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How often do you need to write down exactly what was said? Studies[0] show that when students use laptops to take notes, they remember less than when they use

How often do you need to write down exactly what was said? Studies[0] show that when students use laptops to take notes, they remember less than when they use a pen and paper. The suggested mechanism by the latter improves retention is that it forces you to understand and summarize the content due to limited output speed (thereby processing it more deeply); when you are able to produce output at near the speed of input you can simply transfer words with little processing. It seems likely that this would be a shortcoming of shorthand as well as laptops. If you're taking notes in a meeting for your own use, it seems as though "longhand" may actually be the better choice (excepting of course those situations in which it's important to know exactly which words were said). [0] http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/04/22/0956797614524581.abstract http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/04/22/095679761452...

mkem 10y ago
Erasmus thought that verbatim note taking hurt the memory and discouraged it.
kqr 10y ago
The recommended way to use shorthand is still to take condensed, summary notes, like with longhand. The difference is you're not missing anything being said while your write down the thing. It's a little like being able to type fast as a programmer: useful despite typing being only 5% of programming, because it lets you transfer your thoughts faster, so you can focus on the next thought sooner.
vinodkd 10y ago
I do quite a few interviews and find that its easier to record exactly what was said mechanically because at another level, I'm also understanding and responding to it. This way, I keep a record of what happened for later without much thought to summarizing it at that time, and instead am able to take the conversation where i want it to. later, i look at the raw notes and re-visualize the conversation and THEN draw conclusions. So yes, IMO, there's place for exact notes when you're both the scribe and active participant.

mkem 10y ago

Erasmus thought that verbatim note taking hurt the memory and discouraged it.

kqr 10y ago

The recommended way to use shorthand is still to take condensed, summary notes, like with longhand. The difference is you're not missing anything being said while your write down the thing. It's a little like being able to type fast as a programmer: useful despite typing being only 5% of programming, because it lets you transfer your thoughts faster, so you can focus on the next thought sooner.

vinodkd 10y ago

I do quite a few interviews and find that its easier to record exactly what was said mechanically because at another level, I'm also understanding and responding to it. This way, I keep a record of what happened for later without much thought to summarizing it at that time, and instead am able to take the conversation where i want it to. later, i look at the raw notes and re-visualize the conversation and THEN draw conclusions. So yes, IMO, there's place for exact notes when you're both the scribe and active participant.