Working towards openness & accessibility
The Unlocking History research group is committed to promoting equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice. Letterlocking practices crossed the world over many hundreds of years, and letterlocking was used by people from an enormous range of backgrounds and cultures. We seek to tell a truly global story. In 2020, we established an internal fund to support research into equitable research and teaching practices, so that we can continue to build them into the heart of the project.
The Unlocking History research group values linguistic diversity. Please see our initiative to translate the Letterlocking definition.
UNESCO recognizes that the global preservation of languages works toward cultural tolerance and that “languages and multilingualism can advance inclusion.” We hope that by translating letterlocking terms we will help link historical and cultural traditions, advance inclusion, and connect with other individuals studying letterlocking but may refer to the practice by another name.
The Unlocking History team is developing a system to make our resources accessible. Please check back for updates.
Foldables
Our foldable models have been developed so that you can try letterlocking at home, using pre-prepared guidelines that enable you to make replica models of the letters we studied for this article. Red and blue lines indicate whether creases are “mountain” or “valley”. The article contains step-by-step instructions for how to fold each one, and you can follow along with videos on our YouTube and Vimeo channels.