Editing Keyer (section)

== Computer interface keyers ==
[[Image:Septambic key numbering.jpg|thumb|Steve Mann's septambic keyer custom molded to fit the hand, with one key for each finger, and three for the thumb.]]
[[Image:Twiddlerglog.jpg|thumb|A commercially manufactured keyer, the Twiddler 2.]]
[[Image:Keyergrip.jpg|thumb|A keyer for wearable computing, designed and built for making [[Mathematical photography|lightvector paintings]]. Note the thumbwheel for cursor control and lightvector weight setting.  The keyer is designed to hold a video screen (below the keyer) and a photographic flash lamp (above the keyer).]]
Modern computer interface '''keyers''' typically have a large number of switches but not as many as a full-size [[Alphanumeric keyboard|keyboard]]; typically between four and fifty.<ref name=Mann-2002/> A keyer differs from a keyboard in the sense that it lacks a traditional "board"; the keys are arranged in a cluster<ref name=Mann-2002/> which is often held in the hand.

=== Inspiration from telegraphy ===
An example of a very simple keyer is a single [[telegraph key]], used for [[Keying (telecommunications)|sending]] [[Morse code]]. In such a use, the term "to key" typically means to turn on and off a [[carrier wave]]. For example, it is said that one "keys the transmitter" by connecting some low-power stage of the [[amplifier]] in a [[transmitter]] to its follow-on stage, through the telegraph key.

When this concept of an ''[[Telegraph key#Dual-lever paddles|iambic telegraph key]]'' was introduced to inventor [[Steve Mann (inventor)|Steve Mann]] in the 1970s, he mistakenly heard ''iambic'' as ''<u>bi</u>ambic''. He then generalized the nomenclature to include various "polyambic" or "multiambic" keyers, such as a "pentambic" keyer (five keys, one for each finger and the thumb), and "septambic" (four finger and three thumb buttons on a handgrip). These systems were developed primarily for use in early, experimental forms of [[wearable computing]], and have also been adapted to [[cycling]] with a [[heads-up display]] in projects like BEHEMOTH by [[Steven K. Roberts]]. Mann (who primarily works in [[computational photography]]) later utilized the concept in a portable [[backpack]]-based computer and imaging system, WearCam, which he invented for photographic light vectoring.<ref>
{{cite web
 |title = {{grey|[no title cited]}}
 |website = WearCam.org
 |type = home page
 |url = http://WearCam.org
}}
{{full citation needed|reason=That's just the homepage. Need specific link to exact article/page. An independent source would be better than Mann's own website.|date=September 2018}}
</ref>

===Common computer keyer use ===
Computer interface keyers are typically one-handed grips, often used in conjunction with wearable computers.{{Citation needed|date=June 2016}} Unlike key''board''s, the wearable key''er'' has no board upon which the switches are mounted. Additionally, by providing some other function – such as simultaneous grip of flash light and keying – the keyer is effectively hands-free, in the sense that one would still be holding the light source anyway.

[[Chorded keyboard|Chorded or chording keyboards]] have also been developed, and are intended to be used while seated having multiple keys mounted to a board rather than a portable grip. One type of these, the so-called ''[[QWERTY|half-QWERTY]]'' layout, uses only minimal chording, requiring the space bar to be pressed down if the alternate hand is used. It is otherwise a standard [[QWERTY]] keyboard of full size. It, and many other innovations{{Example needed|date=September 2018}} in keyboard controls, were designed to deal with hand [[disability|disabilities]] in particular.{{Citation needed|date=June 2016}}

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