QWERTY

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" Long lives aren't natural.

 We forget that senior citizens 

are as much an invention 

as toasters 

or penicillin.  "

Doug Coupland

 " No amount of skillful invention

 can replace the essential element 

of imagination.  "

Edward Hopper

"  An invention has to make sense

 in the world it finishes in, 

not in the world

 it started.  "

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  "QWERTY?"

Doesn't ring the bell?

Look down-

It's the first six letters

 in the top alphabet row

 of your keyboard!

[ just below the numbers ]

This so-called
 "Universal" Keyboard

  was invented by C. L. Sholes,

 who developed prototypes 
of the first commercial typewriter

 in a Milwaukee machine shop 

all the way back 

in the 1860's.

  A study of letter-pair frequency

 was conducted by educator
 Amos Densmore,

 [who just happened to be brother 

of James Densmore,

  Sholes' chief financial backer.]

So QWERTY it was!

The intention of the layout

was speed-

based on the frequency 

with which each letter is used-

and preventing problems
in the mechanical action

of those early machines.

The QWERTY keyboard arrangement
 was considered important enough
 to be included on Sholes' patent 
granted in 1878.


Sholes and Densmore
 took their machine to
 arms manufacturer
REMINGTON,
 and the first
 Type-Writer

 was sold to the public
 in 1874.

 The Remington No. 2

 of 1878

 included a major modification

 producing the keyboard
  we know today:

 The familiar upper
 and lower case
 letters!

Enter the shift key.

 Originally, it was called a "shift"

 because the machine physically

"shifted" 

Yes,
other keyboard layouts 
have come

and gone,

but  a U.S. government study

 published in 1953 

 found that keyboard layout

 really didn't matter;

If you are a quick typist,

you will type fast.

Thus QWERTY lives on!

We know

that challenging your brain

by learning new competencies

builds new mental capabilities.

Suddenly,

just over 100 years ago,

many, many of us

learned to "type"

or as we call it today:

"keyboarding."

All that time spent

 in that dextrous activity

may have prepared us

for the detail-work,
partnership
 with personal machines,

and mechanical-interface

that led to the developments

of the 20th Century.

Today we use QWERTY

to create

Bits & Bites

of information.

Lead Type

is consigned to the past,

[and special

limited editions.]

What are we using today

that will be common

-but used a whole new way-

a hundred years from now?

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Thanks for hanging out here with us!

                                   Warmly, cloudia