It’s so easy to edit, revise, and redo text using a computer that we often forget that the first typewriters didn’t have a [Delete] key. Once you pressed the key that activated the lever that struck a carved raised letter through a band of ink-saturated ribbon onto the waiting piece of paper, that letter was there on the page, and the only way to remove it was to scroll the paper up and scrape the ink off the page – or toss away the whole sheet of paper and start over. Some people think that without the ability to delete (or copy and paste, or any of the other high-tech typing tools we have today) people who were typing had to really think about what they were going to say, and pay more careful attention to the words they chose. On the other hand, there are people who believe that the easy editing possible with computer keyboards means that people who have good typing skills can just let their fingers fly quickly, keeping up with their thoughts as they arrive, whether or not those thoughts are in the best order or use the most descriptive words. In any event, what both sides agree on is that using a typewriter is a very different experience than using a computer.

In St. Louis, Missouri, Henry Goldkamp uses a typewriter to create “mobile poetry” for people walking by his table on the sidewalk, and now he’s put 40 other typewriters around the city to let people create their own words. One of the things he’s discovered is that people are more focused on the act of typing simply because typewriters are so foreign to most peoples’ experience these days that they’re almost afraid to press the first key. When you have to stop and think about how to say something, then you’ll probably spend some time thinking about what to say as well. Goldkamp plans to collect the thoughts of the sidewalk authors citywide through the end of this month. What do you think – will typewriters encourage people to let their words flow freely?

If you’re in St. Louis, you can get more information about the typewriter project here.