TheHistoryOf.net

These days, data entry is a pretty common profession. We are all surrounded by computers on a daily basis, whether we are at home, at work, or pretty much anywhere else. This was not always the case, of course. Not too long ago, the idea of spending all day at the keyboard was a novel thought.

Lillian Sholes, The World’s First Typist

According to Wikipedia, Lillian Sholes is considered the world’s first typist. Lillian was the daughter of Christopher Sholes, who created the world’s first widely successful typewriter in the 1860s. Typewriters had come before, of course, but Christopher Sholes’ typewriter was the first to be produced en masse and is also notable for introducing the QWERTY layout that is still used to this day.

Expansion

As the years went by, technology expanded as always and new ways of inputting data were created. In 1881, the US census was made easier by the creation of a punched card device invented by Herman Hollerith. This electric device could read, then count, then sort the holed cards to tally data collected by census takers, making the 1890 census take only one-tenth the time (one year versus ten years) than a hand-tabulated census would have taken. Some consider the people involved with this census to be the first group of data entry clerks. Hollerith went on to create the Tabulating Machine Company to create his device en masse in 1896, and this company would later become International Business Machines (IBM).

Of course, Sholes’ typewriter continued to see expanded use as more and more companies embraced the sleeker, consistent design. Others that contributed to modern data entry practices include:

• L.V. Longley - Mrs. L.V. Longley is accredited with creating the modern ten-finger typing technique. Before this, typists typed with two fingers, which today is referred to as “hunting and pecking” or “chicken typing.”
• Frank E. McGurrin - Frank E. McGurrin was a Salt Lake City federal court clerk who invented the idea of memorizing the keyboard and typing without looking at it. This led to the idea of assigning a value to increased typing speeds and efficiency.

Innovation

It was just a matter of time before the punch card machine and typewriter would merge into one, and this is what eventually led to the development of the computer and then streamlined data entry. In the 60s, we saw the introduction of screens that would allow the typist to see what he or she was typing before printing it – something that we could not imagine living without today.

The 70s and 80s saw an explosion in the data entry field. Huge banks of computers became commonplace in large businesses and the idea of cubicle-filled offices, each one sporting its own computer, became the common image people thought of when thinking about office jobs. Ergonomic concerns, however, were ignored and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome entered the mainstream American lexicon as a result.

Nowadays, of course, companies recognize the insurance costs associated with such neglect, so most have ergonomic keyboards as the industry standard. Conversely, you have online data entry companies that do their business via Internet freelancers and avoid such issues.

About the Author

Ray T. Lewis lives just outside of Dallas, Texas with his wife and three children. He reads extensively, and he's worked as an editor and writer for askdeb.com for a little over two years. His goal is to give you realistic advice when it comes to finding information about data entry jobs. Visitors to askdeb.com can expect to find extensive, detailed answers to reader-submitted questions.