How Steno Works

How Steno Works, a new essay for people who are curious about the nuts and bolts of steno, is now live on Art of Chording! It's a fantastic introductory resource for people who have no frame of reference for stenographic technology. If you've ever tried to explain steno to someone and given up in frustration, this is the resource for you! It's even got an interactive animation showing steno chords in action. Great stuff from the amazing Ted, as always.

Who Mods the TinyMod?

Gabi May from the Plover Discord is who! Just a short one today, showing off a picture of a gorgeously modded TinyMod with new springs and amazing flat lavender G20 keytoppers. Gabi May writes:

I like them a lot! The flat keys do make chording appreciably easier. But the big difference has been swapping out the springs and lubing the switches. It's just lovely to write with. I used 20g springs. Mine were from mykeyboard.eu.

This is such a LOOK. I love it!!

Capacitive Steno Keyboard WIP

Check out this developing design for a DIY capacitive steno keyboard with Plover onboard. Some interesting ideas here! I'll be very interested to see how it turns out.

Typeracer Has a Steno Universe

This is a somewhat controversial development (that hasn't come without its costs to the steno community), and you can get minutes of the full debate by searching for "typeracer" in the Plover Discord, but I thought it would be worthwhile, at least, for people to know about Typeracer's steno universe. If that sort of thing appeals, give it a try. And if you want to use steno to play in the main Typeracer universe, heh... Well, watch out.

More Typey Type Updates!

Check out this Twitter thread on new updates to Typey Type! Highlights include:

• Progress page with ten most recent lessons
  
• New Javascript lessons
  
• Contributions to the Learn Plover table of prefix and suffix strokes

And more!

Video of Plover-assisted Art Installation: Assembly

Wow, remember when I blogged about Assembly, an art project featuring MIDI steno at the 2019 Venice Biennale? Our amazing Italian stenographer friend Sillabix posted actual footage of it in the Plover Discord recently! He says:

I had to study the more palatable chords to steno the poem "In another tongue" of the Australian poet David Malouf. Then they took the Midi datas outputted from the Michela and created a musical score for several instruments. Was a bit difficult because steno chords sound really close to dodecaphonic music. The coolest thing was the great versatility of Plover: without it this project wouldn't have been possible. Eclipse translation was too slow and out of sync with the midi notes recorded by the notation software. Several aspects involved and several twists to let steno and music meet together so that the notes played by all the instruments and the chorists could be an arrangement from the original steno chords.

So freaking cool!!

Read Punz's Steno Diary!

From the Discord, there's a new Steno Diary to enjoy, by new Plover learner Punz. I love this genre of journal. It's always really fun to witness the trajectory of progress, the frustrations, the pushing past the plateaus... Can't wait to read more!