A few months ago, I ranted about my affection for mechanical keyswitch keyboards. As a writer, having an accurate, responsive keyboard is important, and I was able to meet that need with the relatively inexpensive keyboard Solidtek ASK-6600.
Well, the urge to keep exploring high-end keyboards struck again, and I got a Realforce 86U. This keyboard uses the highly-regarded Topre rubber dome keyswitch. Rubber dome keyswitches are used in some truly awful keyboards, but as it turns out, that does not mean that rubber dome keyswitches are themselves awful.
In fact, they can be a real delight. I love my Realforce 86U! It makes less noise than my Solidtek ASK-6600, it has an ergonomic design that works very well for fast, accurate touch typing, and a springy, precise feel to the keyswitches.
It’s a spendy little keyboard, but I can see myself being very happy with this keyboard for a long time!
By the way, “The good feeling of oneness with cup rubber” is the hilariously garbled english tag line printed on the Realforce product box.
The Word Lions are a bookish bunch. More bookish than worldly, I imagine. And so we read a lot. We read books, we read blogs, and we read any scrap of interesting writing we find anywhere.
It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally the reading interest conflicts with the writing time, and we have a productivity challenge. There are just so many interesting folks doing good writing out there! So for Philip and Joel, it’s Instapaper to the rescue.
Instapaper often resolves the conflict between the desire to read that interesting thing we stumbled across while researching that productive thing we’re actually working on at the moment. Instead of interrupting the productive work, we can add that article to an Instapaper queue and read it later.
The itch to read that interesting thing gets scratched without turning productive time into lost time. Everybody wins!
We love A5 notebooks. Or at least Philip does. Here’s why.
They’re Baggable
They slide right into even svelte laptop bags!
The A5 paper size is a nice middle ground between the more conventional letter and legal sizes (A4 is the nearest ISO standard) and those tiny black Moleskine notebooks that you see beret-wearing wanna-be authors using in cafes.
One of the nice advantages of A5 notebooks is that they slip right into a laptop bag or other handy conveyance. They are less bulky than letter size notebooks, and they fit a wider variety of bags.
They’re Just Big Enough
Even the most chaotic mind has room to roam.
The A5 paper size is large enough to get a real idea onto a single page of the notebook; the whole idea. Notes from an hour long meeting, a new product idea, whatever. It’s just enough tabula rosa. Goldilocks would love it.
The combination of baggability and size is a real sweet spot for me, and I’m now a committed fan of A5 size notebooks.
I am perched in the observation car of the Amtrak Coast Starlight, just passing Mount Shasta and climbing towards the Oregon border. The other occupants regularly jump up with their cameras at the ready when yet another incredible view rolls by.
If you want to see some of my pictures, check out my twitter feed. I tagged the trip with #whyfly.
Thanks, #GravSum
I was down in Los Angeles attending the Gravity Summit Conference on social media. I came with a mix of curiosity and skepticism. I was skeptical about two things in particular:
That a social media strategy alone will get a company where they need to go.
That MC Hammer is a good choice for featured speaker.
MC Hammer speaking at Gravity Summit
My skepticism on one of these was entirely unfounded. I also bring back a new perspective on how social media can work to merge my own professional and personal life—and how that might not be a bad thing.
Amtrak Coast Starlight: My New Favorite Thought Incubator
Yesterday on this train I spoke to a woman who is fascinated by timelines. Tanya pointed out that we are, with our Facebook and Twitter feeds, creating and self-curating a timeline of our existence.
Like me, Tanya is hesitant to be too open on the web, however. She fears that someone will judge her out of context. After we both expressed that concern we realized that we do not ourselves judge people that harshly based on their online behavior.
In our diverse and connected culture, people who are quick to judge you on some single tweet or post are not going to have many friends. For instance, I doubt that a vegan would hesitate to consult with the Word Lions simply because I post pictures of my awesome Thanksgiving in January birthday party, a festival of carnivorous exuberance.
The fear of being judged on your personal life is largely unfounded.
Twitter and Facebook are exceedingly effective in transmitting humanity. We use different speech, but tend to treat each other about the same online as we do in person, for better or worse. I myself have been in a few Facebook tiffs that were not entirely polite.
[pull] The fear of being judged on your personal life is largely unfounded. [/pull]
Knowing that social media can contain inappropriate language, statements out of context, and any number of off-message statements, I understand why some people and corporations wall off social media in favor of more traditional, more controllable ways of communication. Like normal human life, social media does not cast a consistent message, all sunshine and rainbows.
The American Red Cross Are On The Porch Gettingslizzerd
[pull] The idea that we need to lead a certain life that projects faux professionalism is absurd. [/pull]
Daphne Hart from the American Red Cross told the incredible story of how the American Red Cross made delicious lemonade out of the #gettingslizzerd gaffe. Essentially, an employee accidentally told all followers of the American Red Cross that she and her peoples were getting drunk on high quality beer. You can read a good account here.
The Red Cross publicity team essentially responded with a friendly giggle and an apology. Their audience embraced their friendly, personable approach to communications—even though they manage such serious issues. I was struck that it was a humanizing moment for the organization. Perhaps, as a case study, it will change the attitude of corporate communications in general.
Work and Life Collide When You Can No Longer Hide
Don't hurt the professionals.
Consider, as Philip likes to, the concept of being professional. “Professional is doing your job well, even on a bad day,” he says. I think he is right. It really does not have anything to do with any other quirks or habits. The idea that we need to lead a certain life that projects faux professionalism is absurd.
For instance, let me point out that the current ultimate model of professional appearance, Mad Men’s Don Draper, is a man that has carved his life into separate and conflicting partitions. Makes for good TV but seems stressful.
My work is an important part of my life, but I certainly am not identical to other people that do my job well. Beyond being relatively mature and generally sane, People do not need to present a particular sheen in order to convince others of their professionalism.
Gravity Summiteers: A Fearsome Bunch of Really Open People
Along with MC Hammer and Daphne from Red Cross, speakers included:
Brian Drescher of Mashable
Ted Nguyen, a publicist and darling of social media
Simon Mainwaring, formerly of Wieden & Kennedy now an author and all-around smart guy
Stewart Neff from Visible, a company that helps to track social media for companies
Ramon DeLeon, a Domino’s Pizza franchise owner from Chicago that has gone ahead and made himself famous and loved through his existence on the social tubes
Learn more about all of these folks on the Gravity Summit agenda. Or find them out there in the ether. They are easy to find.
These speakers were quite bullish on social media. They loved to note the use of twitter by Egyptian protesters and consumer revolts. I felt that their view of it was, though anecdotally true, a blue-sky view of a future bathed in the warm unified and democratic light of social media.
[pull] By embracing a single public persona not separated into personal and professional, we go beyond posing like cardboard cutout figures labeled with our professional titles. Word Lions have certain passions that lend themselves well to writing awesome technical content.[/pull]
I started to warm to the idea of embracing social media more fully. I get enthusiastic about my company and about technical communications in general. I want to tell that story. I am also pretty excitable about artists, politics, food, and a million other things. Today, I am enthusiastic about this fantastic train trip.
A lot of the Gravity Summit speakers are projecting, every day, a persona out to their social media outlets, are willing to be seen as they are. It occurs to me that it might even be a relief. With all of the ways that people can learn about our private lives, it is more and more difficult to partition your life. It may be time to let go of the idea of a “professional” persona. We simply can not be a cussing free, well dressed, and well tempered person all day and all night. At least I can not.
I have used Facebook to tout the things that matter to me and to disparage things I disagree with. I use an honest, sometimes raw voice there. In my communications as a Word Lions, such as this blog, I certainly am honest as well. However, I tend to trim out material that might muddle the message. Word Lions have essentially been practicing an older corporate communications model.
My Personal Glasnost With Social Media
After Gravity Summit, I think that old-school communication of your identity will eventually be as outmoded as a 1996 web page. I also think that might not be a bad thing, entirely.
By embracing a single public persona not separated into personal and professional, we go beyond posing like cardboard cutout figures labeled with our professional titles. We become real people. Word Lions have certain passions that lend themselves well to writing awesome technical content.
I live for authentic relationships in work as well as in my personal life. Word Lions is more than a company or a service. Philip and I are working to craft a lifestyle around creating great work while living a good life. We have chosen our clients and compatriots as people that we enjoy. They are often people that quickly move into the realm of Facebook friends, people that I can cuss in front of and people who know that Philip is not much of a morning person but a great photographer.
So, Gravity Summit, this is what you have given me: a new resolve to be authentic in business and to allow my personality in. Feel free to peruse my personal blog (http://wordweevil.com. Not frequently updated but I would love more Answer Phone questions). Check out my Facebook feed: facebook.com/joelbyronbarker. I will in fact post to Twitter (@joelbyronbarker) more. I hope that it stops feeling like an annoying chore. Get to know all of me, world. Not only am I great at creating training, white papers, and all manner of technical communications, I am a great guy, too.
I am still convinced that social media alone is not enough effort for success in most commercial marketing scenarios. People need thorough, curated content to understand a product. However, social media will provide pathways and context for that more stable collateral.
Speaking of great guys, MC Hammer was an incredible speaker. He spoke off the cuff, integrating tidbits from previous speakers. He has an awesome stage presence (comes with much practice) and speaks with the true fire of a believer. He connects with an audience and gave us something of value. If he is speaking somewhere near you, go on and see him.
One of the recurring conversations here at Word Lions World Headquarters in Portland, OR centers around the tools we use. How much focus on tools is helpful before diminishing returns set in? Will new tool XYZ really make a difference? In general, Joel and I love tools that do what they’re supposed to do reliably and elegantly. So I resolved to find a keyboard that helped me type reliably and elegantly.
Soylent Keyboards
[pull]The audible and tactile click of my ASK-6600 keyboard gives me absolute certainty that a keystroke has registered, and it has greatly increased my typing accuracy.[/pull]While keyboards have become lighter, quieter, and easier to manufacture, they have also generally trended towards mushy and imprecise feel. My previous wireless keyboard, the Apple bluetooth keyboard, was an absolutely stunning example of visual design and high quality manufacturing but it was also an ergonomic disaster for me. Membrane keyboards like this one, and the ones many laptops are fitted with, are quiet and often beautiful but they just don’t cut the mustard for serious typists. And so I finally “downgraded” to a USB keyboard with mechanical keyswitches. It’s been one of the best computer accessory purchases I’ve ever made.
A mechanical keyswitch
More Than One Way To Build A Keyboard
A brief digression on the topic of keyboards. Before purchasing my Solidtek ASK-6600 keyboard, I sat at the feet of the masters of keyboard minutia over at the Geekhack forum. These sweet souls love keyboards more than you or I probably ever will, and they’re not afraid to talk about it. They’ve done a lot of good work discussing the benefits of clickieness, tactility, lightness, heaviness, smoothness, and other measurable and intangible aspects of keyboard feel. While they can be fairly accused of wandering off into the dark forest of obsession, they’ve also mapped the territory of mechanical keyboards quite nicely, and for that I am grateful.
There are three major categories of keyswitches, which are the bits of machinery that sit underneath the keys (formally known as the keycaps) of a keyboard:
Rubber dome keyswitches are the most common type used on full size desktop keyboards today. They use a rubber dome to provide resistance to keypresses, and therefore tend to have a mushy feel.
Membrane keyswitches are the most common type used on laptop and some desktop keyboards. The keycaps in this type press down on a membrane, and these keyboards tend to have a light, delicate feel.
Mechanical keyswitches are the least common type of keyboard today. No modern laptops use this keyswitch type, and there are a few desktop keyboards of this type available. This keyboard type has individual mechanical keyswitches under each keycap.
[pull]
Although my office is a bit louder than it used to be, I’m a happier typist and a more productive Word Lion.
By the way, if you have fond memories of the IBM type M keyboard, you can still buy one! Here’s the link.[/pull]
Each major category of keyswitches has numerous sub-categories. Me, I just wanted something that would be a significant improvement over the membrane keyboard I was using. Why? Well, it wasn’t necessarily because I wanted my typing to sound like a hailstorm on a tin roof (thanks for that one Andrew Plotkin!). Rather, it was because I wanted accuracy, and to a lesser extent, speed.
Accuracy Matters to Me, Noise Level Doesn’t
There are several criteria that you might judge a keyboard by. Sound, feel, speed, and accuracy are four possible ones.
Sound: Mechanical keyswitches tend to emit a noticeable audible click when depressed. Purists debate about whether this click happens at precisely the same point as the keystroke registers on screen, but for most mechanical keyswitches, it’s very close. This audible feedback arguable helps with typing accuracy and speed. My dog, who is totally deaf, can sometimes feel the floor vibrating from the furor of my keyboard, but he doesn’t mind the noise and neither do I. Do be aware that even the most svelte mechanical keyswitch keyboard, like the oft-desired Happy Hacking Keyboard, will be louder than a membrane or rubber dome keyboard.
Feel: The feel of a keyboard is a very personal taste. For me, I find that a solid feel with significant resistance to individual keypresses is ideal. Combined with keycaps that are curved and have edges that I can easily feel, a solid keypress allows me to type with confidence. You might think that keys with significant resistance would increase fatigue, but I have not found that to be the case.
Speed: This one is important to many folks, but not as important to me. Even though my typing speed is considerably higher on a mechanical keyswitch keyboard, my speed on a decent rubber dome keyboard or scissor switch laptop board already outstripped the rate at which I can quickly form good sentences when doing original writing–like white papers–and so I really didn’t need a huge speed boost. That said, it’s really nice to know that the keyboard can keep up with my fingers when those flashes of insight do happen, and I want to get them into type as quickly as possible.
Accuracy: This one is the biggie for me, and it’s the main reason I wanted to switch to a mechanical keyswitch keyboard. I’m not a great typist, but I can touch type, and I really get discouraged when my error rate is increased by a poor match between what my fingers expect and what the keyboard delivers. The worst for me is any keyboard with flat keycaps. I really rely on the slightly concave shape of each keycap to help my fingers stay in the correct position over home row so that I can touch type with greater accuracy.Furthermore, my typing accuracy is dependent on knowing when a keystroke has registered so that my fingers can move on to the next keystroke. This is an area where my mechanical keyswitch keyboard wins big over the rubber dome type. The audible and tactile click of my ASK-6600 keyboard gives me absolute certainty that a keystroke has registered, and it has greatly increased my typing accuracy.
The Solidtek ASK-6600 mechanical keyswitch keyboard
So in conclusion, I’d like to thank whatever offshore manufacturing conglomerate makes the Solidtek ASK-6600 keyboard for creating a very nice keyboard at a good price. Although my office is a bit louder than it used to be, I’m a happier typist and a more productive Word Lion.
By the way, if you have fond memories of the IBM type M keyboard, you can still buy one! Here’s the link.
