| Sumario: | Mail sorting by keyboards will require operatives either to remember a digitation for each address ("memory encoding") or key certain selected characters from the address ("extraction encoding"). Keyboards may be chord (multiple depressions per stroke) or sequential (single keys in succession). 3 preliminary experiments indicated (a) in sequential keying a key stroke takes approximately 0.3 secs., hence keyboards with many keys and requiring few key strokes per encoding are preferable, (b) for memory encoding a chord keyboard with many keys (24) is superior to a smaller chord keyboard and a sequential keyboard, and (c) for extraction encoding a typewriter and a 24-key chord keyboard are equal in performance. Training and practice requirements associated with different keyboards are suggested for future research.
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