Alright, I know I've been neglecting my poor steno blog, but I have been really busy as of late. Between school and a series of medical problems that arose lately, I haven't had much time. I've been struggling to keep up with everything and still have a life. You know, friends, family, all that jazz. I can't be all steno 24/7.
So, I decided to start finding ways to combine studying, being able to relax, and my internet browsing together. Its been a while since I've been on Depoman, but I went back to see this thread where the topic came up about using the Steno Keyboard instead of using a QWERTY keyboard. I'm an avid gamer myself, especially on the PC, so it really caught my interest.
At the time, I really couldn't do any that was suggested because I was lacking a computerized steno machine. Over the spring break I purchased the Wave, and though I've had my moments of frustration with what my software can and can't do I finally found where we can agree with each other. StenoKeys is available through the student software which allows you to extend Case Catalyst into other programs such as e-mail, Microsoft Word, and a variety of text messaging services. It can probably do more, but I haven't tested it that far.
My cheap and sleazy friend gdwarner posted a dictionary to use with StenoKeys. It is a Phoenix Theory dictionary though, so make sure to do a full backup of all your dictionaries before you attempt to install it. A few things did indeed conflict with my theory, however, it wasn't that hard to do some simple editing to those conflicting entries.
I now have a dictionary I am building just for gaming, which includes text acronyms such as LOL and ROFL, gaming races such as "elven," "drow," and "orc," and a bunch of software names. I know many court reporters would be horrified by this, but all work and no play makes Nev a very dull person. This will help me increase my speed and enjoy stenography even more. I'll also get vastly familiar with my software and my theory, so away I go with this. However, since I know many students who also game and want to use their stenograph as a PC keyboard, I will not be sharing my entries. If I can master this, I will likely be the first person to do this, and I'm interested in perhaps making a bit of money on this endeavor. Its going to take hours, days, weeks, and months to perfect this for gaming and text messaging. So, if you're looking to do the same you're on your own.
Its pretty funny though. I have a variety of cheat sheets up tac'd on my wall in front of my PC now. Its going to take ages to memorize everything I need to get this all together. I am looking forward to this though, and I'll be having a lot of fun. I have a friend who doesn't mind me using this to experiment on his messenger, so I'm looking forward to days of speed building through StenoKeys.
If you'd like a starter dictionary for StenoKeys, here is a dictionary from the Phoenix Theory. It is only a starter, and likely you'll have to add more keys and also add more entries if you're a gamer. I don't think any sane theory is going to include the words "elven," "halfing," or "wvyern" in their dictionaries. So good luck if you want to as well.
Wish me luck!
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