{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-blog-post-js","path":"/ontology-of-the-shift-key","result":{"data":{"contentfulPost":{"title":"ontology of the shift key","createdAt":"November 10, 2018","childContentfulPostPostBodyTextNode":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"html":"<p>First introduced in the Remington 2 model typewriter from 1878, the SHIFT key expanded the functionality of the rest of the available keys past their visible limits: the visible values of the keys that were chosen could suddenly become mutable by virtue of another key’s influence over them. This mutation was originally limited to capitalization, a change not in value but in the representation of the value of a chosen key.</p>"}},"childContentfulPostPostBodySecondTextNode":{"childMarkdownRemark":{"html":"<p>This may not seem like much, but the introduction of this new key actually represented a fairly substantial philosophical change going forward. Shift keys are still around today on keyboards, performing a wider array of functional changes than just capitalization. But even at this early stage of introduction, there were at least two fundamental, new principles brought into the mix: one is the principle that a value chosen as an input can be transformed by virtue of being selected; the other is the idea that there is a deeper level of functionality contained but not immediately visible within the actual keyboard itself.</p>\n<p>In short, the shift key introduced two really powerful notions: the functional expandability of a keyboard through the execution of a command that has no inherent value other than to transform the functionality of its fellow keys; the other is basically abstraction in terms of how the typewriter interacts with the values represented by the keys the typer chooses to type, or a decoupling of the immediately visible, literal level at which these values are apprehended and selected, and the potential new meanings they can acquire through a change in their representation (or even their “state”).</p>\n<p>That’s a lot of change for a single product design choice, the implications of which don’t only sound familiar but have not changed all that substantially over a century later.</p>"}},"imageLink":{"fluid":{"src":"//images.ctfassets.net/3fih5y15sei8/5oqR5T0ImI4wsoUse88o82/69c55d01795937f0fdd8c988f68b22ed/shiftKey.jpg?w=800&q=100"}}}},"pageContext":{"isCreatedByStatefulCreatePages":false,"slug":"ontology-of-the-shift-key"}}}