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Typing
Barbara Blackburn, the
World's Fastest Typist
Mrs. Barbara Blackburn of Salem, Oregon can maintain 150 words per minute (wpm)
for 50 minutes (37,500 key strokes) and attain a speed of 170 wpm using
the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard (DSK) system.
Compare that to the average
workplace typist who reaches about 50 to 60 words per minute. At an
even lower rater, is your average web surfer - around 30 words per minute,
at a peak.
Keyboard Layout Considerations Myth
“A
typewriter keyboard arrangement that solves a temporary mechanical problem
on the first typewriter becomes entrenched as the standard for generations
to come, even though it is notoriously inefficient.”
Fact:
"...the claim for the superiority of QWERTY’s chief modern rival, the Dvorak
keyboard, which the path dependence people have accepted on its face, is
simply not true. Most of the specific claims for Dvorak’s keyboard
originate in studies that Dvorak conducted himself. Dvorak’s experiments
consisted primarily of comparing the performance of groups of students
learning his keyboard with the performance of other groups of students, of
different ages, at other schools, with different training regimens,
learning QWERTY. Dvorak’s reports on his successes are actually fairly
entertaining, with the same sense of mission and enthusiasm as a
late-night infomercial on cable TV. But nobody would call them science.”
“Policy
and Path Dependence - From QWERTY to Windows 95”, by Stan Leibowitz and
Stephen E. Margolis, Regulation
Vol. 18, No. 3, 1995 © 1995 Cato Institute
Talking
Average
talking speed is 125 to 150 words per minute.
How
fast do some of our most well-known speakers speak? Take a look at our current and past Presidents' Inauguration speeches to see how they compare.
| Year
of Speech |
President |
#
of
Words |
Elapsed
Minutes |
Words
per Minute |
| 2001 |
George
Bush (#43) |
1570 |
14 |
112 |
| 1997 |
William Clinton
(#42) |
2170 |
22 |
99 |
| 1993 |
William Clinton
(#42) |
1507 |
14 |
108 |
| 1989 |
George Bush
(#41) |
2283 |
20 |
114 |
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|
|
|
|
|
Average |
1883 |
18 |
108 |
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Even the slowest speaking President speaks about twice as fast as a
very good typist types. It's easier and more efficient to talk to someone right
here, right now. Make your email more effective by adding voice to it,
with netYAK! Order here!
Unit
of talking speed:
milliLampson
/mil'*-lamp`sn/ n.
A
unit of talking speed, abbreviated mL. Most people run about 200
milliLampsons.
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