Introduction

The purpose of this text is not to rewrite or even summarize all of the document examination literature that has been written since the early part of the twentieth century. Rather, the goal is to summarize and discuss the pertinent research and literature that represents significant development in bringing handwriting and signature identification into the digital age as well as the challenges presented in merging handwriting with digital technology. Some of the subject matter may seem to have little to do with digital technology, such as sections that discuss children’s handwriting training and development; yet this is an important topic as it establishes how handwriting is changing culturally (which has implications in the way handwriting experts examine handwriting), and how those changes may be by-products of the digital age in which we live.