Collocations for shorthand - noun

learn
do (BrE), take
Her secretary was taking shorthand.

take sth down in, write sth down in
He took the speech down in shorthand.

typist, writer (both BrE)
A shorthand writer will make a transcript.

notes
notation

convenient, useful
visual

use sth as
become
Smoking became visual shorthand for ‘cool and rebellious’.
Television drama had become popular shorthand for gloominess.

description, term
‘Free trade’ was a shorthand term for a whole ideology.

way
a shorthand way of talking about this situation

shorthand for
The term ‘machine’ is used as convenient shorthand for the total hardware and software system.