Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!dewey.soe.berkeley.edu!thom
From: thom@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu (Thom Gillespie)
Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng
Subject: Re: Typing versus Handwriting
Keywords: typewriting keyboards handwriting tablets
Message-ID: <29655@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 14 Jun 89 06:08:23 GMT
References: <1440001@hp-ptp.HP.COM> <11581@megaron.arizona.edu> <8181@boring.cwi.nl> <751@cogsci.ucsd.EDU>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: thom@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu.UUCP (Thom Gillespie)
Organization: School of Education, UC-Berkeley
Lines: 34

In article <751@cogsci.ucsd.EDU> norman@cogsci.UUCP (Donald A Norman-UCSD Cog Sci Dept) writes:
>Typing versus handwriting:  why the "versus," why not "along with"
>
The one thing which 'writing' allows which 'typing' doesn't is the ability to
express ideas without words - with pictures, jottings , diagrams. You can get a
lot of information down with just a few well placed arrows and some text. The
problem is that the systems we have now don't let us express our information as
best we'd like. It is an either or situation but the real either/or is not in 
terms of just text and words. It should be in terms of text and graphics. I'd 
like to be able to doddle on this posting but i can't. Text I'd rather 'type', 
ideas I'd rather 'express'. I need at the least a keyboard and a mouse - and 
some better soft/hardware.

For lack of a better phrase I suggest that there is a learning disablity which
I call 'visual dyslexia', the inability ot understand ,manipulate and express
ideas with visuals. A lot of people suffer from this disability and it will
become more apparent as we move into the area of Hypermedia, text is not as
important as we think.
>
>What do I conclude?  That each input device has its place.  With
>regard to the original question of keyboard versus handwriting, it
>would be a mistake to market a note-taking device with only tablet
>(handwriting) or only keyboard input.  Sizable proportions of the
>population prefer each.  Moreover, I suspect that any individual would
>switch back and forth, depending upon circumstances and the nature of
>the input material.
>
It would be interesting to see how users used this 'writing/keyboard'. I'd
guess that you'd see a few pictures. Apple's HyperCard really gives you this 
sort of capability but not in a convenient form for class note taking. Maybe 
when the DynaBook mates with HyperCard we'll see the DynaCard and our problems 
will be solved. 

--Thom Gillespie