Would you like to improve your typing?

FinlayDuncan

I’m a masters researcher, currently working on a project to do with typing for those with any kind of limited mobility. Whether it’s typing documents, communicating online or creating input for a speech synthesiser, I’d love to hear about your experiences. As a designer and engineer, my goal is ultimately to create solutions to make this part of digital life easier and more efficient. Below are a few questions to get started.

I’m also keen to meet as many people as possible to try out some new ideas and get your feedback on what I could improve. If you have some free time (I certainly have a lot at the moment!) and would like to get involved, please let me know. Obviously this would take place over the phone/ video chat for now. Thanks!  

Questions:

• For what purposes do you type?

• How do you type? (which physical devices, which software etc.)

• Have you tried a number of options? What were they and how did you decide on one?

• What problems (if any) do you face around typing? 

• If you could change absolutely anything about the way you type, what would it be? 

• Have you at any point been able to write by hand with pen/ pencil? (with or without assistance)

• What has been your experience with using voice recognition as a method of typing?

Denise11

Hello Finlay.

Welcome to the community.  I'm pretty sure you will have a lot of emails coming your way even as I type which for people with hands problems takes ages.  It is made even harder when one also has speech problems and can't use voice synthesiser.   Yes I can write but then I can't read it back.   But being able to use a computer allows people to

To have a job and be part of society, which gives a feeling of self worth  Stay in touch  (especially now)    Online shop    Write emails/letters   Study and do course work    Play games  Listen to music/podcast  Find information. 

The computer is invaluable in sprite of the difficulties so please could I help you.

Denise  11
.

mrbuttons

 I used to be quite a quick typist but now since my brain injury, I only type with one hand.its very frustrating because  I like to write short stories but my typing is so slow that I lose my concentration mid-sentence. my hands can't move quickly enough.

O would like to improve my typing to get back into my writing, to keep occupied during these difficult, lonely times. I have use Dragon naturally speaking software and I think the other one was claro speak. I disliked both. Online I use Grammarly, but I am still not typing as well as i used to.

FinlayDuncan

Hi Denise, thanks a lot for your responses and I'm very glad you'd like to help out. I'll get in touch through your email and we can work out the best way to discuss. 

Fin

April2018mom

1- I type for a number of reasons. It depends really. On my laptop I compose enails and type out letters on Word.  
2- I use my laptop mainly but I also have a iPhone. So I use that. 
3- Not sure. What other options are out there? Could you elaborate more on this particular question please? Thanks in advance. Do you mean paid for typing lessons? 
4- None as I am pretty good at typing. 
5- Nothing comes to mind honestly. 
6- I have had no issues with writing with a pen at all. 
7- I have had not any helpful experience with such software sorry. 

Adrian_Scope

Hi @FinlayDuncan and welcome to the community. In the interests of protecting our members, would you be able to email the community inbox with some details of your research? You can contact us on community@scope.org.uk

Thanks!

FinlayDuncan

Hi @Adrian_Scope , sure thing. I've emailed and I'll put the same info here:

This is an educational project which I am personal directing as part of a research masters at Imperial College and the Royal College of Art London. Initially I would like to speak with people about their experience with typing and the issues they are trying to overcome. If we can work out some key areas of interest, I will then use these to generate ideas and present them for feedback. 

Due to the current situation all communication and prototyping will be in a digital format. This would likely mean messaging/ phone or video call for communication and I will create virtual prototypes to send over for feedback: video demos or basic apps. The ultimate goal is to work together to develop solutions that can make typing easier and more efficient where mobility is limited. 

No formal commitment required, just an opportunity to share some ideas and kill some time whilst we're all stuck at home!

Please get in touch at: finlay.duncan@network.rca.ac.uk

FinlayDuncan

Thanks for your answers @April2018mom no worries if the questions don't match your experience. The project is mainly for those who have difficulty using a conventional keyboard or touch screen. 

FinlayDuncan

@mrbuttons thanks for your reply. I'd like to hear more about your writing and share some of my early ideas with you. If you'd be interested feel free to get in touch at:

finlay.duncan@network.rca.ac.uk