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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Tendinitis are common injuries due to wrong posture at the
time of long hours of using computer or typewriter at workplace.
TOUCH TYPING — AN INTRODUCTION
Touch Typing was a technique invented by a court stenographer named Frank Edward McGurrin, from Salt Lake City,
Utah in 1888.
In this technique, the typing is done by feeling the keys using the memory of the finger’s muscle movement, without
looking at the keys. The fingers hit the right keys by force of habit. Touch Typing can be done with two hands or by using
a single hand also. Only after vigorous training of proper typing technique, this skill can be learnt. The typing speed can
also be increased gradually with more practice, as this will help you learn the position of the keys, and then, the speed
of 60 WPM (Words Per Minute) or higher can be easily achieved.
To begin with, the fingers are placed on the Home Row keys. In standard QWERTY keyboards, the home row keys for
the left-hand are the "ASDF" keys, and for the right hand are "JKL;”.
Touch Typing has become an essential skill for the data entry operators because of the following reasons:
• It speeds up the typing process, as the touch typist doesn’t have to look at the keyboard to type the letters.
• It increases the productivity, as there are few chances of errors.
• It improves the body’s sitting posture and also reduces neck pain, as the focus is on the screen and not on the
keyboard.
Touch Typing Technique
Touch Typing improves typing speed and accuracy. A touch typist never looks at the keyboard. The fingers hit the right
keys by habit. The typist is entirely focused on the text being typed, reading the words and phrases as the fingers type
the text reflexively. Following are the four important stages of mastering this skill of Touch Typing:
Stage 1
It begins by learning to keep the fingers of both hands on the Home Row keys. Followed by learning the keys of lower
rows, upper rows, number rows, and special character keys. Remember, this learning is to be done by feeling the keys
with less movement of the eyes, and each finger has to operate only the key allotted to it.
Data Entry and Keyboarding Skills 205

