WEBVTT 00:00:00.083 --> 00:00:07.093 This is a talk about Plover, the world's first Open Source steno software. 00:00:07.093 --> 00:00:13.067 The steno machine, in its current form, was invented somewhere around 1913. 00:00:13.067 --> 00:00:17.080 It's a phonetic-mnemonic chording system, 00:00:17.080 --> 00:00:20.088 which means basically that everything you write 00:00:20.088 --> 00:00:26.048 is tied to a lexicon of anywhere between 100,000 and 200,000 words -- 00:00:26.048 --> 00:00:30.000 some of which are completely phonetic words, 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:35.042 some of which are sort of arbitrarily determined by the stenographer. 00:00:35.042 --> 00:00:38.067 So each stenographer has their own individual dictionary, 00:00:38.067 --> 00:00:43.038 which can vary greatly in its content and form. 00:00:43.038 --> 00:00:45.006 Steno is still -- 00:00:45.006 --> 00:00:48.098 even though it was originally invented in 1913 and hasn't really been improved, 00:00:48.098 --> 00:00:50.068 except that it's now computer-compatible, 00:00:50.068 --> 00:00:52.046 ever since the 80's -- 00:00:52.046 --> 00:00:56.079 steno is still the fastest text input method that there is. 00:00:56.079 --> 00:00:58.078 Speech-recognition doesn't touch it. 00:01:00.041 --> 00:01:01.082 Dvorak... 00:01:01.082 --> 00:01:06.093 Is kind of a joke, in comparison. 00:01:06.093 --> 00:01:14.041 Professional stenographers regularly write at speeds up to anywhere between 200 and 240 words per minute. 00:01:14.041 --> 00:01:17.035 That's considered the mark of a good stenographer. 00:01:17.035 --> 00:01:19.049 But the world record, as you can see, 00:01:19.049 --> 00:01:23.044 is 360 words per minute, at 97% accuracy. 00:01:23.044 --> 00:01:24.044 I can't do that. 00:01:24.044 --> 00:01:26.039 But maybe some of you will, someday. 00:01:26.039 --> 00:01:28.040 Who knows? 00:01:30.036 --> 00:01:33.052 Just because geeks like knowing the nuts and bolts of things, 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. 00:01:38.065 --> 00:01:42.014 The left hand handles the initial consonants of each syllable. 00:01:42.014 --> 00:01:45.057 The right hand handles the ending consonants of each syllable. 00:01:45.057 --> 00:01:47.072 And the thumbs handle the vowels. 00:01:47.072 --> 00:01:50.072 So, for example, if you wanted to write the word "gauge," 00:01:50.072 --> 00:01:54.065 you do the chord that makes up G on the left hand, 00:01:54.065 --> 00:01:58.097 the chord that makes up the J sound -- because it's not orthographic; it's phonetic -- 00:01:58.097 --> 00:02:00.072 on the right hand. 00:02:00.072 --> 00:02:02.087 And then the long A sound, 00:02:02.087 --> 00:02:06.040 which is a chord made up of several vowels with the thumbs. 00:02:06.040 --> 00:02:09.066 So together you get TKPW: G, 00:02:09.066 --> 00:02:11.046 AEU: A, 00:02:11.046 --> 00:02:14.051 and PBLG: J. 00:02:14.051 --> 00:02:16.090 Put it together, you get "gauge." 00:02:16.090 --> 00:02:18.080 It's pretty simple. 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:22.094 And you can, like I said -- you have many of these strictly phonetic words 00:02:22.094 --> 00:02:27.022 that just are written exactly as they sound in English, 00:02:27.022 --> 00:02:31.096 and then you have many, many more words, phrases, combinations of words 00:02:31.096 --> 00:02:34.044 that are determined by the stenographer, 00:02:34.044 --> 00:02:37.032 out of their own head. 00:02:37.032 --> 00:02:40.099 So why do we need Open Source steno? 00:02:40.099 --> 00:02:45.001 Steno has been a locked-up industry since the beginning, 00:02:45.001 --> 00:02:49.016 but especially since the advent of computer-compatible steno machines. 00:02:49.016 --> 00:02:53.055 You know, there's a single company with a stranglehold on the market. 00:02:53.055 --> 00:02:55.088 There are a handful of other companies. 00:02:55.088 --> 00:03:00.001 And they all just charge egregious prices for bloated software 00:03:00.001 --> 00:03:04.008 that breaks all the time and has horrible DRM 00:03:04.008 --> 00:03:07.036 and is completely inaccessible to people 00:03:07.036 --> 00:03:08.056 who aren't professional stenographers. 00:03:08.056 --> 00:03:09.067 Yes? 00:03:09.067 --> 00:03:11.026 >> Do they only run on Windows, by any chance? 00:03:11.026 --> 00:03:12.039 Yes, indeed. 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. 00:03:18.023 --> 00:03:22.012 But certainly there's no proprietary steno software that runs on Linux. 00:03:22.012 --> 00:03:24.062 I think some of it still runs on DOS, if that helps! 00:03:24.062 --> 00:03:28.046 I still know some working stenographers who run DOS software. 00:03:28.046 --> 00:03:30.004 But yeah. 00:03:30.004 --> 00:03:31.050 It's a hidebound system. 00:03:31.050 --> 00:03:32.095 It's locked in. 00:03:32.095 --> 00:03:34.033 It's expensive as hell. 00:03:34.033 --> 00:03:39.038 And that's why no one uses this incredible technology for anything except making a living, 00:03:39.038 --> 00:03:40.099 which is a real shame. 00:03:40.099 --> 00:03:44.027 So I discovered... 00:03:44.027 --> 00:03:46.068 Well, I wanted to do Open Source steno for a long time, 00:03:46.068 --> 00:03:48.042 because I was so frustrated with my software, 00:03:48.042 --> 00:03:50.057 and because we're a shrinking industry, 00:03:50.057 --> 00:03:52.092 and I want to bring more people into the field. 00:03:52.092 --> 00:03:54.074 And because it's cool, and I like geeking out about it. 00:03:54.074 --> 00:04:02.022 But when I realized that Microsoft was making a gaming keyboard 00:04:02.022 --> 00:04:05.072 that had full n-key rollover, and priced at $45, 00:04:05.072 --> 00:04:08.034 I realized that's basically a steno machine. 00:04:08.034 --> 00:04:09.075 You know? 00:04:09.075 --> 00:04:12.048 A really, really cheap, easily available steno machine. 00:04:12.048 --> 00:04:13.074 Yeah? 00:04:13.074 --> 00:04:15.038 >> What is n-key rollover? 00:04:15.038 --> 00:04:16.034 Oh, sorry. 00:04:16.034 --> 00:04:24.035 N-key rollover means that every keystroke is registered when pressed on the qwerty keyboard, 00:04:24.035 --> 00:04:26.020 even if it's several keystrokes at a time. 00:04:26.020 --> 00:04:30.025 So, you know, most keyboards, the typical keyboards -- 00:04:30.025 --> 00:04:34.057 anywhere more than three or four keys pressed at a time, 00:04:34.057 --> 00:04:36.061 some of those aren't going to register. 00:04:36.061 --> 00:04:40.039 But the specialty gaming keyboards make sure that everything you press registers, 00:04:40.039 --> 00:04:46.026 which means that you can type steno chords of up to 22 keys at a time, 00:04:46.026 --> 00:04:48.037 and they're all captured and noted. 00:04:48.037 --> 00:04:50.000 So... 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:51.076 Yeah. 00:04:51.076 --> 00:04:53.034 Steno software, $4,000. 00:04:53.034 --> 00:04:54.083 Plover, totally free. 00:04:54.083 --> 00:04:57.023 Plover, $45 keyboard. 00:04:57.023 --> 00:05:01.022 And now I have to convince you guys that you actually care. 00:05:01.022 --> 00:05:02.052 Oh, sorry. 00:05:02.052 --> 00:05:06.061 Just really briefly I'll tell you how Plover got rolling. 00:05:06.061 --> 00:05:10.080 Josh Lifton was working at a co-op in Brooklyn. 00:05:10.080 --> 00:05:13.060 He's a freelance Python programmer. 00:05:13.060 --> 00:05:14.084 I'm a freelance stenographer. 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. 00:05:20.083 --> 00:05:23.039 Because I originally wanted to write this on my own, 00:05:23.039 --> 00:05:25.092 having very little Python knowledge whatsoever. 00:05:25.092 --> 00:05:27.056 But I posted something in the elevator. 00:05:27.056 --> 00:05:29.028 We got in touch. 00:05:29.028 --> 00:05:32.005 And at first he started off giving me lessons, 00:05:32.005 --> 00:05:34.010 and then as he got more excited about the project, 00:05:34.010 --> 00:05:37.046 he started donating a lot of his time. 00:05:37.046 --> 00:05:38.066 I mean, I paid him as much as I could. 00:05:38.066 --> 00:05:42.074 I've put about $3,000 into Plover out of my own pocket. 00:05:42.074 --> 00:05:45.026 But he's also donated countless hours of programming time 00:05:45.026 --> 00:05:47.048 to get it where it is right now. 00:05:47.048 --> 00:05:51.013 And he's kind of as hooked on steno as I am now. 00:05:51.013 --> 00:05:54.076 So it's Open Source in the sense that all the code is online. 00:05:54.076 --> 00:05:58.015 But it's not really community-developed at this point. 00:05:58.015 --> 00:06:01.067 He's basically the only one who's contributed a significant amount of code. 00:06:01.067 --> 00:06:03.044 But we hope that that will change. 00:06:03.044 --> 00:06:04.039 Okay. 00:06:04.039 --> 00:06:06.051 Why do you care? 00:06:06.051 --> 00:06:11.052 You coders, with your katanas and your VR glasses in your virtual reality parlors. 00:06:11.052 --> 00:06:12.052 You know? 00:06:12.052 --> 00:06:17.092 What possible connection would you have with this sweet, smiling, middle-aged lady 00:06:17.092 --> 00:06:20.085 in the courtroom with the paper hanging out of her steno machine? 00:06:20.085 --> 00:06:21.035 You know, why... 00:06:21.035 --> 00:06:24.006 There's nothing cyberpunk about steno. 00:06:24.008 --> 00:06:25.071 I mean, it's barely even steampunk. 00:06:25.071 --> 00:06:26.079 It's basically... 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:29.018 A lot of people consider it, you know... 00:06:29.018 --> 00:06:32.089 Clerical, obsolete office equipment, right? 00:06:32.089 --> 00:06:36.094 Sometimes I tell people, "I can write 240 words a minute!" 00:06:36.094 --> 00:06:40.086 And they're like, "I only think at, like, 80, tops." 00:06:40.086 --> 00:06:45.053 And I'm like, "Yeah, I don't think that's necessarily true." 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. 00:06:50.038 --> 00:06:54.055 Six essays dealing with what steno is actually useful for. 00:06:54.055 --> 00:06:59.039 I won't go through all of them in detail, because some of them are probably 00:06:59.039 --> 00:07:01.017 more relevant to you than others. 00:07:01.017 --> 00:07:04.084 But just to give a quick rundown of each one. 00:07:04.084 --> 00:07:07.062 Now, you can see speed is basically at the bottom. 00:07:07.062 --> 00:07:11.043 I tried to list these in order of priority for programmers. 00:07:11.043 --> 00:07:13.068 Speed isn't the most important thing, you know? 00:07:13.068 --> 00:07:15.099 It's useful for bragging rights. 00:07:15.099 --> 00:07:18.030 For winning online typing games. 00:07:18.030 --> 00:07:22.071 You know, it can be very useful in some specific circumstances. 00:07:22.071 --> 00:07:26.085 But primarily what I think steno would be very useful for, 00:07:26.085 --> 00:07:31.065 for programmers, is the fluency that it lends to thought when composing text. 00:07:31.065 --> 00:07:34.038 Because you're thinking in discrete chunks. 00:07:34.038 --> 00:07:36.055 You're generally thinking in words. 00:07:36.055 --> 00:07:39.099 Or in, you know, commands with various syntax attached. 00:07:39.099 --> 00:07:43.075 But they're usually, in your mind, probably reflected syllabically. 00:07:43.075 --> 00:07:45.034 You're saying them to yourself in your head. 00:07:45.034 --> 00:07:47.079 You're not spelling out every letter as you think of them. 00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:50.019 When you're writing this stuff in qwerty, 00:07:50.019 --> 00:07:54.010 you have to translate every letter into a finger action. 00:07:54.010 --> 00:07:55.015 You know? 00:07:55.015 --> 00:07:57.079 Which then you have to duplicate correctly on the keyboard. 00:07:57.079 --> 00:07:59.063 Your fingers fall all over themselves, 00:07:59.063 --> 00:08:00.083 you have to slow down, 00:08:00.083 --> 00:08:05.050 the error correction has to happen once per letter instead of once per word. 00:08:05.050 --> 00:08:10.013 It's far too granular, you know? 00:08:10.013 --> 00:08:13.005 With steno, you're thinking in discrete words, 00:08:13.005 --> 00:08:15.028 and you're writing those words as you think them. 00:08:15.028 --> 00:08:17.098 And I have not used Plover for programming, 00:08:17.098 --> 00:08:20.000 because, like I said, I'm still a novice. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:22.002 But I... 00:08:22.002 --> 00:08:24.074 Do any of you know NaNoWriMo? 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? 00:08:29.048 --> 00:08:31.052 I did that a couple of times. 00:08:31.052 --> 00:08:32.072 I did it once qwerty-style. 00:08:32.072 --> 00:08:34.034 And once steno-style. 00:08:34.034 --> 00:08:38.080 The qwerty was pure torture, because I was second-guessing myself at every word. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:42.013 The steno just, like, flew out of my fingers. 00:08:42.013 --> 00:08:46.082 It wasn't a good novel, but it was so easy to write, because it just... 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. 00:08:52.009 --> 00:08:55.001 I didn't have to spend that buffer zone tip-tapping them out. 00:08:55.001 --> 00:08:56.047 And I'm a fast qwerty typist. 00:08:56.047 --> 00:08:58.029 I can type around 100 words per minute. 00:08:58.029 --> 00:09:00.004 But I think people who think 00:09:00.004 --> 00:09:01.048 that they don't think faster than that 00:09:01.048 --> 00:09:04.060 don't realize how much their fingers are slowing them down. 00:09:04.060 --> 00:09:06.021 Yes? 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? 00:09:10.027 --> 00:09:16.063 No, the most advance interest that I've gotten does seem to be from coders. 00:09:16.063 --> 00:09:19.048 I think probably because Plover is Linux-only at this point, 00:09:19.048 --> 00:09:23.034 and so it's mostly tech geeks who are able to use it. 00:09:23.034 --> 00:09:27.008 I don't think there's anyone 00:09:27.008 --> 00:09:29.057 actually using it for coding right now. 00:09:29.057 --> 00:09:32.052 But I know of a couple people teaching themselves steno, 00:09:32.052 --> 00:09:34.051 in order to use it to code eventually, so... 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 00:09:39.081 --> 00:09:45.012 a physics or statistics class, it's very punctuation-heavy. 00:09:45.012 --> 00:09:46.060 Right, yeah. 00:09:46.060 --> 00:09:48.045 Steno's great at punctuation. 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? 00:09:54.022 --> 00:09:55.096 That is what steno is all about. 00:09:55.096 --> 00:09:58.031 We call them defining entries in our dictionary. 00:09:58.031 --> 00:10:01.008 But it's very easy to do, and very useful. 00:10:01.008 --> 00:10:06.059 So I've been doing Python the Hard Way through CodeLesson online, 00:10:06.059 --> 00:10:09.067 and this is one of our exercises we had to do. 00:10:09.067 --> 00:10:12.024 A Zork-style text adventure. 00:10:12.024 --> 00:10:15.090 So I took a chunk of the code that I wrote and totaled up the keystrokes. 00:10:15.090 --> 00:10:17.098 I actually did write it on a qwerty laptop. 00:10:17.098 --> 00:10:21.058 So I totaled up the keystrokes that it took me to write on the qwerty laptop. 00:10:21.058 --> 00:10:23.042 222. 00:10:23.042 --> 00:10:25.059 Then I counted as if I had done it in steno. 00:10:25.059 --> 00:10:31.014 I got 119, but that's only assuming that I defined spawn_creche, that variable, 00:10:31.014 --> 00:10:34.053 as a single-stroke entry. 00:10:34.053 --> 00:10:36.022 So every time you reference it after that, 00:10:36.022 --> 00:10:37.050 you can just write it in one stroke. 00:10:37.050 --> 00:10:39.057 And the same thing with infinite_library. 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. 00:10:44.084 --> 00:10:49.007 And so then it would have only been 102 keystrokes, 00:10:49.007 --> 00:10:50.092 rather than 119. 00:10:50.092 --> 00:10:54.016 So you can see there is a really drastic increase in efficiency. 00:10:54.016 --> 00:10:57.050 Both ergonomically, as I'll address later, 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 00:11:03.091 --> 00:11:05.048 when you start discovering those errors, 00:11:05.048 --> 00:11:07.088 and have to backspace back to fix them. 00:11:07.088 --> 00:11:09.067 And in just... 00:11:09.067 --> 00:11:11.090 When you think print, it comes out as "print"; 00:11:11.090 --> 00:11:14.008 it doesn't come out as P-R-I-N-T. 00:11:14.008 --> 00:11:19.061 It's hard to explain how much of a difference this makes until you use it. 00:11:19.061 --> 00:11:22.076 But I would advise everyone, if you're interested, 00:11:22.076 --> 00:11:26.057 to give it a try and to see how it works out. 00:11:26.057 --> 00:11:29.026 So the other thing... 00:11:29.026 --> 00:11:31.076 Let's see -- how much time do I have left? 00:11:31.076 --> 00:11:32.064 A fair amount. 00:11:32.064 --> 00:11:34.025 So I can go through a few of these. 00:11:34.025 --> 00:11:36.080 Mobile computing is, of course, 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:39.019 every cyberpunk fan's dream. 00:11:39.019 --> 00:11:40.090 I was a science fiction nerd. 00:11:40.090 --> 00:11:42.076 I'm still a science fiction nerd. 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, 00:11:47.066 --> 00:11:50.007 and, you know, have my glasses, and... 00:11:50.007 --> 00:11:55.010 Honestly, the biggest barrier here is that there is no commercially available 00:11:55.010 --> 00:11:58.008 heads-up display for mobile computing. 00:11:58.008 --> 00:12:01.074 But once there is, steno is definitely the way to go with that. 00:12:01.074 --> 00:12:04.069 Because can you imagine putting a qwerty keyboard, like, 00:12:04.069 --> 00:12:09.076 in a wearable-style keyboard that you're walking around with, with 112 letters or something? 00:12:09.076 --> 00:12:11.038 I mean, it's just ridiculous. 00:12:11.038 --> 00:12:15.006 You know, the great thing about steno is it's designed for the human hand. 00:12:15.006 --> 00:12:17.035 It's only got 22 keys, and they're in columns. 00:12:17.035 --> 00:12:18.079 And not staggered columns. 00:12:18.079 --> 00:12:20.045 They're in nice aligned columns. 00:12:20.045 --> 00:12:23.070 So the footprint is basically the size of your hand. 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. 00:12:27.072 --> 00:12:29.060 You know? 00:12:29.060 --> 00:12:34.077 So I think there's a huge potential in mobile computing, once that gets going. 00:12:34.077 --> 00:12:37.084 It's geeky, but in certain situations, very useful. 00:12:37.084 --> 00:12:40.023 And pretty cool. 00:12:40.023 --> 00:12:41.051 Accessibility. 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. 00:12:48.069 --> 00:12:51.056 And that's transcribing for the Deaf and hard of hearing. 00:12:51.056 --> 00:12:54.060 But when I talk about accessibility here, 00:12:54.060 --> 00:12:57.027 I'm mainly talking about text-to-speech, 00:12:57.027 --> 00:12:59.031 as opposed to speech-to-text. 00:12:59.031 --> 00:13:02.037 There are a lot of people with speech disabilities. 00:13:02.037 --> 00:13:06.005 Roger Ebert, who had to have his jaw removed because of cancer. 00:13:06.005 --> 00:13:08.055 There's a kid in Ireland who was born without a lower jaw. 00:13:08.055 --> 00:13:14.021 There are many people with various autistic spectrum conditions, you know, 00:13:14.021 --> 00:13:18.039 who don't speak verbally, but are very fluent in text. 00:13:18.039 --> 00:13:24.004 And, of course, people with hearing loss don't always use their voices to speak, 00:13:24.004 --> 00:13:28.054 but are perfectly able to converse at speed in text. 00:13:28.054 --> 00:13:32.005 Qwerty slows down their communication. 00:13:32.005 --> 00:13:33.075 It's very labor-intensive. 00:13:33.075 --> 00:13:37.010 It prevents, you know, easy back and forth conversations. 00:13:37.010 --> 00:13:41.073 Steno is the only technology that allows you to write as quickly as everyone else speaks, 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 00:13:48.084 --> 00:13:50.071 as much as they want, 00:13:50.071 --> 00:13:54.003 on par with everyone else, speed-wise. 00:13:54.003 --> 00:13:57.088 And, conversely, the more geeks learn steno, 00:13:57.088 --> 00:14:01.082 the more Hearing geeks are able to converse with Deaf geeks. 00:14:01.082 --> 00:14:04.041 If they don't necessarily know Sign Language, 00:14:04.041 --> 00:14:07.078 they can all speak in the common language of English text. 00:14:07.078 --> 00:14:10.000 So there are a lot of potentials there. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:12.041 Ergonomics. 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. 00:14:16.068 --> 00:14:20.008 RSIs are no joke. 00:14:20.008 --> 00:14:27.065 And the individual finger motions of qwerty typing is very stressful on the muscles and tendons. 00:14:27.065 --> 00:14:31.055 Each finger basically has to depress each key. 00:14:31.055 --> 00:14:34.015 And you're constantly wiggling your fingers. 00:14:34.015 --> 00:14:35.064 There's not much call for rest. 00:14:35.064 --> 00:14:37.078 The motions that you use when writing steno... 00:14:37.078 --> 00:14:42.028 First of all, the force comes from the forearm rather than the fingers. 00:14:42.028 --> 00:14:45.072 Second of all, you're writing many fewer strokes per minute. 00:14:45.072 --> 00:14:52.087 You know, this rate of speed is around 200 words per minute. 00:14:52.087 --> 00:14:54.073 Moving your fingers like this. 00:14:54.073 --> 00:14:57.097 In qwerty, you have to go like that for just 100. 00:15:00.055 --> 00:15:02.097 It's also... 00:15:02.097 --> 00:15:08.037 Because of the small footprint, you're able to use different configurations. 00:15:08.037 --> 00:15:11.036 This is an ergonomic machine that I find very useful. 00:15:11.036 --> 00:15:16.033 I had developing RSIs several years ago, 00:15:16.033 --> 00:15:18.003 before I started steno. 00:15:18.003 --> 00:15:19.049 And since I got this machine, 00:15:19.049 --> 00:15:20.072 they've pretty much gone away, 00:15:20.072 --> 00:15:22.056 which is really good for what I do. 00:15:22.056 --> 00:15:25.001 I know a lot of programmers face that problem as well. 00:15:25.001 --> 00:15:26.033 >> Wait, you had what? 00:15:26.033 --> 00:15:29.009 Oh, I'm sorry -- repetitive stress injuries. 00:15:29.009 --> 00:15:30.034 Yes, sorry. 00:15:30.034 --> 00:15:31.060 RSIs. 00:15:31.060 --> 00:15:33.095 Any typist has the potential to develop these, 00:15:33.095 --> 00:15:37.000 and they can be really career-killing conditions. 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:40.087 And it's also just so much less effort, you know? 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. 00:15:45.048 --> 00:15:49.040 You know, whenever I try to keep up with qwerty, 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. 00:15:55.058 --> 00:15:57.010 It's really exhausting. 00:15:57.010 --> 00:15:58.096 You wouldn't think, but it is. 00:15:58.096 --> 00:16:01.003 Pure speed I already addressed. 00:16:01.003 --> 00:16:02.072 It's just bragging rights, basically. 00:16:02.072 --> 00:16:04.032 And then professional stenography, 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. 00:16:08.093 --> 00:16:12.040 I'm reaching out to you guys, because you're all geeks, 00:16:12.040 --> 00:16:14.097 and you probably won't become professional stenographers. 00:16:14.097 --> 00:16:21.061 But you might become the ones to give steno cachet. 00:16:21.061 --> 00:16:23.075 You know, you might start using it. 00:16:23.075 --> 00:16:25.020 Make other people aware of it. 00:16:25.020 --> 00:16:32.041 People will start playing the video games that you guys use to burn off stress. 00:16:32.041 --> 00:16:38.034 Or to develop the steno skills that you will then later use for coding purposes. 00:16:38.034 --> 00:16:42.080 And some people will realize that they actually really love doing this. 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:43.079 I love it. 00:16:43.079 --> 00:16:44.098 My job -- 00:16:44.098 --> 00:16:47.024 I make about six figures a year. 00:16:47.024 --> 00:16:48.062 I'm my own boss. 00:16:48.062 --> 00:16:55.052 I sit in college classes and transcribe lectures all day in so many different subjects. 00:16:55.052 --> 00:17:00.014 You know, from pharmacy to medical school, tax law, art school, you name it. 00:17:00.014 --> 00:17:01.041 It's paradise. 00:17:01.041 --> 00:17:05.078 And I get to, like, help people get an education. 00:17:05.078 --> 00:17:10.057 There are so few of us in this city that I've been killing myself 00:17:10.057 --> 00:17:13.075 trying to find coverage for the demand this semester. 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. 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. 00:17:23.083 --> 00:17:28.008 So I'm hoping that by bringing steno first to the subculture, 00:17:28.008 --> 00:17:29.077 and eventually to the mainstream, 00:17:29.077 --> 00:17:32.019 I'll build a group of amateurs, 00:17:32.019 --> 00:17:35.028 some of whom will be interested enough 00:17:35.028 --> 00:17:36.021 and committed enough 00:17:36.021 --> 00:17:38.096 to want to develop their skills and make it into a profession. 00:17:38.096 --> 00:17:41.065 So if you know anyone who might be interested in doing what I do, 00:17:41.065 --> 00:17:43.072 contact me after the lecture, 00:17:43.072 --> 00:17:47.075 because I would definitely love to speak to them. 00:17:49.053 --> 00:17:52.087 Okay, so here's my master plan for making this happen. 00:17:52.087 --> 00:17:54.054 Plover currently exists. 00:17:54.054 --> 00:17:56.070 It's pretty good. 00:17:56.070 --> 00:17:58.032 It's Linux-only. 00:17:58.032 --> 00:18:00.066 It's intended to be a keyboard emulator. 00:18:00.066 --> 00:18:04.028 You know, as opposed to all of the existing proprietary software out there, 00:18:04.028 --> 00:18:08.097 which are all, like, these giant word processors that are focused on providing printed transcripts, 00:18:08.097 --> 00:18:11.059 and have very rudimentary control over the OS. 00:18:11.059 --> 00:18:14.021 Plover is designed to have complete control over the OS. 00:18:14.021 --> 00:18:17.025 So you can use it for anything you can use your qwerty keyboard to do. 00:18:17.025 --> 00:18:23.023 It still needs just-in-time dictionary entries to be really, really useful. 00:18:23.023 --> 00:18:26.043 But other than that, it's pretty much working quite well. 00:18:26.043 --> 00:18:28.060 A couple of little bugs. 00:18:28.060 --> 00:18:33.066 But very few people -- as, you know, you asked me -- who actually uses Plover? 00:18:33.066 --> 00:18:36.008 Not that many people use Plover on a regular basis. 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 -- 00:18:41.022 --> 00:18:43.054 you know, taking it out on the train and transcribing stuff. 00:18:43.054 --> 00:18:46.062 So I can just use this little keyboard, which is much easier. 00:18:46.062 --> 00:18:47.089 So I use it occasionally. 00:18:47.090 --> 00:18:50.018 It's also my backup machine in case this one breaks, 00:18:50.018 --> 00:18:52.063 which it has. 00:18:52.063 --> 00:18:57.058 And I know of a couple people who started out learning steno from Plover 00:18:57.058 --> 00:18:59.081 and then eventually got hooked and wound up buying 00:18:59.081 --> 00:19:01.094 proprietary software and proprietary hardware, 00:19:01.094 --> 00:19:05.021 because they decided to become professional stenographers. 00:19:05.021 --> 00:19:06.014 Which is cool. 00:19:06.014 --> 00:19:08.041 I like being a gateway drug to professional stenography. 00:19:08.041 --> 00:19:13.038 But I would much rather get people actually using Plover, 00:19:13.038 --> 00:19:15.074 make it useful enough that they can actually use it, 00:19:15.074 --> 00:19:20.099 rather than having to downgrade to these $4000 systems. 00:19:20.099 --> 00:19:22.077 How did that happen? 00:19:22.077 --> 00:19:23.056 Okay. 00:19:23.056 --> 00:19:26.056 Hover Plover is my way that I think I can get people into it. 00:19:26.056 --> 00:19:28.078 It's going to be a suite of little minigames. 00:19:28.078 --> 00:19:31.071 How many of you guys have played typing games? 00:19:31.071 --> 00:19:33.027 Yeah, exactly. 00:19:33.027 --> 00:19:34.022 And they're fun, right? 00:19:34.022 --> 00:19:38.074 They're actually even more fun with steno, because they're slightly more complex. 00:19:38.074 --> 00:19:40.093 You're not just doing the little home row tippy-tappy. 00:19:40.093 --> 00:19:42.086 You know, it's... 00:19:42.086 --> 00:19:45.082 You have to bring in these dictionary entry incorporations, 00:19:45.082 --> 00:19:48.069 defining your arbitrary mnemonic briefs. 00:19:48.069 --> 00:19:52.063 And, you know, you're stroking out whole words. 00:19:52.063 --> 00:19:56.060 So you can do something like a Guitar Hero-style thing, 00:19:56.060 --> 00:19:59.093 but you're actually writing all of the lyrics to the songs you're listening to. 00:19:59.093 --> 00:20:01.010 You know, in one stroke. 00:20:01.010 --> 00:20:01.098 It's really fun. 00:20:01.098 --> 00:20:03.087 It's actually a hypnotic kind of thing. 00:20:03.087 --> 00:20:06.054 Once you get into the groove, and you're writing everything you hear, 00:20:06.054 --> 00:20:09.007 and it's coming out through your fingers and onto the screen. 00:20:09.007 --> 00:20:10.069 It's a very pleasant sensation. 00:20:10.069 --> 00:20:14.061 So I've got a couple of ideas for the minigames 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. 00:20:19.044 --> 00:20:21.000 Because right now... 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:22.001 Oh, man. 00:20:22.001 --> 00:20:23.057 I went to court reporting school. 00:20:23.057 --> 00:20:26.076 Because there is no school to teach you how to provide realtime for the deaf. 00:20:26.076 --> 00:20:30.057 There's only court reporting. 00:20:30.057 --> 00:20:34.043 And then you have to sort of teach yourself the realtime side of the business. 00:20:34.043 --> 00:20:37.045 And it's sitting in a room for three hours, 00:20:37.045 --> 00:20:41.039 while someone reads you jury charges, basically. 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:43.033 Like, legal material, you know. 00:20:43.033 --> 00:20:45.001 And they start out at 60 words a minute. 00:20:45.001 --> 00:20:47.058 And then once you pass that test, you go to 80 words a minute. 00:20:47.058 --> 00:20:50.087 And it's tedious and it's grueling. 00:20:50.087 --> 00:20:53.059 And it costs, like, 300 bucks a month. 00:20:53.059 --> 00:20:56.065 And there's an 85% dropout rate in steno schools. 00:20:56.065 --> 00:20:58.060 It's kind of a scam. 00:20:58.060 --> 00:21:00.010 They're all for-profit schools. 00:21:00.010 --> 00:21:02.010 It's a bad scene. 00:21:02.010 --> 00:21:06.059 I think getting people to actually use this while having a good time 00:21:06.059 --> 00:21:10.049 and getting, like, competitive about showing up on the high score tables 00:21:10.049 --> 00:21:14.062 is the way to really get a solid user base of steno users. 00:21:14.062 --> 00:21:17.045 So I'm just going to give you a couple screenshots. 00:21:17.045 --> 00:21:18.073 Like, mockups, obviously. 00:21:18.073 --> 00:21:20.072 Hover Plover does not yet exist, 00:21:20.072 --> 00:21:25.004 because, sadly, I'm kind of tapped out on funding for Plover. 00:21:25.004 --> 00:21:28.067 I'm looking for alternate sources. 00:21:28.067 --> 00:21:31.049 And Hover Plover hasn't really... 00:21:31.049 --> 00:21:36.056 I commissioned a couple of screenshots to see what the minigames might look like, 00:21:36.056 --> 00:21:40.034 but until I get some development money, 00:21:40.034 --> 00:21:43.071 Hover Plover will not exist yet. 00:21:43.071 --> 00:21:48.062 But here's what I'm hoping it'll look like when it does exist. 00:21:48.062 --> 00:21:51.026 So that's the Plovercraft, right? 00:21:51.026 --> 00:21:54.098 And your Plovercraft is busted. 00:21:54.098 --> 00:21:56.030 It can only go up. 00:21:56.030 --> 00:21:58.058 You know, and it can't navigate around obstacles. 00:21:58.058 --> 00:21:59.044 So you're... 00:21:59.044 --> 00:22:01.010 It's a 2D side-scrolling platformer. 00:22:01.010 --> 00:22:04.016 So you have to navigate around all these obstacles by pressing the word, 00:22:04.016 --> 00:22:08.020 by typing the word, so it'll like zoom you up above the obstacle. 00:22:08.020 --> 00:22:10.051 And then you'll start dropping back down again, 00:22:10.051 --> 00:22:13.020 to try to get to the repair shop to fix your Plovercraft. 00:22:13.020 --> 00:22:18.044 So the word "compression" in steno is spelled K-P-R-E-G-S. 00:22:18.044 --> 00:22:23.054 The GS is the "shun" ending and the KP is sort of "k'puh." 00:22:23.054 --> 00:22:25.017 It's semi-phonetic. 00:22:25.017 --> 00:22:28.006 There's lots of little shortcut tricks, you know? 00:22:28.006 --> 00:22:30.013 So you type that, and your Plovercraft zooms up. 00:22:30.013 --> 00:22:33.008 And, you know, you have to navigate around the stray cats 00:22:33.008 --> 00:22:35.049 and water towers and whatever else. 00:22:35.049 --> 00:22:37.089 I think it'll be awesome. 00:22:37.089 --> 00:22:41.039 The other mini game that I've got an idea for... 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:42.052 (laughter) 00:22:42.052 --> 00:22:45.057 Yeah, so this is a... 00:22:45.057 --> 00:22:48.078 This is a top-down space shooter, basically. 00:22:48.078 --> 00:22:51.045 So you've got your little simple one-stroke words, 00:22:51.045 --> 00:22:54.011 like "snails" and "antidisestablishmentarianism." 00:22:54.011 --> 00:22:55.089 Easy peasy, right? 00:22:55.089 --> 00:22:59.046 Then you've got your slightly more challenging two-stroke words like "guardian". 00:22:59.046 --> 00:23:01.015 Slightly more challenging. 00:23:01.015 --> 00:23:03.000 "Bemusement"; three-stroke. 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:05.007 And then you got something like this. 00:23:05.007 --> 00:23:08.065 This giant scary laser ship, which is an undefined. 00:23:08.065 --> 00:23:11.036 So it's a word that doesn't appear in your dictionary. 00:23:11.036 --> 00:23:12.070 And you gotta figure out quickly 00:23:12.070 --> 00:23:14.070 what you want to define it as, define it, 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, 00:23:20.028 --> 00:23:21.035 it'll go down to that stroke. 00:23:21.035 --> 00:23:23.060 So "frangipani" -- probably a three-stroke word. 00:23:23.060 --> 00:23:24.092 Not too scary. 00:23:24.092 --> 00:23:28.021 As long as you can define it in time, you have no problem. 00:23:28.021 --> 00:23:29.089 And you've gotten 107 defines already, 00:23:29.089 --> 00:23:33.071 so you're gonna be fine. 00:23:33.071 --> 00:23:35.064 That is basically... 00:23:35.064 --> 00:23:36.070 Sorry, that cut off. 00:23:36.070 --> 00:23:38.057 That's basically my talk. 00:23:38.057 --> 00:23:40.036 I'm very happy to answer any questions 00:23:40.036 --> 00:23:41.072 that you guys might have. 00:23:41.072 --> 00:23:45.050 But if you're interested, or know someone else who might be interested, 00:23:45.050 --> 00:23:47.083 I really -- 00:23:47.083 --> 00:23:50.076 I need some kind of a buttkick to get this going again. 00:23:50.076 --> 00:23:54.013 It's been on hiatus for about six months, ever since I ran out of money, 00:23:54.013 --> 00:23:56.064 and Josh had a baby and moved to the west coast. 00:23:56.064 --> 00:24:03.045 So I'd love any ideas on raising capital. 00:24:03.045 --> 00:24:06.064 Or if you know of anyone who might want to use the software. 00:24:06.064 --> 00:24:10.058 Or if you guys are interested in using the software, please let me know. 00:24:10.058 --> 00:24:12.039 Email me. 00:24:12.039 --> 00:24:13.090 Comment on the blog. 00:24:13.090 --> 00:24:16.016 I'll probably be posting these slides on the blog. 00:24:16.016 --> 00:24:21.042 And the Google group is cut off down there, but it's linked on the blog. 00:24:21.042 --> 00:24:23.051 So that's pretty much it. 00:24:23.051 --> 00:24:24.090 Thank you. 00:24:24.090 --> 00:24:28.096 (applause) 00:24:28.096 --> 00:24:31.058 Any questions? 00:24:31.058 --> 00:24:34.029 >> You just need funding for the game? 00:24:34.029 --> 00:24:37.001 Yeah, and, like, a little more work on Plover. 00:24:37.001 --> 00:24:39.037 Like, this one feature needs to be developed. 00:24:39.037 --> 00:24:43.019 >> Have you thought about maybe getting in touch with one of the Python start-up groups, 00:24:43.019 --> 00:24:47.068 or doing a workshop to introduce people to programming, 00:24:47.068 --> 00:24:50.021 and getting them up to speed? 00:24:50.021 --> 00:24:52.091 Because maybe they can take on one of the games as a project. 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. 00:24:57.082 --> 00:25:00.066 I mean, you guys obviously cared enough to come to the presentation. 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? 00:25:06.052 --> 00:25:07.067 So, like, most of you. 00:25:07.067 --> 00:25:09.019 That's encouraging. 00:25:09.019 --> 00:25:11.057 I know there's some selection bias, because you came to this talk. 00:25:11.057 --> 00:25:16.086 But it also proves that I didn't totally turn you off the idea, and so... 00:25:16.086 --> 00:25:17.058 Yeah? 00:25:17.058 --> 00:25:20.001 >> So I was curious why it was Linux-only, 00:25:20.001 --> 00:25:21.063 and you say it's a keyboard emulator, but I'm wondering -- 00:25:21.063 --> 00:25:23.060 what is the code base written in? 00:25:23.060 --> 00:25:28.042 Could it be Python libraries or some sort of HTML5, so you could use it anywhere? 00:25:28.042 --> 00:25:29.096 And could it go on GitHub? 00:25:29.096 --> 00:25:33.003 Okay, we started on GitHub and then moved to Launchpad. 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 00:25:40.063 --> 00:25:43.056 is taken from xkey, which I think was written in Python. 00:25:43.056 --> 00:25:48.046 So it was pretty easy to incorporate it into the rest of Plover's Python code. 00:25:48.046 --> 00:25:53.017 The equivalent to xkey in Windows is AutoHotKey, which is written in C. 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. 00:25:57.050 --> 00:25:59.025 So that's basically it. 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. 00:26:02.033 --> 00:26:06.051 But it's going to take a little more development effort to do that. 00:26:08.008 --> 00:26:09.063 Yeah? 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? 00:26:16.045 --> 00:26:18.098 Well, there certainly is in New York City. 00:26:18.098 --> 00:26:23.019 Like I said, I've had to turn down five or six students this semester, 00:26:23.019 --> 00:26:26.095 which is terrible, because it means that these people are basically not getting a education. 00:26:26.095 --> 00:26:29.031 Dental school, medical school... 00:26:29.031 --> 00:26:33.020 These are people who have worked their entire lives to get where they are, 00:26:33.020 --> 00:26:35.095 and now they're trying to go to school without any accommodations, 00:26:35.095 --> 00:26:38.060 because the people just aren't on the ground. 00:26:38.060 --> 00:26:41.006 It's a terrible state of affairs. 00:26:41.006 --> 00:26:44.073 So not all universities are willing to pay for accommodations, 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. 00:26:51.055 --> 00:26:54.027 But some schools definitely are, so there's a huge demand. 00:26:54.027 --> 00:26:55.002 Yeah? 00:26:55.002 --> 00:27:00.021 >>> My wife goes to dental school, and there's one student who listens to lectures, 00:27:00.021 --> 00:27:02.050 as well as type at the same time. 00:27:02.050 --> 00:27:06.060 Creates a transcript, and he obviously sells on the portal. 00:27:06.060 --> 00:27:07.060 Yeah. 00:27:07.060 --> 00:27:09.062 But he just types, like, qwerty-style? 00:27:09.062 --> 00:27:11.098 >> Um, I'm not sure how he... 00:27:11.098 --> 00:27:13.083 But yes, those transcripts are available. 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? 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. 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. 00:27:34.051 --> 00:27:39.049 They have recordings, but not all professors have recordings. 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. 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. 00:27:50.089 --> 00:27:55.083 But -- so, first of all, to address that, he's probably not getting everything verbatim, 00:27:55.083 --> 00:27:57.058 obviously, if he's just doing qwerty. 00:27:57.058 --> 00:27:59.067 Although some typists are pretty good. 00:27:59.067 --> 00:28:02.018 They can get about half of the salient details. 00:28:02.018 --> 00:28:06.011 Second of all, I learn a hell of a lot when I'm transcribing. 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. 00:28:10.061 --> 00:28:13.003 So, I think it's actually a pretty good... 00:28:13.003 --> 00:28:18.041 I know of at least one person who taught himself steno while going to school. 00:28:18.041 --> 00:28:20.021 Like, pre-pharmacy school. 00:28:20.021 --> 00:28:21.067 And got really good grades. 00:28:21.067 --> 00:28:24.057 But then decided he would rather be a stenographer than a pharmacist. 00:28:24.057 --> 00:28:27.087 So now he's getting into doing what I do, 00:28:27.087 --> 00:28:29.099 and working for Deaf and hard of hearing college students. 00:28:29.099 --> 00:28:34.076 >> Is there a clearinghouse site anywhere for captioning and steno jobs? 00:28:34.076 --> 00:28:37.002 No, it's mostly independent contractors. 00:28:37.002 --> 00:28:39.077 It's a very fractured field. 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? 00:28:46.041 --> 00:28:51.024 I just send my resume out to all 26 universities in the New York City area, 00:28:51.024 --> 00:28:53.005 and they come to me. 00:28:53.005 --> 00:28:54.000 Did you have a question? 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:55.043 >> About the library, so... 00:28:55.043 --> 00:28:57.057 Is she using steno right now? 00:28:57.057 --> 00:28:59.075 Yeah, she's using proprietary software. 00:28:59.075 --> 00:29:03.065 >> But you were saying you had to declare some variables. 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? 00:29:09.060 --> 00:29:13.001 So you just tell it -- this is how I would spell compression, 00:29:13.001 --> 00:29:15.049 and there's a way you can add this stuff 00:29:15.049 --> 00:29:16.056 while you're doing it? 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 00:29:19.011 --> 00:29:21.063 in order to be very useful. 00:29:21.063 --> 00:29:23.092 I was assuming in that Zork thing -- 00:29:23.092 --> 00:29:27.003 that it had already been implemented, yeah. 00:29:27.003 --> 00:29:30.083 >> So the feature that Plover needs is the ability to add in your own new entries? 00:29:30.083 --> 00:29:32.076 Exactly; from the writer. 00:29:32.076 --> 00:29:33.063 I mean, you can do it -- 00:29:33.063 --> 00:29:36.012 you can edit the text file manually, you know. 00:29:36.012 --> 00:29:39.024 But being able to do it without breaking the stream of text is very useful, 00:29:39.024 --> 00:29:41.064 and I do all the time in my proprietary software. 00:29:41.064 --> 00:29:43.025 >> So you just shift into a mode? 00:29:43.025 --> 00:29:45.057 Uh-huh, yeah. 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? 00:29:54.085 --> 00:29:56.094 200 is tricky. 00:29:56.094 --> 00:30:05.026 I find most people get up to around 100 or 120 within four to six months, 00:30:05.026 --> 00:30:09.046 and then they usually hit a wall and then plateau for a while. 00:30:09.046 --> 00:30:13.036 And so once you hit your first big plateau, it's tough to get above that. 00:30:13.036 --> 00:30:17.076 I got from 0 to 225 in a year and a half. 00:30:17.076 --> 00:30:22.073 And that was me probably in front of the machine about 60 hours a week, 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. 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. 00:30:33.080 --> 00:30:35.085 And if Hover Plover is addictive enough, 00:30:35.085 --> 00:30:40.065 addictive enough that it gets people, you know, spending all night doing this -- 00:30:40.065 --> 00:30:41.084 which it really can. 00:30:41.084 --> 00:30:44.023 I know people who do just regular steno for hours, 00:30:44.023 --> 00:30:48.000 and they get sucked into this steno hole, and it's really engrossing. 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, 00:30:52.061 --> 00:30:55.041 their rates will go up really quickly. 00:30:57.020 --> 00:30:58.037 Yeah? 00:30:58.037 --> 00:31:01.094 >> Can you give me the details on adding a word on the fly like that? 00:31:01.094 --> 00:31:04.061 I'll tell you how my proprietary software does it. 00:31:04.061 --> 00:31:10.052 I invoke a macro on my steno machine, which is GLBL, short for "global this word." 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, 00:31:15.012 --> 00:31:17.031 unless I make it invisible. 00:31:17.031 --> 00:31:21.088 Plover will have a simple, discrete one-line window in the taskbar. 00:31:21.088 --> 00:31:25.077 But my proprietary software -- it's a huge, giant, unsightly thing. 00:31:25.077 --> 00:31:29.048 Anyway, I press GLBL, a window pops up, 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, 00:31:34.078 --> 00:31:39.078 and then to enter the steno strokes that correspond to it. 00:31:39.078 --> 00:31:41.042 So it just maps that, puts it in the dictionary, 00:31:41.042 --> 00:31:44.089 and then every time you enter the steno strokes, it comes out with the English. 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, 00:31:49.048 --> 00:31:53.063 and it injects that new word into your stream, and you're back to going along -- 00:31:53.063 --> 00:31:55.061 Exactly. 00:31:55.061 --> 00:31:59.069 >> And so I'm thinking about keyboard shortcuts and how often there's conflicts. 00:31:59.069 --> 00:32:07.086 So, in steno, how well are you able to go, "Well, this is the new keystroke," 00:32:07.086 --> 00:32:10.011 and not have it hit, like, a bazillion possibilities? 00:32:10.011 --> 00:32:11.046 That's a really good point, actually. 00:32:11.046 --> 00:32:13.095 Thank you for bringing that up, because I hadn't mentioned it. 00:32:13.095 --> 00:32:15.051 I'm a Vim user. 00:32:15.051 --> 00:32:19.099 You know, and so you've got, in Vim, every key mapped to a command. 00:32:19.099 --> 00:32:21.050 A bit of a learning curve. 00:32:21.050 --> 00:32:23.078 But once you learn it, it's very useful. 00:32:23.078 --> 00:32:27.055 And there's some, you know, slight mnemonic things involved. 00:32:27.055 --> 00:32:29.012 Like B takes you back. 00:32:29.012 --> 00:32:30.053 F finds stuff. 00:32:30.053 --> 00:32:31.022 Whatever. 00:32:31.022 --> 00:32:33.082 Steno, first of all, is much more mnemonic, 00:32:33.082 --> 00:32:36.068 because it's tied to syllables, rather than to initial letters. 00:32:36.068 --> 00:32:41.074 So you're able to remember many more different commands. 00:32:41.074 --> 00:32:44.018 And the question of conflicts -- 00:32:44.018 --> 00:32:48.018 they're usually pretty easy to avoid if you make them sound like an English word, 00:32:48.018 --> 00:32:50.029 but they're not actually an English word. 00:32:50.029 --> 00:32:54.006 You know, so my brief for "ridiculous" is "RILGS." 00:32:54.006 --> 00:32:57.014 You know, to the point where I sometimes say it in English. 00:32:57.014 --> 00:32:59.011 Like, "Dude, that's totally rilgs." 00:32:59.011 --> 00:33:01.001 (laughter) 00:33:01.001 --> 00:33:04.036 Or, like, the brief for "necessarily" is "NELS." 00:33:04.036 --> 00:33:06.007 You know, it's pronounceable. 00:33:06.007 --> 00:33:07.074 It's very memorable. 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. 00:33:12.035 --> 00:33:18.052 So for command strokes, it's, you know, pretty simple to come up with something 00:33:18.052 --> 00:33:21.058 that's very easy to remember, very easy to write, but has... 00:33:21.058 --> 00:33:25.055 You have many, many more options. 00:33:25.055 --> 00:33:30.074 You know, with Vim, you just have basically the qwerty keyboard; that's 112 possible commands. 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. 00:33:36.024 --> 00:33:40.055 >> Do you have punctuation on your keyboard, like curly braces and things like that? 00:33:40.055 --> 00:33:41.071 Oh, yeah, totally. 00:33:41.071 --> 00:33:45.067 I don't know if any of you guys saw me caption any of the talks. 00:33:45.067 --> 00:33:47.089 I didn't put any underscores when they appeared, 00:33:47.089 --> 00:33:53.059 because even though I told my proprietary steno software to define "RUND" as underscore, 00:33:53.059 --> 00:33:57.005 it decided it didn't want to do that. 00:33:57.005 --> 00:33:58.058 So it just didn't just happen. 00:33:58.058 --> 00:34:00.012 Sorry about that. 00:34:00.012 --> 00:34:02.024 My software, $4,000 software. 00:34:02.024 --> 00:34:03.087 >> Didn't work, huh? 00:34:03.087 --> 00:34:06.074 Are you kidding me? 00:34:06.074 --> 00:34:09.064 They don't even have Word Wrap on this thing. 00:34:09.064 --> 00:34:14.052 Seriously, we had to set the margins, like, really kind of bigger than we wanted to, 00:34:14.052 --> 00:34:17.044 because otherwise it would just start scrolling off the screen. 00:34:17.044 --> 00:34:19.040 It's pathetic. 00:34:19.040 --> 00:34:23.075 And I have to pay $700 a year just to get the upgrades. 00:34:23.075 --> 00:34:27.051 >> Are you actually using Plover at all, or is it still -- 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. 00:34:32.063 --> 00:34:37.036 And I do occasionally use it when doing offline transcription for medical journals, 00:34:37.036 --> 00:34:42.001 because it's easier to take out the qwerty keyboard than to take this thing out. 00:34:42.001 --> 00:34:43.091 Um, yeah? 00:34:43.091 --> 00:34:46.047 >> Can you remap your qwerty keyboard into chords? 00:34:46.047 --> 00:34:48.047 You don't have to remap it. 00:34:48.047 --> 00:34:53.086 When Plover's turned on, it just sends out steno, 00:34:53.086 --> 00:34:55.097 and when you turn it off, it just goes back to qwerty. 00:34:55.097 --> 00:34:58.057 The only modification I made was I put a couple of leather keypads 00:34:58.057 --> 00:35:02.093 on the keys used for steno, just for some haptic feedback. 00:35:04.057 --> 00:35:06.043 It's very simple. 00:35:06.043 --> 00:35:08.040 If anyone wants to come up and try it out... 00:35:08.040 --> 00:35:10.070 Well, I think I probably have to go to the next lecture to caption. 00:35:10.070 --> 00:35:13.031 But thank you so much for coming. 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. 00:35:16.066 --> 00:35:17.089 Bye.