Research showcase explains why QWERTY keyboard is king and tells refugee stories through poetry
16 June 2020
A poetry reading inspired by the stories of people fleeing violence around the world and an explanation of why we use a keyboard for typing are both on offer at an upcoming free virtual festival of research.
The British Academy Summer Showcase will take place online this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on Friday 19 June and Saturday 20 June. Live and recorded public talks, performances and demonstrations on a variety of humanities and social sciences topics will include two contributed by University of Reading experts.
Dr Yasmine Shamma, an English Literature lecturer at Reading, will read poems about displacement that spoke to her during her work supported by British Academy funding, creating a digital archive of interviews with Syrian refugees about their experiences of escaping persecution and violence. She was awarded funding from the British Academy through its Humanities and Social Sciences Tackling the UK’s International Challenges programme in 2018.
Dr Vaibhav Singh, a research fellow in Typography and Graphic Communication, will use vintage typewriters to reveal how ideas and practices associated with specific technologies have shaped, and continue to shape, the everyday experience of writing. He was awarded a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2017.
“Modern computer keyboards are so familiar to most of us that we may not even consider alternative designs ever existed" - Dr Vaibhav Singh, University of Reading
Dr Shamma said: “The number of people fleeing violence is the highest it has been since the Second World War. Many refugees have found their temporary homes have essentially become permanent, leaving them in limbo, far from loved ones in unfamiliar places.
“The poetry reading reflects on ways in which resourcefulness is at the heart of what ‘home’ means to people who have been displaced from theirs, drawing upon real life experiences of refugees. I’ll also be demonstrating how to make Arabic coffee, as I was offered so much of it while carrying out the interviews.”
Dr Singh said: “Modern computer keyboards are so familiar to most of us that we may not even consider alternative designs ever existed. My presentation about early typewriters will look at how text and technology have been thought about in the past, how the keyboard we use today has been one of many alternatives, and how tools for writing have been adapted, modified and challenged all along.”
For more information on showcase events and how to watch them, visit www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/events/british-academy-virtual-summer-showcase/