What Is Steno?

[stenoknight]

Hi, guys! Someone asked us to post an informational thread on steno, so here goes!

For the TL;DR crowd, here's a great informational video produced by Stan Sakai, a self-taught professional stenographer who went from 0 to 220 WPM in 9 months and who was one of The Open Steno Project's first users:

How Stenography Works

Briefly, machine stenography is a chord-based text input system that allows people to type at speeds of 200 to 300 words per minute. The world record is 360 WPM, but that's an outlier. Most professional stenographers are able to write at 99% accuracy for long periods at 220 to 240 WPM. It's the fastest and most accurate method of text entry yet invented.

The technology was developed in 1913 and hasn't changed much since then, except that steno machines first began to be hooked up to computers for automatic transcription in the 1980s. Unfortunately that was the start of a proprietary lockdown on both hardware and software, and they became prohibitively expensive for anyone who wasn't a professional.

In 2010, I founded The Open Steno Project, which aims to encourage the hobbyist and amateur side of steno by breaking that proprietary lockdown. Compatible hardware sells for as little as $40[www.amazon.com], the software is free and open source[github.com], there's a free online textbook[sites.google.com] with interactive drills, and Steno Hero is the first in a series of free video games intended to teach people how to use steno.

The catch is that Steno Hero is Steno Arcade Volume IV, the master level game. We developed it first because it's the most fun to play, but unfortunately most of the songs are a little too hard for people who aren't already proficient in steno. When we launch our crowdfunding campaign, our stretch goals will include funding for Steno Arcade Volumes I through III (the beginner, intermediate, and advanced level games), which will teach people the fundamentals they'll need to be able to play all the songs in Steno Hero.

So qwerty typists are totally welcome to play the slow and easy levels, but if they want to learn a skill that will double or triple their typing speed, they should check out http://opensteno.org and maybe kick a few bucks into the crowdfunding campaign when we launch in the next week or so.

Happy typing!

[Mr.Bagle | gamekit.com]

this sounnds like a good game cant wait. When is it gana come out?

[stenoknight]

The demo's out now! The full version will come out as soon as we finish the crowdfunding campaign!

http://stenoarcade.com

[Terroriza]

is steno an efficient way to type for regular things that you just want to type faster or does it have to be translated? i thought when you look at it when printed it looks like a bunch of random stuff put together and not something that a random person could read.

[stenoknight]

Nope, as you can see from the Steno Hero gameplay video, all the translation happens automatically and instantaneously. It uses a bit of free open source software called Plover and a dictionary file that can be customized to fit the needs of each individual stenographer. You write steno code (which is represented by capital letters and used to be translated manually from paper tape before computers existed) on the steno machine, but the computer just outputs regular text, as if it were emulating a typical qwerty keyboard. You can learn more by clicking that "how stenography works" video link above.

[selrahcthewise]

I'm currently a steno student.I'm sitting at around 60-80 wpm.How do you get the game to recognize your machine? I am writing with my steno machine but it will not pick up the strokes.

[stenoknight]

Hey, you either have to set your steno software to output to the OS (Stenokeys in Case CATalyst, Keyboard Macro in Eclipse, and I can't remember what it's called in DigitalCAT)... Or you can use Plover, which is free and works with most steno machines! Download it from http://opensteno.org

[selrahcthewise]

i have it set to output to stenokeys (I'm using CaseCAT) and still no input

[stenoknight]

Hm. Are you able to write into a text editor like Notepad? If so, you should be able to write into Steno Hero. If not, that's definitely something we need to look into, so let me know.