Is shorthand necessary in a Web world or is it just a useful skill?

Last week I came across a post from Dave Lee about journalism and shorthand. He describes how learning shorthand is under debate in UK j-schools, where the skill appears to have a strong following. In fact one of the comments berates any journalist who doesn’t know a form of shorthand:

Anyone who thinks it is possible to accurately cover a court case without shorthand is a moron.

Unless and until tape recorders or the like are allowed inside a court that will not change.

If you can’t do shorthand you’re not a journalist – end of story (no pun intended).

The above quote is attributed to a “Gary.” While I can see the reasoning behind this mentality I actually agree with Martin Stabe who replied to Gary’s quote, basically making the point that shorthand is only a staple of a j-school education in the UK.

As a journalism student in the U.S. I stumbled upon stories about shorthand speed records and was immediately determined to learn shorthand, all by myself no less.

Here’s the kicker, it’s next to impossible to find a shorthand book in the U.S. I actually wound up ordering a guide online and I’m not ashamed to admit it’s been collecting dust on my shelf.

See I just found the entire process too time-consuming to learn — different thicknesses, sounds over words, dotted vowels … I frankly got frustrated and gave up.

Unfortunately for my Pitman book, I’ve since moved on to learning Gregg shorthand. I still think I can function without it, but I can see moments where it would be useful and I’ve decided to tack it onto my reading list.

Hey, it’s something to do when Twitter’s down.