Sending email via typewriter, sort of

Martin A. Rice Jr., an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, does not like the "mushy" keys on computer keyboards. Here's how he sends email:

Mr. Rice explains all this over a rotary telephone from the 1970s. Later he bangs out a follow-up message on his 1938 Underwood Champion portable typewriter. Mr. Rice will often write a letter on his typewriter, scan it into his computer, and then send the image as an e-mail attachment. "Some people are tickled by it," he says. "Some people are absolutely annoyed."

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Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Hryckowian

I had Dr. Rice for my Intro to Philosophy class way back in the day, and I can totally imagine him doing something like this. He was definitely out there, but on his weirdest days, he had a way of tying it all together. Glad to see he’s still kicking.
Cefeida

Had I the skills, I’d build a working steampunk laptop just for my dad, who has not yet migrated from his old Consul typewriter. The rat-tat-tatatat-ding! of his more creative moments is a well-known sound in our house.
He still does all of his writing on the typewriter, makes corrections in fountain pen, then delivers the lot to my mother who types it into the computer.
But he’s getting a laptop this Christmas, and we will see if he can finally make the leap. I hope he doesn’t completely. I’ve listened to the sound of his typewriter all my life, and I’m sure I’d miss it.
Zapateria

tech skeptics = skeptechs?
zuzu

If only he would run it through Google’s OCR software first. Searching for textual content in his emails must be a major PITA otherwise.

Or somebody get him a steampunk-inspired typewriter-to-teletype interface.
jitrobug

I think I would reply with an mp3 generated by text-to-speech software.
dculberson

He should just get a better keyboard. Or is that too complicated?

Similar vein: My dad has faxed me printed versions of web sites. Or printed then scanned and emailed them to me. Like I couldn’t find Google Maps, for example?
Dave X

I once created a website that was comprised solely of scanned-in notebook paper, on which I had written the text. I drew little boxes to click in, and did the whole thing as a series of image maps. It was ugly and a bit slow to load, but way easier for me to create– and it got the job done. Hooray for tech mash-ups!
Mark Brown

See also Typeblogging (and the following posts too).
Mitch

So the guy wastes a sheet of paper for every email?
That’s ridiculous.
He should try an IBM Model M keyboard.
Dave X

OR

See also Dryblogging
semiotix

As a former UPJ faculty brat, let me assure you that there is not much better to do with your time there than cultivate amusing eccentricities.
paullydub

My boss after sending and receiving every email, prints it and then deletes the electronic version (you know, to save on clutter).

Also, if he wants me to send an email, he sits down at his typewirter and writes everything out on letterhead, which I then copy by hand into an email client.
calabanos

I figured there must be a steampunk solution for this, and of course it would be on BB:

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/10/12/beautiful-steampunk-.html
spazzm

A philosophy prof, you say?

“The theoretical broadening which comes from having many humanities subjects on the campus is offset by the general dopiness of the people who study these things…”
–Richard Feynman