Tekstiminuutit

Tekstiminuutit is a proposed unit of measurement used to quantify the amount of text engaged with or produced within a fixed time, typically one minute. The term is a compound of teksti (text) and minuutt i (minute) in Finnish, and is used mainly in Finnish-language discussions of digital reading and writing efficiency. The concept does not correspond to any formal standard and is not widely adopted in publishing or linguistics, but it appears in research proposals and pilot studies as a way to express reading or writing throughput in time-based terms.

Definition and usage: In reading contexts, one tekstiminuutti designates the amount of text a fluent reader can read in approximately one minute under specified conditions, such as text difficulty and reading mode (silent vs. aloud). In writing contexts, it denotes the amount of original text produced in one minute by a writer under controlled conditions. The exact word counts associated with a tekstiminuutti can vary widely depending on language, complexity, and task setup, so researchers typically specify the calibration used in their study.

Applications: Tekstiminuutit are used to compare user interfaces that influence reading speed, to design accessible content, and to model reading or composing workloads in educational software. They serve as a time-based alternative to words-per-minute metrics.

Limitations and status: Because the unit lacks a standardized definition, comparisons across studies require explicit calibration details. The term remains scholarly and experimental rather than a mainstream measurement.

See also: reading rate, typing speed, readability, text complexity.