A system for writing text and numbers by sound, at speeds of 240 words per minute or higher. On a shorthand keyboard, multiple keys can be depressed with each stroke. Entire syllables, words, even phrases containing multiple words, can be written in one stroke. Figures for computer keyboard strokes include the space bar stroke. Spacing between words is automatic with electronic shorthand.
Machine shorthand is a decades-old technology.
The keyboard captured data only as characters on a paper tape. Creating a translated hard copy required reading the shorthand characters and typing the text they represented, a time-consuming, labor intensive process. Consequently, machine shorthand was used almost exclusively by court reporters for making verbatim records. Thanks to the efforts of the court reporting profession to keep machine shorthand apace with current technology, today's shorthand is written on a keyboard which captures the data electronically. Electronic shorthand is the fastest means of creating text and is an invaluable technology for any business or organization with a need to input text to a computer or create hard-copy text.