Handwriting
How often do you hand write a note? Better question: how often do you write in cursive? I’ve had a few random discussions about this dying form of communication, and just recently came across an article that confirmed what I feared.
It’s an interesting truth that we’re trading a more expressive form of communication for a faster, more efficient one. I rarely write notes. I only write cursive for my rent check and signatures (though I think my last name only has 3 letters in it) and reading birthday cards and notes from grandparents is becoming a very slow, painful process. Our digital means of communication doesn’t require much more than a specific series of taps so it becomes an almost logical transition. The Globe reports that a 2007 study shows 9 of 10 teachers only devote 70 minutes to the teaching of handwriting a week.
I didn’t really have a strong position on this until I found an old moleskin from college. What I learned after reading a few pages is how much communication and expression is visible beyond the simple words. The pen pressure, the movement of the pen, size, neatness, angle of writing, sentence structure, and especially the character style.. I could practically turn to the pages that were the most involved and inspired, simply based on the writing.
These nuances of communication create a fabric of expression that can be more honest and insightful than the actual content. So I began to think about the comparable data that could be collected in the digital world. Type speed, number of errors, long pauses, erased content, style of writing, sentence length… If we could record this information while creating a blog entry, perhaps we could recreate a similar way of experiencing, understanding, or even organizing our thoughts. Documenting these unperceived habits and visualizing them in an understandable way; a little more honesty and feeling in the type.
Let’s not loose this nuance, but rediscover it in the digital realm.
Here’s a flickr group of people sharing their handwriting, and learning a little more about themselves.
4 comments
Can you imagine how our creativity as a society would be affected down the road if we were to get rid of handwriting lessons in school today? From art and poetry to even doctor's prescriptions. A friend of mine is a prolific blogger. She did an experiment where she started keeping her blog in journals then scanning them in for posts. Kind of interesting to read about her journey. Can't find the link right now... if I find it, I'll post it. Here's one of her posts though where she explores the doodles and notes in her handwritten journal: http://bit.ly/12Eod.
also reminded me of this adorable piece:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=400w4XnjElI&feature=PlayList&p=14E419ABF6758D05&index=14
and of the fact that i did something similar when i wanted to ask an embarrassing question:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yylo8dcXCbw