using rollover typing, in which the next key is pressed down before the previous key is lifted.and there it is...
Posted on 04/15/2018 1:34:03 AM PDT by LibWhacker
The largest-ever dataset on typing speeds and styles, based on 136 million keystrokes from 168,000 volunteers, finds that the fastest typists not only make fewer errors, but they often type the next key before the previous one has been released.
Crowdsourcing experiments that allow us to analyse how people interact with computers on a large scale are instrumental for identifying solution principles for the design of next-generation user interfaces.Per Ola Kristensson
The data was collected by researchers from Aalto University in Finland and the University of Cambridge. Volunteers from over 200 countries took the typing test, which is freely available online. Participants were asked to transcribe randomised sentences, and their accuracy and speed were assessed by the researchers.
Unsurprisingly, the researchers found that faster typists make fewer mistakes. However, they also found that the fastest typists also performed between 40 and 70 percent of keystrokes using rollover typing, in which the next key is pressed down before the previous key is lifted. The strategy is well-known in the gaming community but has not been observed in a typing study. The results will be presented later this month at the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Montréal.
“Crowdsourcing experiments that allow us to analyse how people interact with computers on a large scale are instrumental for identifying solution principles for the design of next-generation user interfaces,” said study co-author Dr Per Ola Kristensson from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering.
Most of our knowledge of how people type is based on studies from the typewriter era. Now, decades after the typewriter was replaced by computers, people make different types of mistakes. For example, errors where one letter is replaced by another are now more common, whereas in the typewriter era typists often added or omitted characters.
Another difference is that modern users use their hands differently. “Modern keyboards allow us to type keys with different fingers of the same hand with much less force than what was possible with typewriters,” said co-author Anna Feit from Aalto University. “This partially explains why self-taught typists using fewer than ten fingers can be as fast as touch typists, which was probably not the case in the typewriter era.”
The average user in the study typed 52 words per minute, much slower than the professionally trained typists in the 70s and 80s, who typically reached 60-90 words per minute. However, performance varied largely. “The fastest users in our study typed 120 words per minute, which is amazing given that this is a controlled study with randomised phrases,” said co-author Dr Antti Oulasvirta, also from Aalto. “Many informal tests allow users to practice the sentences, resulting in unrealistically high performance.”
The researchers found that users who had previously taken a typing course actually had a similar typing behaviour as those who had never taken such a course, in terms of how fast they type, how they use their hands and the errors they make - even though they use fewer fingers.
The researchers found that users display different typing styles, characterised by how they use their hands and fingers, the use of rollover, tapping speeds, and typing accuracy.
For example, some users could be classified as ‘’careless typists’’ who move their fingers quickly but have to correct many mistakes; and others as attentive error-free typists, who gain speed by moving hands and fingers in parallel, pressing the next key before the first one is released.
It is now possible to classify users’ typing behaviour based on the observed keystroke timings which does not require the storage of the text that users have typed. Such information can be useful for example for spell checkers, or to create new personalised training programmes for typing.
“You do not need to change to the touch typing system if you want to type faster,” said Feit. “A few simple exercises can help you to improve your own typing technique.”
The anonymised dataset is available at the project homepage: http://userinterfaces.aalto.fi/136Mkeystrokes/
Reference:
Dhakal, V., Feit, A., Kristensson, P.O. and Oulasvirta, A. 2018. 'Observations on typing from 136 million keystrokes.' In Proceedings of the 36th ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2018). ACM Press.
Adapted from an Aalto University press release.
I taught myself how to type in Jr. High. I bought a broken manual typewriter at the flea market for $2 and fixed it. I spent the summer spending 1 hour a day typing from random Funk and Wagnalls Encyclopedia passages. I set a rule that said I could not watch TV until my hour was done.
It served me well. But today, I wish that maybe I should have spent that hour learning how to play the piano. But it would have been harder to get a piano home from the flea market.
SCIENCE!
The inventor of Liquid Paper, Texan Bette Nesmith Graham, was the mother of musician and producer Michael Nesmith of the rock group,The Monkees. He inherited millions when she passed away.
(Wikipedia)
The various Dragon softwares allow you to abandon keyboard.
Dragon Anywhere on my phone allows creation of text at speeds in excess of 100 wpm (if you can compose as you speak). Allows you to edit by voice. Email the document (as a Word file) to yourself (as a voice command) or upload to your preferred cloud. (A subscription app that’s worth it.)
My mother learned on those as well. (We had one.... it frustrated me) By the time she moved to an electric typewriter she was well up to speeds of 1 hundred and teens. It amazed me to watch her!
Took typing in high screwl. Only non-A I ever made and it was disturbing to me. My hands are more like hams and my fingers are thick and stiff from having been broken and now arthritic. I manage though and can sometimes get on a roll. My biggest problem is transposition of letters of course. Hated typing class since I could not do well at it without considerable effort and then it was not good enough but I managed. Same with piano. I could never force my fingers to make a chord. They just don’t work that way.
Everybody told me I should have taken piano lessons but I was too much of a tom-boy when I was young and preferred being outside. My mom could play though.
I struggled with piano for two or three years to make Mom happy but, like you, I wanted to be outside. I just didn’t see the point in it. My Mom was excellent, too.
Got to college and a fraternity brother was a tremendous player. He could play a song note-perfect after listening to it just once. It was the most amazing thing. The room really lit up when he sat down to play!
As I got older, I realized how much I had missed by giving it up. Now I really enjoy listening to contemporary piano players like Jim Brickman, George Winston, Gary Girouard, Brian Crain, Michael Jones, Suzanne Ciani, Yann Tiersen (Comptine d’un autre été) and many others.
using rollover typing, in which the next key is pressed down before the previous key is lifted.and there it is...
What keyboard are you talking about? The standard QWERTY keyboard is the only keyboard I have ever used. If you receive formal training on QWERTY, you need never consider an alternative.
It's not about having the most frequently used letters on the same row but within easy reach from the home position of asdf jkl;
I took two years of typing in high school. It was the only worthwhile class I ever had in those years. The class had about a 20:1 ratio of girls to boys because it was seen as something that secretaries did so the boys mostly missed out. But career-wise, it was the one skill that got me on a fast-track. When I got into management, most of my fellow managers had to rely on the secretarial pool for everything. Being able to write my own business letters, respond to correspondence much quicker, etc., gave me a huge advantage.
I was the same. Sitting through lessons while a kid would have been torture. Now I wish I had tried it. If I had a piano I would give it a try.
My cousin is a prodigy. He never had lessons and doesn’t read music but has been playing beautifully since he was big enough to sit on the bench and reach the keys. All he has to do is hear something one time and he can sit down and play it. I’d love to have talent like that.
Another who learned typing in HS as a sophomore. Took it because the JV basketball coach taught it and I really wanted to be on the team. Somehow I guess I thought that might give me an in. Didn’t help, LOL.
We often typed to music, too. The only one I remember now was Melanie’s ‘Brand New Key.’ It must have been about 1971 or so...
We had about 60% manual typewriters and 40% electric. In the batch of 40% electric were two IBM Selectrics with the ball. They seems so high tech at the time.
I started out on the manual and part way through we all switched. The people who had been on the manuals couldn’t hardly keep from hitting keys just because we were used to resting our fingers on the keys. It took a while to adjust. But the ones who started on the electrics really struggled more than we did to master the full manuals.
Youth is wasted on the young!
I trained on and used only manual typewriters for the first 12 years or so transcribing as a court stenographer. When I moved to the electric ones, it was just as you said -- resting my fingers on the keys led to some interesting transcription.
However, one thing that I never could get away from was pounding on the keys. Even now, I probably go through four or five keyboards a year because the keys just can't handle the mistreatment ...
I trained on and used only manual typewriters for the first 12 years or so transcribing as a court stenographer. When I moved to the electric ones, it was just as you said -- resting my fingers on the keys led to some interesting transcription.
However, one thing that I never could get away from was pounding on the keys. Even now, I probably go through four or five keyboards a year because the keys just can't handle the mistreatment ...
Took a couple of typing classes but for some reason, I type slower the “official” way.
I believe if you are creating your work on the computer I found it better to just keep typing and fix later.
1. The computer highlights mistakes and proposes corrections.
2. Your initial draft is far from final and will probably have 10’s of revisions.
3. I found it better to capture my thoughts as I have them rather than correct an error and lose the thought.
This is the method I use when writing fiction. When writing code I slow down and check it.
The ergonomic keyboard I described has been around for decades. It really is a 'better mousetrap', as it's designed to accommodate the natural arch and angles of the wrists and hands.
Switching over to one was probably easier for me, as I was a novice typist at the time. But, even if I'd been an old hand at the time, I think I would have switched anyway. They really are that much more comfortable to use.
Next time you're in a big box electronics store, try one out and see if you don't like it.
What a rebel!
You were obviously destined to be a Deplorable ;-)
I learned to drive in a '58 Chevy Impala. The cars of that era were heavy, ungainly, and had terrible ergonomics. With each successive car I owned, the ergonomics and maneuverability improved, and everyone adapted.
Adapting to a natural keyboard is much the same. I lay my hands on a regular keyboard today, and wonder how I ever typed on them.
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