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Wikipedia
Computer Typing & Data Entry
A computer operator is a role in IT which oversees the running of computer systems, ensuring that the machines, and computers are running properly. The job of a computer operator as defined by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics is to “monitor and control … and respond to … enter commands … set controls on computer and peripheral devices. This Excludes Data Entry.”
The position has evolved from its beginnings in the punched card era. A Bureau of Labor Statistics report published in 2018 showed that, in the public sector, a major employer of those categorized as Computer Operator was United States Postal Service. In the private sector, companies involved in data processing, hosting, or related services employed computer operators at an even higher rate. The states with the highest employment for computer operators, as of 2018, are: New York, Texas, California, New Jersey, and Florida.
Typing is the process of writing or inputting text by pressing keys on a typewriter, computer keyboard, cell phone, or calculator. It can be distinguished from other means of text input, such as handwriting and speech recognition. Text can be in the form of letters, numbers and other symbols. The world’s first typist was Lillian Sholes from Wisconsin, the daughter of Christopher Sholes, who invented the first practical typewriter.
User interface features such as spell checker and autocomplete serve to facilitate and speed up typing and to prevent or correct errors the typist may make.
Hunt and peck (two-fingered typing) is a common form of typing in which the typist presses each key individually. Instead of relying on the memorized position of keys, the typist must find each key by sight. Although good accuracy may be achieved, the use of this method may also prevent the typist from being able to see what has been typed without glancing away from the keys, and any typing errors that are made may not be noticed immediately. Because only a few fingers are used in this technique, this also means that the fingers are forced to move a much greater distance.
In this technique, the typist keeps their eyes on the source copy at all times. Touch typing also involves the use of the home row method, where typists rest their wrist down, rather than lifting up and typing (which can cause carpal tunnel syndrome). To avoid this, typists should sit up tall, leaning slightly forward from the waist, place their feet flat on the floor in front of them with one foot slightly in front of the other, and keep their elbows close to their sides with forearms slanted slightly upward to the keyboard; fingers should be curved slightly and rest on the home row.
Many touch typists also use keyboard shortcuts when typing on a computer. This allows them to edit their document without having to take their hands off the keyboard to use a mouse. An example of a keyboard shortcut is pressing the Ctrl key plus the S key to save a document as they type, or the Ctrl key plus the Z key to undo a mistake. Other shortcuts are the Ctrl key plus the C to copy and the Ctrl key and the V key to paste, and the Ctrl key and the X key to cut. Many experienced typists can feel or sense when they have made an error and can hit the ← Backspace key and make the correction with no increase in time between keystrokes.
There are many idiosyncratic typing styles in between novice-style “hunt and peck” and touch typing. For example, many “hunt and peck” typists have the keyboard layout memorized and are able to type while focusing their gaze on the screen. Some use just two fingers, while others use 3–6 fingers. Some use their fingers very consistently, with the same finger being used to type the same character every time, while others vary the way they use their fingers.
One study examining 30 subjects, of varying different styles and expertise, has found minimal difference in typing speed between touch typists and self-taught hybrid typists. According to the study, “The number of fingers does not determine typing speed… People using self-taught typing strategies were found to be as fast as trained typists… instead of the number of fingers, there are other factors that predict typing speed… fast typists… keep their hands fixed on one position, instead of moving them over the keyboard, and more consistently use the same finger to type a certain letter.” To quote doctoral candidate Anna Feit: “We were surprised to observe that people who took a typing course, performed at similar average speed and accuracy, as those that taught typing to themselves and only used 6 fingers on average.”
Data entry is the process of digitizing data by entering it into a computer system for organization and management purposes. It is a person-based process and is “one of the important basic” tasks needed when no machine-readable version of the information is readily available for planned computer-based analysis or processing.
Sometimes what is needed is “information about information (that) can be greater than the value of the information itself.” It can also involve filling in required information which is then “data-entered” from what was written on the research document, such as the growth in available items in a category. This is a higher level of abstraction than metadata, “information about data.” Common errors in data entry include transposition errors, misclassified data, duplicate data, and omitted data, which are similar to bookkeeping errors.
Data entry is often done with a keyboard and at times also using a mouse, although a manually-fed scanner may be involved.
Historically, devices lacking any pre-processing capabilities were used.
Data entry using keypunches was related to the concept of batch processing – there was no immediate feedback.
Computer keyboards and online data-entry provide the ability to give feedback to the data entry clerk doing the work.
The addition of numeric keypads to computer keyboards introduced quicker and often also less error-prone entry of numeric data.
The use of a computer mouse, typically on a personal computer, opened up another option for doing data entry.
Touch screens introduced even more options, including the ability to stand and do data entry, especially given “a proper height of work surface when performing data entry.”
Although most data entered into a computer are stored in a database, a significant amount is stored in a spreadsheet. The use of spreadsheets instead of databases for data entry can be traced to the 1979 introduction of Visicalc, and what some consider the wrong place for storing computational data continues.
Format control and specialized data validation are reasons that have been cited for using database-oriented data entry software.
The search for assurance about the accuracy of the data entry process predates computer keyboards and online data entry. IBM even went beyond their 056 Card Verifier and developed their quieter IBM 059 model.
Modern techniques go beyond mere range checks, especially when the new data can be evaluated using probability about an event.
In one study, a medical school tested its second year students and found their data entry skills – needed if they are to do small-scale unfunded research as part of their training – were below what the school considered acceptable, creating potential barriers.
- Two pass verification
- Quality control
- Clinical data management
- Data verification
- Data entry clerk
- Input (computer science)