handwriting

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Handwriting is a great, tactile, time-tested method for creating content, so who wouldn't want to use it as part of a user interface for posting to one's personal website?

IndieWeb Examples

Chris Aldrich made his first post from a handwritten index card with a fountain pen to his website on 2021-11-23.
- He used a custom app on his Android phone to take a photo of the handwritten index card which saves the image to Google Drive. Opening the file in Google Docs automatically does OCR on the photo and places the text into the document. The document creation in Google Drive triggers an IFTTT recipe that uses a webhook to Micropub workflow (described elsewhere) that posts the text from the Google Doc to his WordPress website as a draft. He can then edit any issues/errors from the OCR, add photos, etc. and then publish the post with optional syndication targets like Twitter, Mastodon, and micro.blog.
- Additional details about the posting process as well as using Rocketbook notebook and a Pilot Frixion pen: https://boffosocko.com/2021/12/20/55799844/

Daniel Burgarth runs https://www.stempen.org/, a site about pens in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), that is handwritten in pen with active URL links. It states that it was built with technology from Stylus Labs.

Ben Stokes has a handwritten website blog built using his own project PaperWebsite.

gRegor Morrill paper blogged (plogged?) once while trying out a "No screen night" in 2008. It was a one-time, pretty tongue-in-cheek post, though. No OCR or alt text, unfortunately.
- https://gregorlove.com/2008/02/before-web-2.0/

Jeff Bridges early examples
- https://web.archive.org/web/19991129020501/https://jeffbridges.com/
- https://web.archive.org/web/20000309121200/http://jeffbridges.com/main.html

Gerben and Brendan Howell created PenPub which connects with a Moleskine/Neo smartpen via bluetooth, turns the lines into an SVG file, uploads that to a static web server, and thereby creates a ‘paper website’ that is a live reflection of your notebook (with a few seconds delay)
- Example page: http://penpub.ink/page38.html
- PenPub code is available at: https://gitlab.com/bhowell/penpub

Platforms

PaperWebsite is a platform that allows one to write on any kind of paper, capture the writing via photo and uses AI to convert the writing to text and posts it to a custom website. One can then edit and publish the content.

Stylus Labs

Rocketbook, a company with digital paper/pen/app product that might be used for posting to one's website

Livescribe, a digital pen company whose technology with OCR might be used for posting to one's website.

Silo Examples

Alton Brown on Twitter

In his early Twitter experience, Alton Brown, a well known chef and television host, has regularly used photographs of his handwritten, drawn, and typed notes and replies on yellow Post it notes to communicate on Twitter

https://twitter.com/altonbrown/status/282329664607883266
- "http://t.co/K26PYWGE" @altonbrown December 22, 2012
another example, but using a typewriter https://twitter.com/altonbrown/status/277928769270992896
- "http://t.co/S3AH4Bw0" @altonbrown December 10, 2012
https://twitter.com/altonbrown/status/270712683135913985
- "http://t.co/IlciX7YI" @altonbrown November 20, 2012
A thread of handwritten tweets using multiple post it notes https://twitter.com/altonbrown/status/255824201976532992
- "http://t.co/4aYvKY1o" @altonbrown October 10, 2012

Articles

2021-11-23 Pen and paper publishing to your website? PaperWebsite is on to something. by Chris Aldrich brainstorming the idea of a Micropub client for converting handwriting on paper to posts on a website.

2021-12-20 Handwriting my Website with a Digital Amanuensis by Chris Aldrich
- An implementation of a method to post handwriting to one's website using OCR and Micropub

Brainstorming

What other methods might one use to post handwriting to their personal website? Add your ideas below.

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