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Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
ShapeWriter (previously known as Shorthand-Aided Rapid Keyboarding (SHARK)) was a keyboard text input method for tablet, handheld PCs, and mobile phones invented by Shumin Zhai and Per Ola Kristensson at IBM Almaden Research Center and the Department of Computer and Information Science at Linköping University.
Using ShapeWriter text entry software, a user draws words on a graphical keyboard using a pen. Instead of tapping the keys, the user draws a pen gesture that connects all the letters in the desired word. After some usage the user learns the movement pattern for the commonly used words and can write them faster than is possible on a traditional virtual keyboard.
The first system described by Shumin Zhai and Per Ola Kristensson (2003) was only a prototype system that could recognize about 100 pen gestures for the top 100 words used in the English language. It used a handwriting recognition algorithm that relied on dynamic programming to recognize the word patterns drawn from a lexicon. The next version described by Per Ola Kristensson and Shumin Zhai (2004) has a fundamentally different recognition engine that can recognize 50,000 - 60,000 words with low latency. This system introduced the notion that every word in a large lexicon should be possible to write by tracing the letters. It is this system that was the basis for the software release on IBM alphaWorks that is generally associated with the term "ShapeWriter".
ShapeWriter was acquired by Nuance Communications, and taken off the market in 2010;[1] its technology presumably incorporated as part of Nuance's FlexT9 app in 2011.[2][3]
ShapeWriter was made available for the iPhone approximately in 2008 and was revised several times (including ShapeWriter Lite and ShapeWriter Pro or Plus) before being pulled due to its sale to Nuance Communications (see following entry).
Those who purchased the iPhone version continued to use it and it also functioned on iPads v. 1 and 2 until 2013.
As of 2013 it no longer functions on iOS devices and is no longer available in Apple's App Store.
ShapeWriter software was made available as a free application for Android (operating system) smartphones through the Android Market. As a touchscreen keyboard replacement, it had over 50,000 users on Android worldwide. It was available only for Android OS versions 1.6 or higher. ShapeWriter for Android was available in 7 European languages including English, Spanish, and German. There was also a Beta release for Android 1.5 phones including the HTC Hero and Droid Eris.
ShapeWriter, Inc. was purchased by Nuance Communications and the ShapeWriter software was removed from the Android Market indefinitely on June 20, 2010.
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
ShapeWriter (previously known as Shorthand-Aided Rapid Keyboarding (SHARK)) was a keyboard text input method for tablet, handheld PCs, and mobile phones invented by Shumin Zhai and Per Ola Kristensson at IBM Almaden Research Center and the Department of Computer and Information Science at Linköping University. Using ShapeWriter text entry software, a user draws words on a graphical keyboard using a pen. Instead of tapping the keys, the user draws a pen gesture that connects all the letters in the desired word. After some usage the user learns the movement pattern for the commonly used words and can write them faster than is possible on a traditional virtual keyboard. The first system described by Shumin Zhai and Per Ola Kristensson (2003) was only a prototype system that could recognize about 100 pen gestures for the top 100 words used in the English language. It used a handwriting recognition algorithm that relied on dynamic programming to recognize the word patterns drawn from a lexicon. The next version described by Per Ola Kristensson and Shumin Zhai (2004) has a fundamentally different recognition engine that can recognize 50,000 - 60,000 words with low latency. This system introduced the notion that every word in a large lexicon should be possible to write by tracing the letters. It is this system that was the basis for the software release on IBM alphaWorks that is generally associated with the term "ShapeWriter". ShapeWriter was acquired by Nuance Communications, and taken off the market in 2010; its technology presumably incorporated as part of Nuance's FlexT9 app in 2011.
HexInput, as originally described, is an on-screen keyboard with the following characteristics: Keys are activated (pressed) either by tapping on each key in turn (the usual approach for on-screen keyboards) or by dragging a path over the desired keys. Unlike ShapeWriter, every key dragged over is considered pressed, so the sequence of keypresses is deterministic and predictable. Most keys are hexagonal, arranged in a honeycomb pattern. This allows most keys to have six neighbouring keys that one can drag into without entering any other keys. Letters are arranged to optimize text input in a particular language (English, for example). Note that this may mean that some common letters may appear twice. The name ‘HexInput’ is unfortunate: in computing, ‘hex’ tends to mean hexadecimal notation, though it may be argued that a general text input method is named for general users, not just those with computing backgrounds. The use of hexagons is not essential to the idea, though they do maximize the available area per cell and the number of easily reachable neighbors per cell. The original exposition included an alternative layout using squares (keys having four neighbours unless at an edge of the keyboard), and a later edition depicted an essentially honeycomb pattern but some hexagons split in half. Alternatively (not mentioned in the original exposition), one could leave gaps between keys so that one can drag through gaps to reach a larger number of “neighboring” keys. The HexInput concept is available for Palm OS devices via myKbd, where it is now known as the "QUONG" layout (after the first five letters in the top row). ATOMIK is a closely related input concept from researchers at IBM.
Shumin Zhai (Chinese simplified: 翟树民) (born 1961) is a Chinese-born American Canadian human–computer interaction (HCI) research scientist and inventor. He is known for his research specifically on input devices and interaction methods, swipe-gesture-based touchscreen keyboards, eye-tracking interfaces, and models of human performance in human-computer interaction. His studies have contributed to both foundational models and understandings of HCI and practical user interface designs and flagship products. He previously worked at IBM where he invented the ShapeWriter text entry method for smartphones, which is a predecessor to the modern Swype keyboard. Dr. Zhai's publications have won the ACM UIST Lasting Impact Award and the IEEE Computer Society Best Paper Award, among others, and he is most known for his research specifically on input devices and interaction methods, swipe-gesture-based touchscreen keyboards, eye-tracking interfaces, and models of human performance in human-computer interaction. Dr.Zhai currently serves as Principal scientist and Director of Gboard and Interaction Methods at Google where he leads and directs research, design, and development of human-device input methods and haptics systems.
A keyboard layout is any specific physical, visual, or functional arrangement of key switches, legends, or key mapping (respectively) of a keyboard. Layouts are used on computer keyboards, for virtual keyboards (including mobile phones or other touchscreens), or other typographic input devices. Standard layouts vary depending on their intended writing system, language, and use case. Some hobbyists and designers create alternative layouts to better suit individual preferences or to extend functionality. Layouts can be described in several ways depending on form or function. A physical layout is the positioning of physical keys on a keyboard. The arrangement of keycap legends, such as markings or labels, is described as a visual layout. Keyboard mapping represents a functional layout, or the association of keys with their action when pressed. This is configured in software or firmware, and determines the action upon one or multiple key presses, regardless of key appearance. Modern computer keyboards are designed to send a scancode to the operating system (OS) when a key is pressed or released. This code reports only the key's row and column, not the specific character engraved on that key. The OS converts the scancode into a specific binary character code using a "scancode to character" conversion table, called the keyboard mapping table. This means that a physical keyboard may be dynamically mapped to any layout without switching hardware components—merely by changing the software that interprets the keystrokes. Often, a user can change keyboard mapping in system settings. In addition, software may be available to modify or extend keyboard functionality. Thus the symbol shown on the physical key-top need not be the same as appears on the screen or goes into a document being typed. Most modern USB and wireless keyboards are plug-and-play, and communicate their (default) visual layout to the OS when connected. Some keyboards have firmware which can configure layouts, as well as customize lighting and other functions.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Madam C.J. Walker