Handwriting needs to continue to be taught in the digital age

While I was visiting with My family the other week, My sister-in-law actually mentioned how she had heard that there are States in the USA where it has been decided that Handwriting should be removed from the educational system in favour of teaching students how to type their notes on the screens of Technology.

With My interest on the topic peaked, I instantly turned to searching Google, and very quickly found articles that indeed show this to be true. Articles like this one.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8623605/Indiana-schools-to-teach-children-to-type-instead-of-joined-up-handwriting.html


This, of course, got Me thinking about the pros and cons of discontinuing the practice of teaching this skill. The top pro I could think of on the topic is that a clean, crisp font eliminates the major issue of trying to make out the handwriting style of every person in society.  But then looking at the cons of such a move a realization hit Me.

handwriting needs to be preserved as a tool of digital security!

Every day modern society is ending up hearing stories about credit card data can be replicated, data bases hacked into and Identity Theft happening. Handwriting, in the modern digital age becomes a strong tool in two factor authentication when doing transactions. It is the way contracts are signed. When tracking down the delivery of a package the first question asked is "who signed for it?"

Even delivery via unmanned delivery methods (think Amazon's Drone Delivery) can benefit from the addition of a digitizer screen and cellular enabled camera / transmitter which does not release the delivery until a signature is collected on delivery.

Yes, from My view, one of the worst things to remove from the educational programs of schools is the teaching of the art of handwriting, but what do you think?

Building better Websites through CAD tools

Every Website is, at its core, someone's vision. Every creator has their own vision for how they present their content to the end user and it is the job of a Web Designer to create the client's vision into a workable project for a client.

The question of just how a Designer can make sure they are seeing the same vision their client does can be one a tough one to answer.

In the past I have commented on the use of documents like a Pre-Design worksheet, but with this blog I would like to spotlight the newest tool I have added to My toolkit of Design.

Adobe Line.

Adobe's Line is a new app that runs on iOS devices, making it a portable, easy to deploy tool where I, when meeting with clients, can actually sketch out a working blueprint of the layout My client has in their vision.

Laying out ideas in this manor is actually known as storyboarding, and allows a Designer and client to make sure they are on the same page design wise.

My use of Line actually starts out with a basic wireframe being drafted. From this point, some simple questions about styles , menu layouts and general positions of elements allow for the creation of a image that can be pulled into Graphic Software, like Photoshop, where layers of colors and place holder text / images, a mock up graphic.

More information about Adobe Line can be found at the link below

line.adobe.com

Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation and a option to help protect one's business

So, along with it being Canada's 147th Birthday this July 1st, today also marks the activation of protocol and legislation that have been designed to help protect the Canadian Public from Electronically Delivered Commercial Messages (or as the legislation calls them ECM's, but to the average lay-person in short SPAM)

This new set of protocols actually places some hefty fines on the sending of email that can be considered Commercial in nature, but has been designed with aspects which are meant to keep regular email between family and friends out of hairs of being a problem.

With charges for violations ranging from $1 Million to $10 Million per violation (depending on how your business is set up) the onus has been put on the person sending the communication to prove that they have either explicit or implied consent to email the other party.

This actually brings up a rather interesting question of how does one make sure they have this consent in a way that can be proven should it ever come down to it? Online this is fairly easy as a small business can actually have their clients opt-in to a database structured system which will date the details of when and where authorization for a specific email address is given.

With face to face contact however this becomes a bit tougher to validate, as a contact can give you their business card, and later state that they did not give consent for ECM's, leaving it to the sender to prove otherwise.

So how does a small business protect themselves in this aspect? sure, if the request comes in via your Website and a Newsletter subscription system details like the Email Address, Time, Date and even a computer's Internet Address (their IP) can all be cataloged, but in person that is not quite as easy...not through Technology that is.

The answer for inertial Zen Designs is employing for this situation is that the standing policy for "First Contact" in person will be to carry a small day planner, specifically designed to allow for business cards and notes to be placed on the same planner page, with Me. 

Each page in this day planner will look like the image below and at the time of accepting a potential Business contact's card it will mean asking them to sign their name and approval of consent to the page that also will house their Professional Business card.  Yes this is an inconvenience that will lead to first contact taking a bit longer to complete, but it is something that I think is a rather forward thinking proactive way of managing communications with clients.

Do you have any ideas of how you would protect your business in a situation like this, or thoughts of the new Legislation in general, if so feel free to leave comments.