I have touched on this subject a few times recently, but it is an idea that came clear to me the other day. The MS Courier concept started a debate about a potential device that could be used to jot down notes in the same way we do in a paper notebook. You would be able to search these notes at a later date, but the crucial difference would be that the handwriting is not converted to digital text. We must have surely reached the stage where a computer, or a mobile phone, can recognise shapes and remember them when we search for similar shapes in the future. If Palm could develop a PDA years ago that could recognise shapes written by the user (admittedly pre-defined shapes) and then convert them into text surely it is not beyond the realm to expect a similar feature today, but without the conversion. Transcriber in Windows Mobile is a better example that works beautifully once you are used to it and I see this type of technology as influential going forward.
The discussion around the MS Courier could be taken further to include the humble smartphone and I wonder if we could reach a point where the user simply writes everything into their phone and it stays there in that form. You could then search for that ‘writing’ later on and it would pop up as intended. We seem to be obsessed with digital text and every function from the calendar to contacts to email requires text that conforms to a specific code determined by computers. The latest touch screen smartphones are great examples of how it should not be done. We peck away at letters on a screen and wonder why the experience is so unnatural and, at times, frustratingly slow. There has to be a better way and it is within a grasp to start using it.
There are obvious obstacles that would stop the development of natural handwriting such as email, but even this could be seen as an opportunity. Before the computer we sent letters to each other; personally written letters that mean so much more than an email ever could. Why can’t an email look like that and be delivered retaining the author’s handwriting? It’s easy to say and is not always practical, but something about the concept grabs me because it could change the way we interact with our sterile and faceless desktops and smartphones.
There is almost no part of a smartphone or tablet computer that could not be touched by a human being writing down information naturally and the concept would mark the biggest change in personal computers since the mouse was created. It sounds ludicrous when you consider the ramifications such as sharing information in documents, email and throughout the internet, but the ludicrous ideas are the ones that eventually become reality. Maybe there is something in this idea and just maybe we will see it happen one day.
If my dad wrote me his emails I would NOT be able to read ANY of them. Thank G*d for the legibilty sterility and order of the typed letter – Ha ha!
I like email precisely because it does not look like the authors handwriting… it allows me to read it!
Maybe love letters ( who send those now anyway ) are different but for the most part I have not problems with computer font.
Well I’d love to have a decent sized device with touch screen handwriting recognition. I find it much more natural to plan things with paper and pen still. Unfortunately the tablet PC I had was awful, really slow to write on and heavy to carry.
Natural handwriting converted to typed text with an option to flip back and forth gives the best of both worlds.
The conversion to typed font can even be done when there is spare processing power so as not to slow down the device.
In this way the searchability of tye face is preserved but the look, style, free-form of handwriting is also preserved.
For me this is the best solution.
Sid