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Comment by jonnathanson | Hacker News Reader

There are specific professions in which it comes in handy. Journalism is one of them. Every now and then, you'll encounter someone who is willing to go on the record, but for whatever reason, doesn't feel comfortable being taped. (And by "every now and then," I mean somewhat greater than half the time.) And a lot of people are put off by the act of typing into a keyboard or tablet while you're speaking to them, even if you're making eye contact all the while.

I'd say any profession in which you're on the go and often have to take notes by pen and paper, shorthand is a necessity. This is doubly true in my case, as a partial disability in my right hand makes longform pen-writing a PITA.

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I guess I was thinking in the context of the author using this particular pen for shorthand - it records audio, so even if he's just writing shorthand, it's still recording.

Really good points though, it didn't occur to me that someone would be willing to go "on the record" but not be actually recorded.

There are some other solutions that use keyboards that wouldn't be as intrusive as a keyboard or tablet (and may be something to consider for you personally if you have a disability in only one side); things like portable one-handed chorded keyboards: http://www.handykey.com/ and http://chordite.com/

Yeah, it's kind of weird that people would go "on the record" but not want to be recorded. But there's something about pulling out a tape recorder (or in my case, an iPhone with a recording app) that freaks people out. I think part of this fear stems from the age we live in, with the 24 hour news cycle and "gotcha" journalism. People half suspect you're going to use something they said against them, as if it's a police interrogation. :)

I like to reassure people that I record them for my own accuracy, and that it actually behooves both of us to do a recording. Even still, about 50-60% of people will decline. Younger people seem more likely to decline than older people, at least in my anecdotal experience, which strikes me as interesting. There might be something worth exploring there.

Yeah. I do press stuff as a volunteer from time to time, and I've learnt the art of speaking for half an hour with no part-sentence being an abusable pull-quote, after a few times where precisely that happened.

(Simple method: when speaking of tricky matters, twist your grammar and pepper with adjectives and adverbs. Always follow with a pullquote you'd like used. Use variations on your favoured quote a few times.)

This sounds interesting, but it's not clear how it's done. Could you give a few examples?

I know a few people who maintain eye contact while typing, for instance, while I'm running a meeting. Man, it always feels creepy to me.

Am I the only one that gets that feeling?

I do this pretty often, and people pretty much always complain. Less so people my age (college-aged), but a lot of professors, TAs, and my parents all claim that it's entirely too creepy. My parents have actually told me that they'd prefer if I just looked at the screen the whole time.

But on the other hand, why would I look at what I'm typing? I already know what it says- I hardly have to read it again. A good typist knows when they've hit the wrong key and should be able to correct for it without having to read.

I wonder if college age folks are more likely to be okay with it or if they're less likely to say something about it? Probably some combination of the two, I'd guess

I usually type mostly looking at the screen and then glance up and make eye contact or nod during pauses, to re-establish that I know the person is there and I'm paying attention to them.

I don't think it's so much a practical thing as purely social. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with looking at a person while you type. It just doesn't seem socially typical. It might be the normal thing to do at some point, in which case I'll adapt. It just doesn't seem to be the case now. It'd be interesting to do research on this, though ,and see if there's a significantly different perception between age groups.

I'd guess that most folks on this board are pretty proficient touch typists, and could look wherever they want while they're typing. Even if you're only reasonably good at touch typing, you're probably not going to mangle the words to the point where you can't run a spell check over it to fix most of your mistakes.

I'll personally probably stick to mostly looking at the screen for now, since it seems like more people are made uncomfortable by looking at them, than looking at the screen, but it's interesting to think about where it might go.

To me, it's worse. It sends the message "I'm pretending really hard to focus on what you're saying, but I'm really doing something else right in front of you!"

I say this as someone who can maintain eye contact and type while giving attention to the person I'm looking atit.

It makes people more uncomfortable than simply looking at the screen while you work and talk.

I'm the same way, and it's not a great skill to have. I've been "called out" a number of times by people who think that I'm not paying attention to them while reading/typing something on my computer, but can in fact usually recite everything they said recently verbatim.

"Maintaining eye contact" is pretty creepy regardless of whatever else is going on.

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