,034 --> 00:04:24,035 N-key rollover means that every keystroke is registered when pressed on the qwerty keyboard, 83 00:04:24,035 --> 00:04:26,020 even if it's several keystrokes at a time. 84 00:04:26,020 --> 00:04:30,025 So, you know, most keyboards, the typical keyboards -- 85 00:04:30,025 --> 00:04:34,057 anywhere more than three or four keys pressed at a time, 86 00:04:34,057 --> 00:04:36,061 some of those aren't going to register. 87 00:04:36,061 --> 00:04:40,039 But the specialty gaming keyboards make sure that everything you press registers, 88 00:04:40,039 --> 00:04:46,026 which means that you can type steno chords of up to 22 keys at a time, 89 00:04:46,026 --> 00:04:48,037 and they're all captured and noted. 90 00:04:48,037 --> 00:04:50,000 So... 91 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:51,076 Yeah. 92 00:04:51,076 --> 00:04:53,034 Steno software, $4,000. 93 00:04:53,034 --> 00:04:54,083 Plover, totally free. 94 00:04:54,083 --> 00:04:57,023 Plover, $45 keyboard. 95 00:04:57,023 --> 00:05:01,022 And now I have to convince you guys that you actually care. 96 00:05:01,022 --> 00:05:02,052 Oh, sorry. 97 00:05:02,052 --> 00:05:06,061 Just really briefly I'll tell you how Plover got rolling. 98 00:05:06,061 --> 00:05:10,080 Josh Lifton was working at a co-op in Brooklyn. 99 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:13,060 He's a freelance Python programmer. 100 00:05:13,060 --> 00:05:14,084 I'm a freelance stenographer. 101 00:05:14,084 --> 00:05:20,083 We both rented office space, and I told him that I needed a tutor, a Python tutor. 102 00:05:20,083 --> 00:05:23,039 Because I originally wanted to write this on my own, 103 00:05:23,039 --> 00:05:25,092 having very little Python knowledge whatsoever. 104 00:05:25,092 --> 00:05:27,056 But I posted something in the elevator. 105 00:05:27,056 --> 00:05:29,028 We got in touch. 106 00:05:29,028 --> 00:05:32,005 And at first he started off giving me lessons, 107 00:05:32,005 --> 00:05:34,010 and then as he got more excited about the project, 108 00:05:34,010 --> 00:05:37,046 he started donating a lot of his time. 109 00:05:37,046 --> 00:05:38,066 I mean, I paid him as much as I could. 110 00:05:38,066 --> 00:05:42,074 I've put about $3,000 into Plover out of my own pocket. 111 00:05:42,074 --> 00:05:45,026 But he's also donated countless hours of programming time 112 00:05:45,026 --> 00:05:47,048 to get it where it is right now. 113 00:05:47,048 --> 00:05:51,013 And he's kind of as hooked on steno as I am now. 114 00:05:51,013 --> 00:05:54,076 So it's Open Source in the sense that all the code is online. 115 00:05:54,076 --> 00:05:58,015 But it's not really community-developed at this point. 116 00:05:58,015 --> 00:06:01,067 He's basically the only one who's contributed a significant amount of code. 117 00:06:01,067 --> 00:06:03,044 But we hope that that will change. 118 00:06:03,044 --> 00:06:04,039 Okay. 119 00:06:04,039 --> 00:06:06,051 Why do you care? 120 00:06:06,051 --> 00:06:11,052 You coders, with your katanas and your VR glasses in your virtual reality parlors. 121 00:06:11,052 --> 00:06:12,052 You know? 122 00:06:12,052 --> 00:06:17,092 What possible connection would you have with this sweet, smiling, middle-aged lady 123 00:06:17,092 --> 00:06:20,085 in the courtroom with the paper hanging out of her steno machine? 124 00:06:20,085 --> 00:06:21,035 You know, why... 125 00:06:21,035 --> 00:06:24,006 There's nothing cyberpunk about steno. 126 00:06:24,008 --> 00:06:25,071 I mean, it's barely even steampunk. 127 00:06:25,071 --> 00:06:26,079 It's basically... 128 00:06:26,079 --> 00:06:29,018 A lot of people consider it, you know... 129 00:06:29,018 --> 00:06:32,089 Clerical, obsolete office equipment, right? 130 00:06:32,089 --> 00:06:36,094 Sometimes I tell people, "I can write 240 words a minute!" 131 00:06:36,094 --> 00:06:40,086 And they're like, "I only think at, like, 80, tops." 132 00:06:40,086 --> 00:06:45,053 And I'm like, "Yeah, I don't think that's necessarily true." 133 00:06:45,053 --> 00:06:50,038 This is an abstract of a six-part series that I've written on the Plover blog. 134 00:06:50,038 --> 00:06:54,055 Six essays dealing with what steno is actually useful for. 135 00:06:54,055 --> 00:06:59,039 I won't go through all of them in detail, because some of them are probably 136 00:06:59,039 --> 00:07:01,017 more relevant to you than others. 137 00:07:01,017 --> 00:07:04,084 But just to give a quick rundown of each one. 138 00:07:04,084 --> 00:07:07,062 Now, you can see speed is basically at the bottom. 139 00:07:07,062 --> 00:07:11,043 I tried to list these in order of priority for programmers. 140 00:07:11,043 --> 00:07:13,068 Speed isn't the most important thing, you know? 141 00:07:13,068 --> 00:07:15,099 It's useful for bragging rights. 142 00:07:15,099 --> 00:07:18,030 For winning online typing games. 143 00:07:18,030 --> 00:07:22,071 You know, it can be very useful in some specific circumstances. 144 00:07:22,071 --> 00:07:26,085 But primarily what I think steno would be very useful for, 145 00:07:26,085 --> 00:07:31,065 for programmers, is the fluency that it lends to thought when composing text. 146 00:07:31,065 --> 00:07:34,038 Because you're thinking in discrete chunks. 147 00:07:34,038 --> 00:07:36,055 You're generally thinking in words. 148 00:07:36,055 --> 00:07:39,099 Or in, you know, commands with various syntax attached. 149 00:07:39,099 --> 00:07:43,075 But they're usually, in your mind, probably reflected syllabically. 150 00:07:43,075 --> 00:07:45,034 You're saying them to yourself in your head. 151 00:07:45,034 --> 00:07:47,079 You're not spelling out every letter as you think of them. 152 00:07:47,079 --> 00:07:50,019 When you're writing this stuff in qwerty, 153 00:07:50,019 --> 00:07:54,010 you have to translate every letter into a finger action. 154 00:07:54,010 --> 00:07:55,015 You know? 155 00:07:55,015 --> 00:07:57,079 Which then you have to duplicate correctly on the keyboard. 156 00:07:57,079 --> 00:07:59,063 Your fingers fall all over themselves, 157 00:07:59,063 --> 00:08:00,083 you have to slow down, 158 00:08:00,083 --> 00:08:05,050 the error correction has to happen once per letter instead of once per word. 159 00:08:05,050 --> 00:08:10,013 It's far too granular, you know? 160 00:08:10,013 --> 00:08:13,005 With steno, you're thinking in discrete words, 161 00:08:13,005 --> 00:08:15,028 and you're writing those words as you think them. 162 00:08:15,028 --> 00:08:17,098 And I have not used Plover for programming, 163 00:08:17,098 --> 00:08:20,000 because, like I said, I'm still a novice. 164 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:22,002 But I... 165 00:08:22,002 --> 00:08:24,074 Do any of you know NaNoWriMo? 166 00:08:24,074 --> 00:08:29,048 The National Novel Writing Month, where you have to write a novel of 50,000 words in 30 days? 167 00:08:29,048 --> 00:08:31,052 I did that a couple of times. 168 00:08:31,052 --> 00:08:32,072 I did it once qwerty-style. 169 00:08:32,072 --> 00:08:34,034 And once steno-style. 170 00:08:34,034 --> 00:08:38,080 The qwerty was pure torture, because I was second-guessing myself at every word. 171 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:42,013 The steno just, like, flew out of my fingers. 172 00:08:42,013 --> 00:08:46,082 It wasn't a good novel, but it was so easy to write, because it just... 173 00:08:46,082 --> 00:08:52,009 You know, by the time my thoughts came out of my mind, they were already on the screen. 174 00:08:52,009 --> 00:08:55,001 I didn't have to spend that buffer zone tip-tapping them out. 175 00:08:55,001 --> 00:08:56,047 And I'm a fast qwerty typist. 176 00:08:56,047 --> 00:08:58,029 I can type around 100 words per minute. 177 00:08:58,029 --> 00:09:00,004 But I think people who think 178 00:09:00,004 --> 00:09:01,048 that they don't think faster than that 179 00:09:01,048 --> 00:09:04,060 don't realize how much their fingers are slowing them down. 180 00:09:04,060 --> 00:09:06,021 Yes? 181 00:09:06,021 --> 00:09:10,027 >> Have you spoken to any coders, or do you know any coders that are actually using steno now? 182 00:09:10,027 --> 00:09:16,063 No, the most advance interest that I've gotten does seem to be from coders. 183 00:09:16,063 --> 00:09:19,048 I think probably because Plover is Linux-only at this point, 184 00:09:19,048 --> 00:09:23,034 and so it's mostly tech geeks who are able to use it. 185 00:09:23,034 --> 00:09:27,008 I don't think there's anyone 186 00:09:27,008 --> 00:09:29,057 actually using it for coding right now. 187 00:09:29,057 --> 00:09:32,052 But I know of a couple people teaching themselves steno, 188 00:09:32,052 --> 00:09:34,051 in order to use it to code eventually, so... 189 00:09:34,051 --> 00:09:39,081 >>I guess maybe the closest analogy I might be able to make is that if you're captioning 190 00:09:39,081 --> 00:09:45,012 a physics or statistics class, it's very punctuation-heavy. 191 00:09:45,012 --> 00:09:46,060 Right, yeah. 192 00:09:46,060 --> 00:09:48,045 Steno's great at punctuation. 193 00:09:48,045 --> 00:09:54,022 >> So is it something where you basically just end up creating your own macros around programming constructs? 194 00:09:54,022 --> 00:09:55,096 That is what steno is all about. 195 00:09:55,096 --> 00:09:58,031 We call them defining entries in our dictionary. 196 00:09:58,031 --> 00:10:01,008 But it's very easy to do, and very useful. 197 00:10:01,008 --> 00:10:06,059 So I've been doing Python the Hard Way through CodeLesson online, 198 00:10:06,059 --> 00:10:09,067 and this is one of our exercises we had to do. 199 00:10:09,067 --> 00:10:12,024 A Zork-style text adventure. 200 00:10:12,024 --> 00:10:15,090 So I took a chunk of the code that I wrote and totaled up the keystrokes. 201 00:10:15,090 --> 00:10:17,098 I actually did write it on a qwerty laptop. 202 00:10:17,098 --> 00:10:21,058 So I totaled up the keystrokes that it took me to write on the qwerty laptop. 203 00:10:21,058 --> 00:10:23,042 222. 204 00:10:23,042 --> 00:10:25,059 Then I counted as if I had done it in steno. 205 00:10:25,059 --> 00:10:31,014 I got 119, but that's only assuming that I defined spawn_creche, that variable, 206 00:10:31,014 --> 00:10:34,053 as a single-stroke entry. 207 00:10:34,053 --> 00:10:36,022 So every time you reference it after that, 208 00:10:36,022 --> 00:10:37,050 you can just write it in one stroke. 209 00:10:37,050 --> 00:10:39,057 And the same thing with infinite_library. 210 00:10:39,057 --> 00:10:44,084 If I'd thought that I was only gonna use those variables once or twice, I would have just written them out letter by letter. 211 00:10:44,084 --> 00:10:49,007 And so then it would have only been 102 keystrokes, 212 00:10:49,007 --> 00:10:50,092 rather than 119. 213 00:10:50,092 --> 00:10:54,016 So you can see there is a really drastic increase in efficiency. 214 00:10:54,016 --> 00:10:57,050 Both ergonomically, as I'll address later, 215 00:10:57,050 --> 00:11:03,091 but also in terms of the number of potential errors you'll make, how far ahead of yourself you are 216 00:11:03,091 --> 00:11:05,048 when you start discovering those errors, 217 00:11:05,048 --> 00:11:07,088 and have to backspace back to fix them. 218 00:11:07,088 --> 00:11:09,067 And in just... 219 00:11:09,067 --> 00:11:11,090 When you think print, it comes out as "print"; 220 00:11:11,090 --> 00:11:14,008 it doesn't come out as P-R-I-N-T. 221 00:11:14,008 --> 00:11:19,061 It's hard to explain how much of a difference this makes until you use it. 222 00:11:19,061 --> 00:11:22,076 But I would advise everyone, if you're interested, 223 00:11:22,076 --> 00:11:26,057 to give it a try and to see how it works out. 224 00:11:26,057 --> 00:11:29,026 So the other thing... 225 00:11:29,026 --> 00:11:31,076 Let's see -- how much time do I have left? 226 00:11:31,076 --> 00:11:32,064 A fair amount. 227 00:11:32,064 --> 00:11:34,025 So I can go through a few of these. 228 00:11:34,025 --> 00:11:36,080 Mobile computing is, of course, 229 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:39,019 every cyberpunk fan's dream. 230 00:11:39,019 --> 00:11:40,090 I was a science fiction nerd. 231 00:11:40,090 --> 00:11:42,076 I'm still a science fiction nerd. 232 00:11:42,076 --> 00:11:47,066 And I would desperately love to be able to walk around and write down all my thoughts silently, 233 00:11:47,066 --> 00:11:50,007 and, you know, have my glasses, and... 234 00:11:50,007 --> 00:11:55,010 Honestly, the biggest barrier here is that there is no commercially available 235 00:11:55,010 --> 00:11:58,008 heads-up display for mobile computing. 236 00:11:58,008 --> 00:12:01,074 But once there is, steno is definitely the way to go with that. 237 00:12:01,074 --> 00:12:04,069 Because can you imagine putting a qwerty keyboard, like, 238 00:12:04,069 --> 00:12:09,076 in a wearable-style keyboard that you're walking around with, with 112 letters or something? 239 00:12:09,076 --> 00:12:11,038 I mean, it's just ridiculous. 240 00:12:11,038 --> 00:12:15,006 You know, the great thing about steno is it's designed for the human hand. 241 00:12:15,006 --> 00:12:17,035 It's only got 22 keys, and they're in columns. 242 00:12:17,035 --> 00:12:18,079 And not staggered columns. 243 00:12:18,079 --> 00:12:20,045 They're in nice aligned columns. 244 00:12:20,045 --> 00:12:23,070 So the footprint is basically the size of your hand. 245 00:12:23,070 --> 00:12:27,072 Any surface you can write on that you can put your hands on, you can steno on. 246 00:12:27,072 --> 00:12:29,060 You know? 247 00:12:29,060 --> 00:12:34,077 So I think there's a huge potential in mobile computing, once that gets going. 248 00:12:34,077 --> 00:12:37,084 It's geeky, but in certain situations, very useful. 249 00:12:37,084 --> 00:12:40,023 And pretty cool. 250 00:12:40,023 --> 00:12:41,051 Accessibility. 251 00:12:41,051 --> 00:12:48,069 Now this -- I'll talk about what I do professionally very briefly in the last entry point. 252 00:12:48,069 --> 00:12:51,056 And that's transcribing for the Deaf and hard of hearing. 253 00:12:51,056 --> 00:12:54,060 But when I talk about accessibility here, 254 00:12:54,060 --> 00:12:57,027 I'm mainly talking about text-to-speech, 255 00:12:57,027 --> 00:12:59,031 as opposed to speech-to-text. 256 00:12:59,031 --> 00:13:02,037 There are a lot of people with speech disabilities. 257 00:13:02,037 --> 00:13:06,005 Roger Ebert, who had to have his jaw removed because of cancer. 258 00:13:06,005 --> 00:13:08,055 There's a kid in Ireland who was born without a lower jaw. 259 00:13:08,055 --> 00:13:14,021 There are many people with various autistic spectrum conditions, you know, 260 00:13:14,021 --> 00:13:18,039 who don't speak verbally, but are very fluent in text. 261 00:13:18,039 --> 00:13:24,004 And, of course, people with hearing loss don't always use their voices to speak, 262 00:13:24,004 --> 00:13:28,054 but are perfectly able to converse at speed in text. 263 00:13:28,054 --> 00:13:32,005 Qwerty slows down their communication. 264 00:13:32,005 --> 00:13:33,075 It's very labor-intensive. 265 00:13:33,075 --> 00:13:37,010 It prevents, you know, easy back and forth conversations. 266 00:13:37,010 --> 00:13:41,073 Steno is the only technology that allows you to write as quickly as everyone else speaks, 267 00:13:41,073 --> 00:13:48,084 which means that if someone with a speech disability learns steno, they're able to basically converse with everyone 268 00:13:48,084 --> 00:13:50,071 as much as they want, 269 00:13:50,071 --> 00:13:54,003 on par with everyone else, speed-wise. 270 00:13:54,003 --> 00:13:57,088 And, conversely, the more geeks learn steno, 271 00:13:57,088 --> 00:14:01,082 the more Hearing geeks are able to converse with Deaf geeks. 272 00:14:01,082 --> 00:14:04,041 If they don't necessarily know Sign Language, 273 00:14:04,041 --> 00:14:07,078 they can all speak in the common language of English text. 274 00:14:07,078 --> 00:14:10,000 So there are a lot of potentials there. 275 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:12,041 Ergonomics. 276 00:14:12,041 --> 00:14:16,068 I think a big deal for a lot of people who work with text for a living. 277 00:14:16,068 --> 00:14:20,008 RSIs are no joke. 278 00:14:20,008 --> 00:14:27,065 And the individual finger motions of qwerty typing is very stressful on the muscles and tendons. 279 00:14:27,065 --> 00:14:31,055 Each finger basically has to depress each key. 280 00:14:31,055 --> 00:14:34,015 And you're constantly wiggling your fingers. 281 00:14:34,015 --> 00:14:35,064 There's not much call for rest. 282 00:14:35,064 --> 00:14:37,078 The motions that you use when writing steno... 283 00:14:37,078 --> 00:14:42,028 First of all, the force comes from the forearm rather than the fingers. 284 00:14:42,028 --> 00:14:45,072 Second of all, you're writing many fewer strokes per minute. 285 00:14:45,072 --> 00:14:52,087 You know, this rate of speed is around 200 words per minute. 286 00:14:52,087 --> 00:14:54,073 Moving your fingers like this. 287 00:14:54,073 --> 00:14:57,097 In qwerty, you have to go like that for just 100. 288 00:15:00,055 --> 00:15:02,097 It's also... 289 00:15:02,097 --> 00:15:08,037 Because of the small footprint, you're able to use different configurations. 290 00:15:08,037 --> 00:15:11,036 This is an ergonomic machine that I find very useful. 291 00:15:11,036 --> 00:15:16,033 I had developing RSIs several years ago, 292 00:15:16,033 --> 00:15:18,003 before I started steno. 293 00:15:18,003 --> 00:15:19,049 And since I got this machine, 294 00:15:19,049 --> 00:15:20,072 they've pretty much gone away, 295 00:15:20,072 --> 00:15:22,056 which is really good for what I do. 296 00:15:22,056 --> 00:15:25,001 I know a lot of programmers face that problem as well. 297 00:15:25,001 --> 00:15:26,033 >> Wait, you had what? 298 00:15:26,033 --> 00:15:29,009 Oh, I'm sorry -- repetitive stress injuries. 299 00:15:29,009 --> 00:15:30,034 Yes, sorry. 300 00:15:30,034 --> 00:15:31,060 RSIs. 301 00:15:31,060 --> 00:15:33,095 Any typist has the potential to develop these, 302 00:15:33,095 --> 00:15:37,000 and they can be really career-killing conditions. 303 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:40,087 And it's also just so much less effort, you know? 304 00:15:40,087 --> 00:15:45,048 I can sit back and write for seven hours at 180 words per minute, and not break a sweat. 305 00:15:45,048 --> 00:15:49,040 You know, whenever I try to keep up with qwerty, 306 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:55,058 and I'm typing 100 words a minute, by the end of it, I'm just... I'm wiped out. 307 00:15:55,058 --> 00:15:57,010 It's really exhausting. 308 00:15:57,010 --> 00:15:58,096 You wouldn't think, but it is. 309 00:15:58,096 --> 00:16:01,003 Pure speed I already addressed. 310 00:16:01,003 --> 00:16:02,072 It's just bragging rights, basically. 311 00:16:02,072 --> 00:16:04,032 And then professional stenography, 312 00:16:04,032 --> 00:16:08,093 which is honestly the main reason why I'm putting my own money and effort into developing this. 313 00:16:08,093 --> 00:16:12,040 I'm reaching out to you guys, because you're all geeks, 314 00:16:12,040 --> 00:16:14,097 and you probably won't become professional stenographers. 315 00:16:14,097 --> 00:16:21,061 But you might become the ones to give steno cachet. 316 00:16:21,061 --> 00:16:23,075 You know, you might start using it. 317 00:16:23,075 --> 00:16:25,020 Make other people aware of it. 318 00:16:25,020 --> 00:16:32,041 People will start playing the video games that you guys use to burn off stress. 319 00:16:32,041 --> 00:16:38,034 Or to develop the steno skills that you will then later use for coding purposes. 320 00:16:38,034 --> 00:16:42,080 And some people will realize that they actually really love doing this. 321 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:43,079 I love it. 322 00:16:43,079 --> 00:16:44,098 My job -- 323 00:16:44,098 --> 00:16:47,024 I make about six figures a year. 324 00:16:47,024 --> 00:16:48,062 I'm my own boss. 325 00:16:48,062 --> 00:16:55,052 I sit in college classes and transcribe lectures all day in so many different subjects. 326 00:16:55,052 --> 00:17:00,014 You know, from pharmacy to medical school, tax law, art school, you name it. 327 00:17:00,014 --> 00:17:01,041 It's paradise. 328 00:17:01,041 --> 00:17:05,078 And I get to, like, help people get an education. 329 00:17:05,078 --> 00:17:10,057 There are so few of us in this city that I've been killing myself 330 00:17:10,057 --> 00:17:13,075 trying to find coverage for the demand this semester. 331 00:17:13,075 --> 00:17:19,029 And if I don't get more people into our profession, it's going to wither up and die. 332 00:17:19,029 --> 00:17:23,083 And a lot of people who need what I do won't be able to get what they need. 333 00:17:23,083 --> 00:17:28,008 So I'm hoping that by bringing steno first to the subculture, 334 00:17:28,008 --> 00:17:29,077 and eventually to the mainstream, 335 00:17:29,077 --> 00:17:32,019 I'll build a group of amateurs, 336 00:17:32,019 --> 00:17:35,028 some of whom will be interested enough 337 00:17:35,028 --> 00:17:36,021 and committed enough 338 00:17:36,021 --> 00:17:38,096 to want to develop their skills and make it into a profession. 339 00:17:38,096 --> 00:17:41,065 So if you know anyone who might be interested in doing what I do, 340 00:17:41,065 --> 00:17:43,072 contact me after the lecture, 341 00:17:43,072 --> 00:17:47,075 because I would definitely love to speak to them. 342 00:17:49,053 --> 00:17:52,087 Okay, so here's my master plan for making this happen. 343 00:17:52,087 --> 00:17:54,054 Plover currently exists. 344 00:17:54,054 --> 00:17:56,070 It's pretty good. 345 00:17:56,070 --> 00:17:58,032 It's Linux-only. 346 00:17:58,032 --> 00:18:00,066 It's intended to be a keyboard emulator. 347 00:18:00,066 --> 00:18:04,028 You know, as opposed to all of the existing proprietary software out there, 348 00:18:04,028 --> 00:18:08,097 which are all, like, these giant word processors that are focused on providing printed transcripts, 349 00:18:08,097 --> 00:18:11,059 and have very rudimentary control over the OS. 350 00:18:11,059 --> 00:18:14,021 Plover is designed to have complete control over the OS. 351 00:18:14,021 --> 00:18:17,025 So you can use it for anything you can use your qwerty keyboard to do. 352 00:18:17,025 --> 00:18:23,023 It still needs just-in-time dictionary entries to be really, really useful. 353 00:18:23,023 --> 00:18:26,043 But other than that, it's pretty much working quite well. 354 00:18:26,043 --> 00:18:28,060 A couple of little bugs. 355 00:18:28,060 --> 00:18:33,066 But very few people -- as, you know, you asked me -- who actually uses Plover? 356 00:18:33,066 --> 00:18:36,008 Not that many people use Plover on a regular basis. 357 00:18:36,008 --> 00:18:41,022 I use it for transcribing on the train, because I don't like carrying my big steno machine -- 358 00:18:41,022 --> 00:18:43,054 you know, taking it out on the train and transcribing stuff. 359 00:18:43,054 --> 00:18:46,062 So I can just use this little keyboard, which is much easier. 360 00:18:46,062 --> 00:18:47,089 So I use it occasionally. 361 00:18:47,090 --> 00:18:50,018 It's also my backup machine in case this one breaks, 362 00:18:50,018 --> 00:18:52,063 which it has. 363 00:18:52,063 --> 00:18:57,058 And I know of a couple people who started out learning steno from Plover 364 00:18:57,058 --> 00:18:59,081 and then eventually got hooked and wound up buying 365 00:18:59,081 --> 00:19:01,094 proprietary software and proprietary hardware, 366 00:19:01,094 --> 00:19:05,021 because they decided to become professional stenographers. 367 00:19:05,021 --> 00:19:06,014 Which is cool. 368 00:19:06,014 --> 00:19:08,041 I like being a gateway drug to professional stenography. 369 00:19:08,041 --> 00:19:13,038 But I would much rather get people actually using Plover, 370 00:19:13,038 --> 00:19:15,074 make it useful enough that they can actually use it, 371 00:19:15,074 --> 00:19:20,099 rather than having to downgrade to these $4000 systems. 372 00:19:20,099 --> 00:19:22,077 How did that happen? 373 00:19:22,077 --> 00:19:23,056 Okay. 374 00:19:23,056 --> 00:19:26,056 Hover Plover is my way that I think I can get people into it. 375 00:19:26,056 --> 00:19:28,078 It's going to be a suite of little minigames. 376 00:19:28,078 --> 00:19:31,071 How many of you guys have played typing games? 377 00:19:31,071 --> 00:19:33,027 Yeah, exactly. 378 00:19:33,027 --> 00:19:34,022 And they're fun, right? 379 00:19:34,022 --> 00:19:38,074 They're actually even more fun with steno, because they're slightly more complex. 380 00:19:38,074 --> 00:19:40,093 You're not just doing the little home row tippy-tappy. 381 00:19:40,093 --> 00:19:42,086 You know, it's... 382 00:19:42,086 --> 00:19:45,082 You have to bring in these dictionary entry incorporations, 383 00:19:45,082 --> 00:19:48,069 defining your arbitrary mnemonic briefs. 384 00:19:48,069 --> 00:19:52,063 And, you know, you're stroking out whole words. 385 00:19:52,063 --> 00:19:56,060 So you can do something like a Guitar Hero-style thing, 386 00:19:56,060 --> 00:19:59,093 but you're actually writing all of the lyrics to the songs you're listening to. 387 00:19:59,093 --> 00:20:01,010 You know, in one stroke. 388 00:20:01,010 --> 00:20:01,098 It's really fun. 389 00:20:01,098 --> 00:20:03,087 It's actually a hypnotic kind of thing. 390 00:20:03,087 --> 00:20:06,054 Once you get into the groove, and you're writing everything you hear, 391 00:20:06,054 --> 00:20:09,007 and it's coming out through your fingers and onto the screen. 392 00:20:09,007 --> 00:20:10,069 It's a very pleasant sensation. 393 00:20:10,069 --> 00:20:14,061 So I've got a couple of ideas for the minigames 394 00:20:14,061 --> 00:20:19,044 that we can use as part of the tutorial to teach people steno in the most painless way possible. 395 00:20:19,044 --> 00:20:21,000 Because right now... 396 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:22,001 Oh, man. 397 00:20:22,001 --> 00:20:23,057 I went to court reporting school. 398 00:20:23,057 --> 00:20:26,076 Because there is no school to teach you how to provide realtime for the deaf. 399 00:20:26,076 --> 00:20:30,057 There's only court reporting. 400 00:20:30,057 --> 00:20:34,043 And then you have to sort of teach yourself the realtime side of the business. 401 00:20:34,043 --> 00:20:37,045 And it's sitting in a room for three hours, 402 00:20:37,045 --> 00:20:41,039 while someone reads you jury charges, basically. 403 00:20:41,039 --> 00:20:43,033 Like, legal material, you know. 404 00:20:43,033 --> 00:20:45,001 And they start out at 60 words a minute. 405 00:20:45,001 --> 00:20:47,058 And then once you pass that test, you go to 80 words a minute. 406 00:20:47,058 --> 00:20:50,087 And it's tedious and it's grueling. 407 00:20:50,087 --> 00:20:53,059 And it costs, like, 300 bucks a month. 408 00:20:53,059 --> 00:20:56,065 And there's an 85% dropout rate in steno schools. 409 00:20:56,065 --> 00:20:58,060 It's kind of a scam. 410 00:20:58,060 --> 00:21:00,010 They're all for-profit schools. 411 00:21:00,010 --> 00:21:02,010 It's a bad scene. 412 00:21:02,010 --> 00:21:06,059 I think getting people to actually use this while having a good time 413 00:21:06,059 --> 00:21:10,049 and getting, like, competitive about showing up on the high score tables 414 00:21:10,049 --> 00:21:14,062 is the way to really get a solid user base of steno users. 415 00:21:14,062 --> 00:21:17,045 So I'm just going to give you a couple screenshots. 416 00:21:17,045 --> 00:21:18,073 Like, mockups, obviously. 417 00:21:18,073 --> 00:21:20,072 Hover Plover does not yet exist, 418 00:21:20,072 --> 00:21:25,004 because, sadly, I'm kind of tapped out on funding for Plover. 419 00:21:25,004 --> 00:21:28,067 I'm looking for alternate sources. 420 00:21:28,067 --> 00:21:31,049 And Hover Plover hasn't really... 421 00:21:31,049 --> 00:21:36,056 I commissioned a couple of screenshots to see what the minigames might look like, 422 00:21:36,056 --> 00:21:40,034 but until I get some development money, 423 00:21:40,034 --> 00:21:43,071 Hover Plover will not exist yet. 424 00:21:43,071 --> 00:21:48,062 But here's what I'm hoping it'll look like when it does exist. 425 00:21:48,062 --> 00:21:51,026 So that's the Plovercraft, right? 426 00:21:51,026 --> 00:21:54,098 And your Plovercraft is busted. 427 00:21:54,098 --> 00:21:56,030 It can only go up. 428 00:21:56,030 --> 00:21:58,058 You know, and it can't navigate around obstacles. 429 00:21:58,058 --> 00:21:59,044 So you're... 430 00:21:59,044 --> 00:22:01,010 It's a 2D side-scrolling platformer. 431 00:22:01,010 --> 00:22:04,016 So you have to navigate around all these obstacles by pressing the word, 432 00:22:04,016 --> 00:22:08,020 by typing the word, so it'll like zoom you up above the obstacle. 433 00:22:08,020 --> 00:22:10,051 And then you'll start dropping back down again, 434 00:22:10,051 --> 00:22:13,020 to try to get to the repair shop to fix your Plovercraft. 435 00:22:13,020 --> 00:22:18,044 So the word "compression" in steno is spelled K-P-R-E-G-S. 436 00:22:18,044 --> 00:22:23,054 The GS is the "shun" ending and the KP is sort of "k'puh." 437 00:22:23,054 --> 00:22:25,017 It's semi-phonetic. 438 00:22:25,017 --> 00:22:28,006 There's lots of little shortcut tricks, you know? 439 00:22:28,006 --> 00:22:30,013 So you type that, and your Plovercraft zooms up. 440 00:22:30,013 --> 00:22:33,008 And, you know, you have to navigate around the stray cats 441 00:22:33,008 --> 00:22:35,049 and water towers and whatever else. 442 00:22:35,049 --> 00:22:37,089 I think it'll be awesome. 443 00:22:37,089 --> 00:22:41,039 The other mini game that I've got an idea for... 444 00:22:41,039 --> 00:22:42,052 (laughter) 445 00:22:42,052 --> 00:22:45,057 Yeah, so this is a... 446 00:22:45,057 --> 00:22:48,078 This is a top-down space shooter, basically. 447 00:22:48,078 --> 00:22:51,045 So you've got your little simple one-stroke words, 448 00:22:51,045 --> 00:22:54,011 like "snails" and "antidisestablishmentarianism." 449 00:22:54,011 --> 00:22:55,089 Easy peasy, right? 450 00:22:55,089 --> 00:22:59,046 Then you've got your slightly more challenging two-stroke words like "guardian". 451 00:22:59,046 --> 00:23:01,015 Slightly more challenging. 452 00:23:01,015 --> 00:23:03,000 "Bemusement"; three-stroke. 453 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,007 And then you got something like this. 454 00:23:05,007 --> 00:23:08,065 This giant scary laser ship, which is an undefined. 455 00:23:08,065 --> 00:23:11,036 So it's a word that doesn't appear in your dictionary. 456 00:23:11,036 --> 00:23:12,070 And you gotta figure out quickly 457 00:23:12,070 --> 00:23:14,070 what you want to define it as, define it, 458 00:23:14,070 --> 00:23:20,028 and then it goes down to these little, you know, depending on how many strokes it is, 459 00:23:20,028 --> 00:23:21,035 it'll go down to that stroke. 460 00:23:21,035 --> 00:23:23,060 So "frangipani" -- probably a three-stroke word. 461 00:23:23,060 --> 00:23:24,092 Not too scary. 462 00:23:24,092 --> 00:23:28,021 As long as you can define it in time, you have no problem. 463 00:23:28,021 --> 00:23:29,089 And you've gotten 107 defines already, 464 00:23:29,089 --> 00:23:33,071 so you're gonna be fine. 465 00:23:33,071 --> 00:23:35,064 That is basically... 466 00:23:35,064 --> 00:23:36,070 Sorry, that cut off. 467 00:23:36,070 --> 00:23:38,057 That's basically my talk. 468 00:23:38,057 --> 00:23:40,036 I'm very happy to answer any questions 469 00:23:40,036 --> 00:23:41,072 that you guys might have. 470 00:23:41,072 --> 00:23:45,050 But if you're interested, or know someone else who might be interested, 471 00:23:45,050 --> 00:23:47,083 I really -- 472 00:23:47,083 --> 00:23:50,076 I need some kind of a buttkick to get this going again. 473 00:23:50,076 --> 00:23:54,013 It's been on hiatus for about six months, ever since I ran out of money, 474 00:23:54,013 --> 00:23:56,064 and Josh had a baby and moved to the west coast. 475 00:23:56,064 --> 00:24:03,045 So I'd love any ideas on raising capital. 476 00:24:03,045 --> 00:24:06,064 Or if you know of anyone who might want to use the software. 477 00:24:06,064 --> 00:24:10,058 Or if you guys are interested in using the software, please let me know. 478 00:24:10,058 --> 00:24:12,039 Email me. 479 00:24:12,039 --> 00:24:13,090 Comment on the blog. 480 00:24:13,090 --> 00:24:16,016 I'll probably be posting these slides on the blog. 481 00:24:16,016 --> 00:24:21,042 And the Google group is cut off down there, but it's linked on the blog. 482 00:24:21,042 --> 00:24:23,051 So that's pretty much it. 483 00:24:23,051 --> 00:24:24,090 Thank you. 484 00:24:24,090 --> 00:24:28,096 (applause) 485 00:24:28,096 --> 00:24:31,058 Any questions? 486 00:24:31,058 --> 00:24:34,029 >> You just need funding for the game? 487 00:24:34,029 --> 00:24:37,001 Yeah, and, like, a little more work on Plover. 488 00:24:37,001 --> 00:24:39,037 Like, this one feature needs to be developed. 489 00:24:39,037 --> 00:24:43,019 >> Have you thought about maybe getting in touch with one of the Python start-up groups, 490 00:24:43,019 --> 00:24:47,068 or doing a workshop to introduce people to programming, 491 00:24:47,068 --> 00:24:50,021 and getting them up to speed? 492 00:24:50,021 --> 00:24:52,091 Because maybe they can take on one of the games as a project. 493 00:24:52,091 --> 00:24:57,082 Well, at this point I'm still sort of trying to gauge demand, because I get a lot of different responses. 494 00:24:57,082 --> 00:25:00,066 I mean, you guys obviously cared enough to come to the presentation. 495 00:25:00,066 --> 00:25:06,052 How many of you think that learning Plover might be a fun and/or useful thing to do at some point? 496 00:25:06,052 --> 00:25:07,067 So, like, most of you. 497 00:25:07,067 --> 00:25:09,019 That's encouraging. 498 00:25:09,019 --> 00:25:11,057 I know there's some selection bias, because you came to this talk. 499 00:25:11,057 --> 00:25:16,086 But it also proves that I didn't totally turn you off the idea, and so... 500 00:25:16,086 --> 00:25:17,058 Yeah? 501 00:25:17,058 --> 00:25:20,001 >> So I was curious why it was Linux-only, 502 00:25:20,001 --> 00:25:21,063 and you say it's a keyboard emulator, but I'm wondering -- 503 00:25:21,063 --> 00:25:23,060 what is the code base written in? 504 00:25:23,060 --> 00:25:28,042 Could it be Python libraries or some sort of HTML5, so you could use it anywhere? 505 00:25:28,042 --> 00:25:29,096 And could it go on GitHub? 506 00:25:29,096 --> 00:25:33,003 Okay, we started on GitHub and then moved to Launchpad. 507 00:25:33,003 --> 00:25:40,063 But the reason why it's currently Linux-only is because the code for the keyboard emulation 508 00:25:40,063 --> 00:25:43,056 is taken from xkey, which I think was written in Python. 509 00:25:43,056 --> 00:25:48,046 So it was pretty easy to incorporate it into the rest of Plover's Python code. 510 00:25:48,046 --> 00:25:53,017 The equivalent to xkey in Windows is AutoHotKey, which is written in C. 511 00:25:53,017 --> 00:25:57,050 So I think it will be a more complex job to sort of mash those two together and make them work. 512 00:25:57,050 --> 00:25:59,025 So that's basically it. 513 00:25:59,025 --> 00:26:02,033 I would definitely like to port to Windows, because I think that would open it up a lot. 514 00:26:02,033 --> 00:26:06,051 But it's going to take a little more development effort to do that. 515 00:26:08,008 --> 00:26:09,063 Yeah? 516 00:26:09,063 --> 00:26:16,045 >> Do you think there's a lot of demand at most any university to have someone caption lectures? 517 00:26:16,045 --> 00:26:18,098 Well, there certainly is in New York City. 518 00:26:18,098 --> 00:26:23,019 Like I said, I've had to turn down five or six students this semester, 519 00:26:23,019 --> 00:26:26,095 which is terrible, because it means that these people are basically not getting a education. 520 00:26:26,095 --> 00:26:29,031 Dental school, medical school... 521 00:26:29,031 --> 00:26:33,020 These are people who have worked their entire lives to get where they are, 522 00:26:33,020 --> 00:26:35,095 and now they're trying to go to school without any accommodations, 523 00:26:35,095 --> 00:26:38,060 because the people just aren't on the ground. 524 00:26:38,060 --> 00:26:41,006 It's a terrible state of affairs. 525 00:26:41,006 --> 00:26:44,073 So not all universities are willing to pay for accommodations, 526 00:26:44,073 --> 00:26:51,055 because, you know, it is a difficult skill to learn, and it's expensive to hire someone like me. 527 00:26:51,055 --> 00:26:54,027 But some schools definitely are, so there's a huge demand. 528 00:26:54,027 --> 00:26:55,002 Yeah? 529 00:26:55,002 --> 00:27:00,021 >>> My wife goes to dental school, and there's one student who listens to lectures, 530 00:27:00,021 --> 00:27:02,050 as well as type at the same time. 531 00:27:02,050 --> 00:27:06,060 Creates a transcript, and he obviously sells on the portal. 532 00:27:06,060 --> 00:27:07,060 Yeah. 533 00:27:07,060 --> 00:27:09,062 But he just types, like, qwerty-style? 534 00:27:09,062 --> 00:27:11,098 >> Um, I'm not sure how he... 535 00:27:11,098 --> 00:27:13,083 But yes, those transcripts are available. 536 00:27:13,083 --> 00:27:20,076 So the question from my wife was: How can he pay attention to the class, as well as type it? 537 00:27:20,076 --> 00:27:27,028 He just types, and when he goes home, he reads, and if he has a question, he goes to the professor. 538 00:27:27,028 --> 00:27:34,051 The good thing is: Many students, they don't attend the lecture, or partial lecture, it's kind of helpful to read. 539 00:27:34,051 --> 00:27:39,049 They have recordings, but not all professors have recordings. 540 00:27:39,049 --> 00:27:46,017 If they want to get a recording, they need to have a TA, and they need to pay the TA, and it's kind of expensive. 541 00:27:46,017 --> 00:27:50,089 And also searchable text is much more useful for studying purposes than a long, linear sound file. 542 00:27:50,089 --> 00:27:55,083 But -- so, first of all, to address that, he's probably not getting everything verbatim, 543 00:27:55,083 --> 00:27:57,058 obviously, if he's just doing qwerty. 544 00:27:57,058 --> 00:27:59,067 Although some typists are pretty good. 545 00:27:59,067 --> 00:28:02,018 They can get about half of the salient details. 546 00:28:02,018 --> 00:28:06,011 Second of all, I learn a hell of a lot when I'm transcribing. 547 00:28:06,011 --> 00:28:10,061 You know, it goes in through my ears and out through my fingers, but it leaves something behind. 548 00:28:10,061 --> 00:28:13,003 So, I think it's actually a pretty good... 549 00:28:13,003 --> 00:28:18,041 I know of at least one person who taught himself steno while going to school. 550 00:28:18,041 --> 00:28:20,021 Like, pre-pharmacy school. 551 00:28:20,021 --> 00:28:21,067 And got really good grades. 552 00:28:21,067 --> 00:28:24,057 But then decided he would rather be a stenographer than a pharmacist. 553 00:28:24,057 --> 00:28:27,087 So now he's getting into doing what I do, 554 00:28:27,087 --> 00:28:29,099 and working for Deaf and hard of hearing college students. 555 00:28:29,099 --> 00:28:34,076 >> Is there a clearinghouse site anywhere for captioning and steno jobs? 556 00:28:34,076 --> 00:28:37,002 No, it's mostly independent contractors. 557 00:28:37,002 --> 00:28:39,077 It's a very fractured field. 558 00:28:39,077 --> 00:28:46,041 >> So basically, if you were looking for work, there isn't a place you would go, other than to agencies? 559 00:28:46,041 --> 00:28:51,024 I just send my resume out to all 26 universities in the New York City area, 560 00:28:51,024 --> 00:28:53,005 and they come to me. 561 00:28:53,005 --> 00:28:54,000 Did you have a question? 562 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:55,043 >> About the library, so... 563 00:28:55,043 --> 00:28:57,057 Is she using steno right now? 564 00:28:57,057 --> 00:28:59,075 Yeah, she's using proprietary software. 565 00:28:59,075 --> 00:29:03,065 >> But you were saying you had to declare some variables. 566 00:29:03,065 --> 00:29:09,060 And that stenographers have their own library, and stuff like that -- how does that part tie in? 567 00:29:09,060 --> 00:29:13,001 So you just tell it -- this is how I would spell compression, 568 00:29:13,001 --> 00:29:15,049 and there's a way you can add this stuff 569 00:29:15,049 --> 00:29:16,056 while you're doing it? 570 00:29:16,056 --> 00:29:19,011 Yeah, well, this is the one feature that Plover is currently missing that it really needs to have 571 00:29:19,011 --> 00:29:21,063 in order to be very useful. 572 00:29:21,063 --> 00:29:23,092 I was assuming in that Zork thing -- 573 00:29:23,092 --> 00:29:27,003 that it had already been implemented, yeah. 574 00:29:27,003 --> 00:29:30,083 >> So the feature that Plover needs is the ability to add in your own new entries? 575 00:29:30,083 --> 00:29:32,076 Exactly; from the writer. 576 00:29:32,076 --> 00:29:33,063 I mean, you can do it -- 577 00:29:33,063 --> 00:29:36,012 you can edit the text file manually, you know. 578 00:29:36,012 --> 00:29:39,024 But being able to do it without breaking the stream of text is very useful, 579 00:29:39,024 --> 00:29:41,064 and I do all the time in my proprietary software. 580 00:29:41,064 --> 00:29:43,025 >> So you just shift into a mode? 581 00:29:43,025 --> 00:29:45,057 Uh-huh, yeah. 582 00:29:48,093 --> 00:29:54,085 >> So how long would it take for the average beginner to reach 200 words per minute with steno? 583 00:29:54,085 --> 00:29:56,094 200 is tricky. 584 00:29:56,094 --> 00:30:05,026 I find most people get up to around 100 or 120 within four to six months, 585 00:30:05,026 --> 00:30:09,046 and then they usually hit a wall and then plateau for a while. 586 00:30:09,046 --> 00:30:13,036 And so once you hit your first big plateau, it's tough to get above that. 587 00:30:13,036 --> 00:30:17,076 I got from 0 to 225 in a year and a half. 588 00:30:17,076 --> 00:30:22,073 And that was me probably in front of the machine about 60 hours a week, 589 00:30:22,073 --> 00:30:26,046 because I was doing it at my day job, and I was also practicing on my own time. 590 00:30:26,046 --> 00:30:33,080 But most people can probably get up to 120-140 within, you know, three to six months. 591 00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:35,085 And if Hover Plover is addictive enough, 592 00:30:35,085 --> 00:30:40,065 addictive enough that it gets people, you know, spending all night doing this -- 593 00:30:40,065 --> 00:30:41,084 which it really can. 594 00:30:41,084 --> 00:30:44,023 I know people who do just regular steno for hours, 595 00:30:44,023 --> 00:30:48,000 and they get sucked into this steno hole, and it's really engrossing. 596 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:52,061 You know, if it's addictive enough and people are spending a lot of time on it, 597 00:30:52,061 --> 00:30:55,041 their rates will go up really quickly. 598 00:30:57,020 --> 00:30:58,037 Yeah? 599 00:30:58,037 --> 00:31:01,094 >> Can you give me the details on adding a word on the fly like that? 600 00:31:01,094 --> 00:31:04,061 I'll tell you how my proprietary software does it. 601 00:31:04,061 --> 00:31:10,052 I invoke a macro on my steno machine, which is GLBL, short for "global this word." 602 00:31:10,052 --> 00:31:15,012 It pops up a window, which is, like, big and in the middle of the screen and obnoxious, 603 00:31:15,012 --> 00:31:17,031 unless I make it invisible. 604 00:31:17,031 --> 00:31:21,088 Plover will have a simple, discrete one-line window in the taskbar. 605 00:31:21,088 --> 00:31:25,077 But my proprietary software -- it's a huge, giant, unsightly thing. 606 00:31:25,077 --> 00:31:29,048 Anyway, I press GLBL, a window pops up, 607 00:31:29,048 --> 00:31:34,078 and it gives me the opportunity to tap out the word that I want letter by letter in English, 608 00:31:34,078 --> 00:31:39,078 and then to enter the steno strokes that correspond to it. 609 00:31:39,078 --> 00:31:41,042 So it just maps that, puts it in the dictionary, 610 00:31:41,042 --> 00:31:44,089 and then every time you enter the steno strokes, it comes out with the English. 611 00:31:44,089 --> 00:31:49,048 >> So this window pops up, you do that, you're done with that, you close the window, 612 00:31:49,048 --> 00:31:53,063 and it injects that new word into your stream, and you're back to going along -- 613 00:31:53,063 --> 00:31:55,061 Exactly. 614 00:31:55,061 --> 00:31:59,069 >> And so I'm thinking about keyboard shortcuts and how often there's conflicts. 615 00:31:59,069 --> 00:32:07,086 So, in steno, how well are you able to go, "Well, this is the new keystroke," 616 00:32:07,086 --> 00:32:10,011 and not have it hit, like, a bazillion possibilities? 617 00:32:10,011 --> 00:32:11,046 That's a really good point, actually. 618 00:32:11,046 --> 00:32:13,095 Thank you for bringing that up, because I hadn't mentioned it. 619 00:32:13,095 --> 00:32:15,051 I'm a Vim user. 620 00:32:15,051 --> 00:32:19,099 You know, and so you've got, in Vim, every key mapped to a command. 621 00:32:19,099 --> 00:32:21,050 A bit of a learning curve. 622 00:32:21,050 --> 00:32:23,078 But once you learn it, it's very useful. 623 00:32:23,078 --> 00:32:27,055 And there's some, you know, slight mnemonic things involved. 624 00:32:27,055 --> 00:32:29,012 Like B takes you back. 625 00:32:29,012 --> 00:32:30,053 F finds stuff. 626 00:32:30,053 --> 00:32:31,022 Whatever. 627 00:32:31,022 --> 00:32:33,082 Steno, first of all, is much more mnemonic, 628 00:32:33,082 --> 00:32:36,068 because it's tied to syllables, rather than to initial letters. 629 00:32:36,068 --> 00:32:41,074 So you're able to remember many more different commands. 630 00:32:41,074 --> 00:32:44,018 And the question of conflicts -- 631 00:32:44,018 --> 00:32:48,018 they're usually pretty easy to avoid if you make them sound like an English word, 632 00:32:48,018 --> 00:32:50,029 but they're not actually an English word. 633 00:32:50,029 --> 00:32:54,006 You know, so my brief for "ridiculous" is "RILGS." 634 00:32:54,006 --> 00:32:57,014 You know, to the point where I sometimes say it in English. 635 00:32:57,014 --> 00:32:59,011 Like, "Dude, that's totally rilgs." 636 00:32:59,011 --> 00:33:01,001 (laughter) 637 00:33:01,001 --> 00:33:04,036 Or, like, the brief for "necessarily" is "NELS." 638 00:33:04,036 --> 00:33:06,007 You know, it's pronounceable. 639 00:33:06,007 --> 00:33:07,074 It's very memorable. 640 00:33:07,074 --> 00:33:12,035 But it doesn't conflict with anything in English, because it's not a valid English syllable. 641 00:33:12,035 --> 00:33:18,052 So for command strokes, it's, you know, pretty simple to come up with something 642 00:33:18,052 --> 00:33:21,058 that's very easy to remember, very easy to write, but has... 643 00:33:21,058 --> 00:33:25,055 You have many, many more options. 644 00:33:25,055 --> 00:33:30,074 You know, with Vim, you just have basically the qwerty keyboard; that's 112 possible commands. 645 00:33:30,074 --> 00:33:36,024 For steno, you can have innumerable commands, because they're tied to syllables rather than to letters. 646 00:33:36,024 --> 00:33:40,055 >> Do you have punctuation on your keyboard, like curly braces and things like that? 647 00:33:40,055 --> 00:33:41,071 Oh, yeah, totally. 648 00:33:41,071 --> 00:33:45,067 I don't know if any of you guys saw me caption any of the talks. 649 00:33:45,067 --> 00:33:47,089 I didn't put any underscores when they appeared, 650 00:33:47,089 --> 00:33:53,059 because even though I told my proprietary steno software to define "RUND" as underscore, 651 00:33:53,059 --> 00:33:57,005 it decided it didn't want to do that. 652 00:33:57,005 --> 00:33:58,058 So it just didn't just happen. 653 00:33:58,058 --> 00:34:00,012 Sorry about that. 654 00:34:00,012 --> 00:34:02,024 My software, $4,000 software. 655 00:34:02,024 --> 00:34:03,087 >> Didn't work, huh? 656 00:34:03,087 --> 00:34:06,074 Are you kidding me? 657 00:34:06,074 --> 00:34:09,064 They don't even have Word Wrap on this thing. 658 00:34:09,064 --> 00:34:14,052 Seriously, we had to set the margins, like, really kind of bigger than we wanted to, 659 00:34:14,052 --> 00:34:17,044 because otherwise it would just start scrolling off the screen. 660 00:34:17,044 --> 00:34:19,040 It's pathetic. 661 00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:23,075 And I have to pay $700 a year just to get the upgrades. 662 00:34:23,075 --> 00:34:27,051 >> Are you actually using Plover at all, or is it still -- 663 00:34:27,051 --> 00:34:32,063 Yeah, as I said, I have it as a backup in case my proprietary stuff goes down. 664 00:34:32,063 --> 00:34:37,036 And I do occasionally use it when doing offline transcription for medical journals, 665 00:34:37,036 --> 00:34:42,001 because it's easier to take out the qwerty keyboard than to take this thing out. 666 00:34:42,001 --> 00:34:43,091 Um, yeah? 667 00:34:43,091 --> 00:34:46,047 >> Can you remap your qwerty keyboard into chords? 668 00:34:46,047 --> 00:34:48,047 You don't have to remap it. 669 00:34:48,047 --> 00:34:53,086 When Plover's turned on, it just sends out steno, 670 00:34:53,086 --> 00:34:55,097 and when you turn it off, it just goes back to qwerty. 671 00:34:55,097 --> 00:34:58,057 The only modification I made was I put a couple of leather keypads 672 00:34:58,057 --> 00:35:02,093 on the keys used for steno, just for some haptic feedback. 673 00:35:04,057 --> 00:35:06,043 It's very simple. 674 00:35:06,043 --> 00:35:08,040 If anyone wants to come up and try it out... 675 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:10,070 Well, I think I probably have to go to the next lecture to caption. 676 00:35:10,070 --> 00:35:13,031 But thank you so much for coming. 677 00:35:13,031 --> 00:35:16,066 And if you have any questions, please contact me, and I'd love to talk to y'all. 678 00:35:16,066 --> 00:35:17,089 Bye.