Storycollective

Keystrokes Per Minute Podcast

The Women in the Public Service Typing Pool from 1945 til the Present Day.

This limited series podcast will present the voices of Public Service typists, with a variety of stories, experiences and challenges from participant interviews recorded since 2017.


Trailer
Listen to the Keystrokes Per Minute Trailer
Listen to Episodes

All Episodes are available to listen to online, from the Episodes page on this website.

Wellington Access Radio

Keystrokes Per Minute episodes were broadcast on Wellington Access Radio 106.1FM starting on Tuesday, 8 March 2022, for eight weeks, with the last episode airing on 26 April 2022.

Spotify and Apple Podcasts

Episodes are also available on Spotify and Apple Podcast, search for ‘Keystrokes Per Minute‘ to follow or subscribe. Don’t forget to rate and review… that helps other listeners find the podcast.


Keystrokes Per Minute Oral History Project

Judith Aitken, Eth Lloyd, Maureen Goodwin, Rose Melvin and Rachel Brown

The Keystrokes Per Minute Podcast is only possible thanks to the work of a team of researchers from the Keystrokes Per Minute Oral History project.

Listen the background of the how the podcast came to life and hear from each of the Research team members about their motivations and purpose.

Introducing the Keystrokes Research Team members

Join our mailing list via the form at the bottom of this page or email us at keystrokes@storycollective.nz

Logo Keystrokes Per Minute. Hand drawn picture of a typewriter, with a piece of paper in the carriage, with the letters 'KPM' on the page.

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Episodes


Black and white photo of teenage students sat at typewriters in a classroom while other students are standing in the background
The Role of Education

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

Life in the Typing Pool

Interviewees tell us about how they got their first job, what those first few days or weeks were like, how their work was organised, who was in charge and regale us with stories from their time & era. 

Imperial 66 Typewriter
The impact of Technology

The evolution of technology had a great effect on typists and the typing pools.

From typewriters to the complicated language of Shorthand, we hear about all the different equipment of each era, and some of the ‘hacks’ that typists used.

Public Service & women’s work

Social attitudes of the day were reflected in the Public Service bureaucracy and limitations placed on women’s progression.

The State Services Act 1988 changed the landscape for all public servants and coincided with typists battling to be seen as more than
Just a typist‘.


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