Keystrokes Per Minute

Trailer

Keystrokes Per Minute, a limited series podcast about the women in the New Zealand Public Service Typing Pools from 1945 til the present day. This NZ Podcast is themed around the topics of education, life in the typing pool, the public service and women’s work, and the impact of technology on the profession. Stories from the typing pool include typing hacks of the day, rubbish bins set on fire and some of the characters found inside, and outside the typing room.

Episode 1 The Role of Education, Part 1

Interviewees tell us about their upbringing, their experiences of secondary education, and the impactful influence of parents and teachers, on subject choices, and future pathways to employment. 

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Find transcripts and more at www.storycollective.nz 

Find StorycollectiveNZ on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

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This podcast is only made possible thanks to the work of the Keystrokes Oral History Project, find out more at www.storycollective.nz/background

Funding support from the Public Services Commission (NZ) and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage (NZ). 

Soundtrack with permission and thanks from The Boston Typewriter Orchestra, find their music on bandcamp.com

© Copyright 2017 Meg Melvin as StorycollectiveNZ

Episode 2 The Role of Education Part 2

In this episode we hear stories of discrimination and struggles with bias that girls, and young women had to overcome, to gain an education.

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Find transcripts and more at www.storycollective.nz 

Find StorycollectiveNZ on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

—

This podcast is only made possible thanks to the work of the Keystrokes Oral History Project, find out more at www.storycollective.nz/background

Funding support from the Public Services Commission (NZ) and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage (NZ). 

Soundtrack with permission and thanks from The Boston Typewriter Orchestra, find their music on bandcamp.com

© Copyright 2017 Meg Melvin as StorycollectiveNZ

Episode 3 Life in the Typing Pool Part 1

In this episode we hear about all the different pathways that led typists to getting their first job in the Public Service typing pools. Many interviewees remember their first few days and what the expectations were, their new colleagues and interesting characters found in and outside the typing room.

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Find transcripts and more at www.storycollective.nz 

Find StorycollectiveNZ on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

—

This podcast is only made possible thanks to the work of the Keystrokes Oral History Project, find out more at www.storycollective.nz/background

Funding support from the Public Services Commission (NZ) and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage (NZ). 

Soundtrack with permission and thanks from The Boston Typewriter Orchestra, find their music on bandcamp.com

© Copyright 2017 Meg Melvin as StorycollectiveNZ

Episode 4 Life in the Typing Pool Part 2

In this episode we hear stories about the day-to-day operations of the typing pool, the physical layout, how the work was submitted, normally via a supervisor or head typist; how it was then distributed to the typists, whose job it was to ensure quality, and how documents were returned to the initiator.  We will also learn some of the ingenious ‘tricks of the trades’ that typists used to cover up any mistakes.

We end this episode with something different, an in-studio interview with NZ writer & poet, Maggie Rainey-Smith.

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Find transcripts and more at www.storycollective.nz 

Find StorycollectiveNZ on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

—

This podcast is only made possible thanks to the work of the Keystrokes Oral History Project, find out more at www.storycollective.nz/background

Funding support from the Public Services Commission (NZ) and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage (NZ). 

Soundtrack with permission and thanks from The Boston Typewriter Orchestra, find their music on bandcamp.com

© Copyright 2017 Meg Melvin as StorycollectiveNZ

Episode 5 Life in the Typing Pool Part 3

In this episode we hear stories of where interviewees’ careers progressed to, whether they stayed in the typing pool moving into senior or supervisory roles, whether they moved into other areas of Govt work, or left the Public Service all together. 

Then we put the spotlight on the only typing pool that still exists today, that of the Medical Typists and Transcriptionists in District Health Boards across the country.

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Find transcripts and more at www.storycollective.nz 

Find StorycollectiveNZ on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

—

This podcast is only made possible thanks to the work of the Keystrokes Oral History Project, find out more at www.storycollective.nz/background

Funding support from the Public Services Commission (NZ) and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage (NZ). 

Soundtrack with permission and thanks from The Boston Typewriter Orchestra, find their music on bandcamp.com

© Copyright 2017 Meg Melvin as StorycollectiveNZ

Episode 6 The Impact of Technology

In this episode we delve into the evolution of typewriter technology, the introduction of computers, and what impact that had on our interviewees. They regale us with the excitement and difficulties of new technology being implemented, and how swiftly dictaphone recorders replaced Shorthand dictation.

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Find transcripts and more at www.storycollective.nz 

Find StorycollectiveNZ on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

—

This podcast is only made possible thanks to the work of the Keystrokes Oral History Project, find out more at www.storycollective.nz/background

Funding support from the State Services Commission (NZ) and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage (NZ). 

Soundtrack with permission and thanks from The Boston Typewriter Orchestra, find their music on bandcamp.com

© Copyright 2017 Meg Melvin as StorycollectiveNZ

Episode 7 The Public Service & Women’s Work

 In this episode we hear about what it was like to work for the NZ Public Service, how the standards, bureaucracy, and culture shaped the working lives of many typists, and then take a broader view of women’s work through the eras.

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Find transcripts and more at www.storycollective.nz 

Find StorycollectiveNZ on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

—

This podcast is only made possible thanks to the work of the Keystrokes Oral History Project, find out more at www.storycollective.nz/background

Funding support from the State Services Commission (NZ) and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage (NZ). 

Soundtrack with permission and thanks from The Boston Typewriter Orchestra, find their music on bandcamp.com

© Copyright 2017 Meg Melvin as StorycollectiveNZ