Here is a detailed and comprehensive summary of Katherine (Kathy) M. Copenhaver’s presentation:
1. The Core Initiative: A Collaborative Encyclopedia
Copenhaver, a certified document examiner with over 40 years of experience and an international clientele, is spearheading an initiative to create a collaborative encyclopedia for the International Association of Document Examiners (IADE). Having previously attempted to launch this project with minimal response (receiving only one entry), she is re-launching the collaboration with a structured term list and clear guidelines.
- Glossary vs. Encyclopedia: She clarifies that while IADE has a basic glossary, an encyclopedia is far more robust. A glossary provides only a brief, limited definition. In contrast, the encyclopedia will contain detailed paragraphs of explanation, historical/technical context, and visual illustrations or case examples.
- The Goal of the Project: Many forensic terms use words common to the general public (such as “line quality”) but carry highly specific, technical meanings in document examination. The encyclopedia is designed to bridge this gap, giving examiners a clear, illustrated reference to explain complex handwriting concepts to laypeople, lawyers, and judges in a courtroom setting.
2. Forensic Concepts & Case Demonstrations
Using a PowerPoint slideshow, Copenhaver walks through several core handwriting terms she has already compiled, illustrating each with real-world forensic cases from her career:
- Line Quality & Speed: This refers to the smoothness of a written line based on the speed of the writer. Rapid, natural writing produces smooth, fluent lines. She shares a case where a woman falsely denied her signature, but she was proven to have signed because her writing lines were rapid, fluent, and entirely free of hesitation.
- Tremors: Slow writing naturally causes tremors, which are slight “to-and-fro” movements on the written line.
- Genuine Tremor: Caused by illness, age, or infirmity (e.g., an essential tremor). She recalls a personal case where she initially suspected forgery but concluded the signature was genuine after observing a identical essential tremor in her sister’s handwriting.
- Forger’s Tremor: Occurs when an unauthorized person slowly and painstakingly tries to draw a copied signature. She displays a case where she successfully testified in court that a slow, tremulous signature was not genuine.
- Deathbed Signatures: Highly deteriorated signatures written by people near death. Copenhaver highlights that normal, healthy individuals cannot easily replicate or duplicate the specific type of writing impairment seen in genuine, severely impaired deathbed signatures.
- Pressure Patterns & Rhythm: Normal writing has a natural rhythm of alternating heavy and light beats, where upstrokes are lighter and downstrokes are heavier. She shares a case with a highly simplified signature where the writer’s pressure patterns were distinct; the forger successfully copied the letter shapes but failed to copy these critical pressure patterns.
- Embellishment: Ornamental flourishes that are not necessary to the basic design of a letter. She shows a visual exhibit created by her husband that uses color-coding to clearly separate and trace overlapping strokes, noting that color-coded visual aids are far more effective in court than standard black-and-white copies.
- Gooping (Ink Scoops): A physical phenomenon unique to ballpoint pens, where ink accumulates on the ball of the pen as it rounds a curve and leaves an excess blob of ink on the writing line.
3. Proposed Encyclopedia Terms & Categories
Copenhaver shares an extensive, suggested list of terminology for which she is seeking written entries:
- Handwriting Elements: Slant, size and proportions, spacing (including spatial alignment), writing speed, legibility, skill level, letter forms, connectors, construction methods, pattern formations, initial strokes, terminal strokes, baseline, blunt strokes, spurs, shanks/stems, and ticks.
- Physical & Analytical Terms: Abrasion methods (erasing ink or graphite), adhesion (transfer of writing materials to paper), and gooping.
- Historical & Linguistic Terms: Cuneiform (wedge-shaped writing predating the alphabet, transcribed as “implement uniform”), cursive movements, hieroglyphics, minuscules (lowercase letters, deriving from historical printing trays where small letters were kept in a lower drawer), paleography (the study of ancient writing, transcribed as “heliography”), palimpsests (documents containing writing over an erasure, transcribed as “p column sets”), and sans-serif (lettering without small crosslines at the bases).
- Document Alterations: Disguised writing, familial characteristics, signatures, and spoliation (the unauthorized destruction or alteration of a document, transcribed as “expoliation”).
Additionally, the encyclopedia will feature a Book Review Section. Copenhaver has already written reports for most books in print but is seeking reviews of other texts. She specifically highlights Detecting Forgery (transcribed as Detecting Poetry) by Joe Nickells (transcribed as Joe Nichols)—a researcher who writes about various phenomena rather than a practicing document examiner—as a book she currently lacks an entry for.
4. Collaboration Details & Attendee Q&A
Copenhaver outlines the logistics of the project and answers attendee questions:
- Strict Deadlines: To prevent procrastination, she has set a strict three-week deadline. Participants must email her to reserve a term to avoid duplicates. If a contributor lacks a physical case example or illustration to accompany their entry, she offers to provide one from her extensive files.
- CV & Career Benefits: She stresses that contributing is an excellent career-builder. Early in her career, an attorney told her that lawyers always prefer to hire the document examiner who is published. Writing an entry allows examiners to add this credential to their CV, establishing stronger professional authority in court.
- Citing Sources: She confirms that contributors can quote or reference classic literature (such as Albert S. Osborn’s historical work), provided they cite the book, author, and specific page number.
- Alternative Terms: In response to attendee Sharon, she notes that contributors are not limited to her slide list and can propose any relevant document examination term.
- Sharing Material: She agrees to share her presentation PowerPoint with the attendees. She also notes she will share it with her Monday night class of 175 email subscribers, of whom 20–25 regularly attend but many request the handouts afterwards.
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