Hacking/typing/writing at 200 words per minute

04:30 PM - 05:25 PM on July 17, 2016, Room CR6

Ted Morin

Audience level:

intermediate

Description

Plover is free software written in Python that enables you to type on a computer at over 200 words per minute. Plover brings machine stenography, an art older than computers, into everyone's hands. Plover's current lead developer, Ted Morin, will talk about what stenography is, why Plover was created, how Plover works, and explain the role stenography might have in the modern world, as it moves beyond transcription and into the hands of hackers.

Abstract

A decade ago, stenography (steno) was a proprietary, locked down technology with a heavy upfront learning cost and high dropout rate. Mirabai Knight, a true geek, was so frustrated after she became a professional stenographer that she hired a developer to help her make a FOSS steno solution. Now, the open steno community exists with her passion driving them forward. At the core is Plover, the free software that lets anyone try and learn stenography for free. Around it there are helper tools, learning resources, open hardware initiatives, and more. Ted manages the GitHub repository and is a student of the Open Steno Project himself. He will talk about Open Steno, where it came from, what it was like before it existed, what it's good for, how it works (as a Python application), and where it may go in the future.