Written communication depends on a very basic idea, a symbol, the letter. Making letters is one of the first ideas and skills taught to children in schools around the world. There are many different types of writing systems. To gain take advantage of a computer, one must master the computer keyboard. This adds considerably to the time it takes to begin to make effective use of a computer and makes the whole computer system much bigger and heavier. This can be an obstacle not only for children, but for adults as well who have not mastered the keyboard. A newer approach, handheld computers (PDAs) with handwriting recognition software, provide a highly portable way of moving your thoughts into digital text. Just a few minutes of instruction are required to introduce the basics a handwriting recognition system. With more experience, handwriting speed can reach over 20 words per minute. The PDA cradle device can be used to move compositions from the PDA to a desktop computer and back again. This provides a number of advantages for children and educators. This page provides some models for how to begin and continue with such learning.
Handwriting recognition provides a number of useful values. Because handwriting recognition technology requires a tiny fraction of the space that a computer keyboard requires, the computer can be made quite small which increases the convenience of keeping a computer available. Further, handwriting recognition simplifies its accessibility. Also, because the handwriting is automatically converted to a printed symbol, it makes handwriting itself significantly more legible.
Handwriting recognition can be free form, trying to recognize every form of printed and cursive letter shape or it can be based on a modified alphabet. Graffiti, the handwriting recognition system used by handhelds using the Palm operating system, is based on a modified alphabet that takes but a few minutes to begin to learn and provides a more accurate form of letter recognition. The information provided here provides a quick tutorial for writing your first name into a handheld's writing area and then how to go further with such teaching and learning.
1. Tap the handheld's Power button and turn it on. Your first task is to find the Memo button and open a New memo or writing area. Tap the New button once Memo is active. Visit this site, http://www.soesd.k12.or.us/it/ws/pda/index.html, to review all the buttons and find the Memo (Notepad) button.
2. Handwriting recognition works faster and more reliably with a specialized alphabet. This might sound hard, but it really is not. Bring up or open the Graffiti Help screen. To do this, stroke the display screen with the stylus from bottom to top. Up and down arrows (triangles) in the screen enable paging or use the up and down page buttons at the bottom of the handheld device to move through the different help screens.
It is also helpful to see all the Graffiti Help screens at once, http://www.soesd.k12.or.us/it/ws/PDA/ga.htm. For starters, look for the letters of your first name and learn their strokes. It most cases, the strokes are very similar to the classic alphabet strokes. Tap the Done button after you have learned the strokes necessary. Use those stroke to enter your first name. At first all of your letters will be lowercase.
Practice sheets for students working in their seats are also available from Kathy Shrock's site.
It is normal for something to go wrong when writing with these strokes. A letter may need to be erased, inserted or moved over. Move to the second Graffiti screen to find the strokes for backspacing (deleting letters), inserting a space, and moving to a new line (e.g., line feed or carriage return). Further, these strokes are essential for any composition or data recording activity.
Once your first name is entered, use the correct stroke to move to a new line and enter your last name. Power down your PDA, write down the number of your unit and place it back in its wall pocket.
Once these basic PDA writing skills are mastered, it becomes easy to compose a paragraph, enter an appointment into the PDA calendar, add a contact's telephone number to the address book, or manage a To Do list.
For more information on Graffiti refer to the appropriate manual. The PalmOne.com support site provides a wide variety of information including troubleshooting tips and downloadable manuals. http://www.palmone.com/us/support/
For users of Handspring's Visor Deluxe and the Palm III series modesls, Chapter Two covers the basics of the Graffiti handwriting recognition system. The Visor Deluxe and Palm IIIxe models of these series are preferred as they come with 8 MB of memory.
Handspring user manual information:
Palm IIIx and Palm IIIxe:
To find software applications to download and install on your Palm handhelds, start with these sites:
Back to Ch2 PDA Info Ch3 Home Page author: Houghton Updated March 3, 2004
