Tagged: Technology
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The Week in Ideas, 3rd May 2013
What's it like to leave the internet? What do writers make of their first books? How can you escape Google? We round up some of our favourite thoughts from the week gone by.
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Watch Fritt Ord’s Seminar on Protest in Tibet
China has blocked access to the website of our funders, Fritt Ord, a Norweigan organisation which promotes freedom of expression, ahead of a debate looking at recent acts of protest by self-immolation in Tibet. Bente Roalsvig, program director of Fritt Ord, the Freedom of Expression Foundation, told Voice of Tibet: “We have now witnessed 84 self-immolations in Tibet since February 2009.…
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100 Hours of Solitude
When we heard writer David Varela would be locking himself away in one of Arvon's remote country houses, under a vow of silence, for a new project raising money for their literacy programme, we thought it was a crazy idea. Then we asked him to tell us more about it. We still think it's crazy, but at least now you can judge for yourself.
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India’s Face-off With Internet Freedom
Marta Cooper of Index on Censorship investigates the growing problem of online censorship in India, and the impact it might have on the country's future.
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Ten Challenges to Innovation in Publishing
Digital media has blown apart conventional publishing and granted more opportunities than ever before. But with every opportunity comes a challenge. Sophie Rochester, founder of Free Word associate The Literary Platform, explains the ten greatest challenges to modern publishing.
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Hari Kunzru on Writing in a Digital Age
Digital media is already changing how we read - but how will it change the way we write? On Friday 8th of June, Hari Kunzru delivered the keynote speech at The Literary Conference: Writing in a Digital Age, presented by The Literary Consultancy here at the Free Word Centre. In his speech, which you can listen to in full with…
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Politics & Olympics: A Scrapbook of Ideas
Visit our new Politics & Olympics blog Throughout the summer, our Politics & Olympics programme will be bringing to light the personal and political stories of the Games' history, challenging the official narrative of London 2012. But the story of the Olympics is still unfolding, and new stories are emerging all the time. As the country becomes gripped with Olympic fever…
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English PEN Goes Digital
English PEN, the writers’ charity, is launching two new online projects promoting the freedom to write: the PEN Atlas and Freedom to Write: A User's Guide.
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The Future of Publishing: An interview with Rebecca Swift
Ahead of their major conference in June, Free Word's Tom Chivers speaks to Rebecca Swift of The Literary Consultancy about self-publishing, technology and the importance of the editor.
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Stories to Touch
Director of if:book and Free Word Associate Chris Meade explores the digital reading possibilities of the iPad and Kindle for school children.
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Livestream: Writers Bloc
Free Word presents the launch of Writers Bloc, a new project which sends writers to report on education issues around the world. Tune in right here from 6.45pm on Tuesday 17 January to join the discussion in our first ever Free Word livestream.
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Welcome from Free Word Director Rose Fenton
Welcome to the new Free Word website! Featuring Free Word's programme of events, articles, regular blogs and multimedia, the site is also a gateway to the literature, literacy and free expression communities we represent. We hope it will draw you into the issues we engage with and the stories we are exploring. I have just taken up my post…
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Introducing the new Free Word website
Digital Editor Tom Chivers shows you around Free Word's new website, which launches today (19th December)
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US piracy law could threaten human rights
As debates continue around the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), Cynthia M Wong reports for Index On Censorship that US policy makers must look more closely at whether the bill truly supports free expression.
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Down with the kids
Last week Marga Navarrete from Imperial College ran a Youtube subtitling workshop at Lawdale Junior School in Tower Hamlets. Marga has run this workshop many times before as part of the brilliant Routes Into Languages programme, but usually with older children, around year 9 or 10. This was Free Word’s only translator-in-residence event for children, and it almost didn…
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Free Word Translators at International Translation Day
Time: September 30th 2011, 9am- 6.30pm Place: Free Word Centre, London Themes: Translation (of course!), dialogue, new initiatives, success, sharing ideas, the importance of readers (thanks to Rachel Van Riel for a highly entertaining presentation that included telling us about the Which Book website, a site that helps you decide which book to read by theme, which has apparently been around 10…
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Past Event: Festival of Publishing
A day of discussions, debates and case studies to stimulate, challenge and celebrate the UK’s micro-publishers.
Thu 31 Jan: 2:00pm - 9:00pm
Free Word Hall
The publishing industry is undergoing a level of change which hasn't been seen since Gutenberg invented the printing press over 500 years ago. While the wider book trade wastes time disagreeing over ebook formats and pricing models, and multi-nationals sign mergers and aquisitions, the independent publishing sector has become ever more diverse, agile and enterprising. Inpress - the specialist…
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Past Event: Going Indie: The Writer in the Digital Age
Thu 22 Nov 2012
6:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
Smaller independent publishers are enjoying a renaissance in the internet age. For writers they can offer the kind of personal attention and access to digital services that may be hard to find in the mainstream. At what point, therefore, might a writer approach small presses rather than a large publisher? What, if any, is the role of the agent…
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Past Event: Time to Stop Twittering On?
Is it possible to strike a balance between the right to free speech and the regulation of social media?
Wed 17 Oct 2012
6:00pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
ARTICLE 19 presents a lively and topical debate on the use of social media and its potential legal implications. With a welcome by Agnes Callamard (Executive Director, ARTICLE19), Adam Wagner (1COR and founder of the UK Human Rights Blog) chairs a panel including Tamsin Allen (Head of Media and Information Law, Bindmans), John Cooper QC (25 Bedford Row and represented Paul…
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Past Event: Seeing the World Differently
A celebration of reading and dyslexia
Thu 11 Oct 2012
7:00pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
To celebrate Dyslexia Awareness Week, join award-winning author Sally Gardner, Times children's book critic, Amanda Craig and Booktrust’s books and disability consultant, Alexandra Strick for a fascinating discussion around Sally’s latest novel Maggot Moon and how Hot Key Books are using new technology to open up conversations about dyslexia. This event will showcase the Maggot…
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Past Event: The Literary Conference
Writing in a Digital Age
Fri 8 Jun - Sat 9 Jun 2012
Free Word Lecture Theatre
An up-to-the-minute conference to make sense of the many possibilities open to writers today, with practical sessions, workshops, case studies, working examples, debates and networking. The discussions will explore the key issues facing writers, such as making and selling ebooks, choosing to self-publish or go via traditional routes, an exploration of the emerging international markets, how technology changes…
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Past Event: Impact on Internet (Chaired by Timothy Garton Ash)
Thu 3 May 2012
6:00pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
A stimulating debate on the challenges and implications presented by the Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement will be hosted by ARTICLE 19 and the Free Speech Debate on May 3. Chaired by Timothy Garton Ash, professor of European Studies at Oxford University and director of Free Speech Debate, (ACTA) Impact on Internet: Freedom of Expression and Privacy also coincides with World Press Freedom…
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Past Event: Andrei Codrescu
The Romanian poet reads and discusses his work
Mon 16 Apr 2012
7:00pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
'One of our most prodigiously talented and magical writers.; Bruce Shlain, New York Times Celebrated Romanian poet Andrei Codrescu will read from his upcoming book So Recently Rent a World: Selected Poems, 1968-2012 and will talk about his work-in-progress 'The Archived Future (with life in footnotes)': an essay about the digital future and how to live with it. …
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Past Event: Book launch: Rebecca MacKinnon’s Consent of the Networked
Mon 27 Feb 2012
6:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
The Institute for Human Rights and Business and Index on Censorship invite you to the UK launch of Rebecca MacKinnon’s Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom. Jo Glanville, Index on Censorship Editor, and Salil Tripathi, IHRB Director of Policy, will discuss, with the author, the challenges in ensuring that technology is structured and governed…
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Past Event: Livestream: Writers Bloc
Tue 17 Jan 2012
6:45pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
In a Free Word first, the launch of Writers Bloc will be livestreamed direct from the Free Word Centre to your computer. Writers Bloc is a pioneering project established by Zadie Smith, Hari Kunzru, Nick Laird, Rachel Holmes and Kamila Shamsie to investigate education and literacy around the world. In the first stage of the project, ten writers visited ten…
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Past Event: Which Way to Techno-utopia?
Wed 23 Nov 2011
6:49pmFree Word Hall
Over the last century technology has evolved exponentially and has changed our lives in ways that are too numerous to count. But what effect does technology have on wider society? How has it changed the ways we interact and communicate? Does technology have the capacity to change fundamentally who we are as human beings? Has technology freed us, or have…