In handwriting research, the concept of stroke is used in various ways. In engineering and computer science, there is a tendency to use the term stroke for a single connected component of ink (in Off-line handwriting recognition) or a complete pen-down trace (in on-line handwriting recognition). Thus, such stroke may be a complete character or a part of a character. However, in this definition, a complete word written as connected cursive script should also be called a stroke. This is in conflict with the suggested unitary nature of stroke as a relatively simple shape.
In the research field of handwriting motor control, the term ballistic stroke is used. [1] It is defined as the trajectory segment between two consecutive minima in the absolute velocity of the pen tip. The time delay between the cortical brain command and a muscle contraction is so large that the 100 millisecond ballistic strokes need to be planned by the brain, as feedback by hand-eye coordination requires a much slower movement than is the case in the normal handwriting process.
The MessagePad was a series of personal digital assistant devices developed by Apple Computer for the Newton platform in 1993. Some electronic engineering and the manufacture of Apple's MessagePad devices was undertaken in Japan by Sharp. The devices are based on the ARM 610 RISC processor and all featured handwriting recognition software and were developed and marketed by Apple. The devices run Newton OS.
A personal digital assistant (PDA) is a multi-purpose mobile device which functions as a personal information manager. PDAs have been mostly displaced by the widespread adoption of highly capable smartphones, in particular those based on iOS and Android, and thus saw a rapid decline in use after 2007.
Optical character recognition or optical character reader (OCR) is the electronic or mechanical conversion of images of typed, handwritten or printed text into machine-encoded text, whether from a scanned document, a photo of a document, a scene photo or from subtitle text superimposed on an image.
Penmanship is the technique of writing with the hand using a writing instrument. Today, this is most commonly done with a pen, or pencil, but throughout history has included many different implements. The various generic and formal historical styles of writing are called "hands" while an individual's style of penmanship is referred to as "handwriting".
Handwriting recognition (HWR), also known as handwritten text recognition (HTR), is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other devices. The image of the written text may be sensed "off line" from a piece of paper by optical scanning or intelligent word recognition. Alternatively, the movements of the pen tip may be sensed "on line", for example by a pen-based computer screen surface, a generally easier task as there are more clues available. A handwriting recognition system handles formatting, performs correct segmentation into characters, and finds the most possible words.
Graffiti is an essentially single-stroke shorthand handwriting recognition system used in PDAs based on the Palm OS. Graffiti was originally written by Palm, Inc. as the recognition system for GEOS-based devices such as HP's OmniGo 100 and 120 or the Magic Cap-line and was available as an alternate recognition system for the Apple Newton MessagePad, when NewtonOS 1.0 could not recognize handwriting very well. Graffiti also runs on the Windows Mobile platform, where it is called "Block Recognizer", and on the Symbian UIQ platform as the default recognizer and was available for Casio's Zoomer PDA.
Agraphia is an acquired neurological disorder causing a loss in the ability to communicate through writing, either due to some form of motor dysfunction or an inability to spell. The loss of writing ability may present with other language or neurological disorders; disorders appearing commonly with agraphia are alexia, aphasia, dysarthria, agnosia, acalculia and apraxia. The study of individuals with agraphia may provide more information about the pathways involved in writing, both language related and motoric. Agraphia cannot be directly treated, but individuals can learn techniques to help regain and rehabilitate some of their previous writing abilities. These techniques differ depending on the type of agraphia.
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain results in cell death.
Handwriting is the writing done with a writing instrument, such as a pen or pencil, in the hand. Handwriting includes both block and cursive styles and is separate from formal calligraphy or typeface. Because each person's handwriting is unique and different, it can be used to verify a document's writer. The deterioration of a person's handwriting is also a symptom or result of several different diseases. The inability to produce clear and coherent handwriting is also known as dysgraphia.
Cursive is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionality and modern-day usage across languages and regions; being used both publicly in artistic and formal documents as well as in private communication. Formal cursive is generally joined, but casual cursive is a combination of joins and pen lifts. The writing style can be further divided as "looped", "italic", or "connected".
The following is an alphabetical index of articles related to graphonomics. Most pages are generic and may not include any graphonomics material.
For penmanship, the difference between on-line handwriting recognition and off-line handwriting recognition is that temporal information is present in the on-line pen-tip trajectory Xt, Yt. This means that the order of movements is contained with an on-line recording of handwriting on a Graphics Tablet. In handwriting recognition, the temporal information usually helps to disambiguate between characters that are touching in the image, but which are disparate in the temporal order.
In graphonomics, sloppiness space is a term introduced by David Goldberg and Cate Richardson of Xerox to describe the shape space of all graph (handwriting) around an idealized allograph. Sloppiness space can be so large that optical character recognition becomes difficult due to overlap with shapes for non-intended characters.
A segment of handwriting is a piece of the pen-tip trajectory between two defined segmentation points. If the occurrence of a minimum in the absolute (tangential) velocity is used as a heuristic for segmentation, the pen-tip trajectory can be subdivided into segments corresponding to ballistic strokes.
A digital pen is an input device which captures the handwriting or brush strokes of a user and converts handwritten analog information created using "pen and paper" into digital data, enabling the data to be utilized in various applications. This type of pen is usually used in conjunction with a digital notebook, although the data can also be used for different applications or simply as a graphic.
Pen computing refers to any computer user-interface using a pen or stylus and tablet, over input devices such as a keyboard or a mouse.
Pencept, Inc. was a company in the 1980s that developed and marketed pen computing.
Handwriting movement analysis is the study and analysis of the movements involved in handwriting and drawing. It forms an important part of graphonomics, which became established after the "International Workshop on Handwriting Movement Analysis" in 1982 in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. It would become the first of a continuing series of International Graphonomics Conferences. The first graphonomics milestone was Thomassen, Keuss, Van Galen, Grootveld (1983).
Skoropis is a type of Cyrillic handwriting that developed from semi-ustav in the second half of the 14th century and was used in particular in offices and private office work, from which a modern handwriting developed in the 19th century.
The Zaner-Bloser is a teaching script for handwriting based on Latin script as well as a system of penmanship instruction, which originated around 1904 at the Zanerian College of Penmanship in Columbus, Ohio. Charles P. Zaner (1864–1918) and Elmer W. Bloser (1865–1929), originally a Spencerian Method instructor, developed their teaching script with the aim of allowing learners an easier transition from print writing to cursive. The Zaner-Bloser Method first teaches block letters and then cursive in order to enable written expression as quickly as possible and thus develop the ability to write. Material relating to the method of instruction practiced by Zaner and Bloser is still being published by the Zaner-Bloser Company, a subsidiary of Highlights for Children.