Data entry into tablets and smartphones is, face it, awkward, clunky, and slow. Typing into tiny little non-tactile keyboards with your thumbs is far from ideal. It is the worst aspect of tablet use.
Most of us grew up recording our thoughts and records using pens on paper. We know how cursive can be a natural and convenient way to record data. I cannot pick up a stylus to use a tablet without despairing at the poor options available for entering data there; we can enter ‘digital ink’ with the stylus, and risk not being able to read it later, or we can tap a soft keyboard. Ugh.
Unfortunately, reading other people’s handwriting (or our own, later) can be difficult, as ink cursive can seem incomprehensible. And if natural human intelligence struggles to read human handwriting, Artificial Intelligence ever reading it is a lost cause.
This is the problem that KeeneyKursive addresses: entering data as text data, using a stylus in continuous cursive strokes, efficiently and easily, that ends up as data, rendered in text fonts, and not as raster ‘digital ink’. Like traditional cursive, you can write without looking at the tablet. Like traditional cursive, you can write complete words without lifting the stylus (actually more true of KeeneyKursive than traditional). Like traditional cursive, your practice creates muscle-memory that produces letters and words without thinking of individual strokes. Unlike traditional cursive, the result is data, so it can be cut-and-pasted, or spell-checked, or auto-corrected (if you must). It can be entered into any smartphone app, including texting, Whatsapp, Facebook, and email.
I am David Keeney, the product’s namesake. My full name is David V Keeney, and I am the original designer and principal developer. I enjoy making people’s lives and jobs easier through software. A preliminary version of the software exists, and works (see video), but has not been released. With the funds raised, I will hire a programmer and linguists to assist me, and accomplish the following:
Alphabets and supported languages will include:
With these alphabets, KeeneyKursive will be usable by over 90% of the world’s population.
** I have been traveling in India since creating the video, and have become aware that my pronunciation of Devanagari in the video is wrong. Forgive me.
Budget is based on estimates (basically guesses) as to how much programming and consulting time will be required. No part of the promised result is in doubt as to whether it can be done, but the difficulty may be over or under estimated.