Typing in tongues: British Academy Summer Showcase

Congratulations to Vaibhav Singh who has been selected to participate in the British Academy Summer Showcase.

His (now virtual) exhibit at the British Academy’s Summer Showcase 2020 explores the intersection of technology and textual communication. It focuses on the interfaces and mechanical formulations that have given visual and material form to languages around the world. Have you ever wondered why the keyboard is arranged ‘qwerty…’? Or indeed why a keyboard is associated with text-input in the first place? What did mechanical devices for different writing systems around the world look like, how did they function? We invite you to join us in exploring these and other related questions. Take a look at an eclectic set of writing machines, learn about the encounters of Asian writing systems with alphabetic frameworks and technological infrastructure. Consider old and new variants of typing, text input, and related challenges – and much more – in this showcase that foregrounds the very tools that have transformed the written word over the last hundred and fifty years.

Tune in from 11:10 on Saturday 20 June to the British Academy YouTube channel