What is the Typosphere?

ty·po·sphere (ˈtaɪpəʊˌsfɪə), noun

A term for bloggers who collect, use, and otherwise obsess over typewriters and other "obsolete" technologies, including, but not limited to, handwriting, pens and ink, paper mail and mail art, knitting and fibre arts, film photography, chip-less combustion engines, and related ephemera. Though typically reclusive, members of the typosphere can sometimes be found lurking around the fringes of rummage sales, swap meets, flea markets, and church fundraisers, hoping to find the one make, model, or color typewriter that will finally complete their collection and bring them true happiness and satisfaction. None have managed this feat yet.

Typospherians have been spotted haunting otherwise respectable coffee shops and bookstores, and holding informal get-togethers known as "type-ins," where participants have been known to make an unholy racket, challenge one another in speed-typing contests, envy one another's typewriters, and exchange their surplus machines in their futile quest for completion. Every year, a strong but unbalanced faction of the typosphere participates in the rituals known as NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy, gathering in a protective herd self-identified as "The Typewriter Brigade." Both type-ins and the Brigade are insidious recruitment tools, indoctrinating otherwise productive members of society into the strange, cloistered world of the typewriter obsessive. Abandon hope all ye who enter here.

If you're a typospherian and would like to have your blog added to the Mighty Blogroll, send an e-mail to Mike Clemens or Richard Polt

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