The Dickens Code
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leicester
Department Name: English
Abstract
Shorthand was an important part of Dickens's toolkit as a writer, but although he used it extensively for parliamentary reporting, letter writing, and note taking, little is known about how he did so. The unique system that he developed, based upon Gurney's *Brachygraphy*, is complex and puzzling; Dickens himself called it a 'savage stenographic mystery'.
There are at least 10 known manuscripts of Dickens's shorthand, dating from the 1830s to the late 1860s. These manuscripts are located in 6 archives across the world, as well as 2 private collections. Several manuscripts remain undeciphered, including a letter from the 1850s and a set of shorthand booklets collected by Dickens's shorthand pupil, Arthur Stone. These booklets, totalling c.70 pages, include 6 undeciphered shorthand dictation exercises of 1-2 pages each. Dickens's shorthand has proved extremely difficult to decode and, in most cases, experts have been unable to locate the source texts used for the exercises. They could be published or unpublished passages written by Dickens, or by another author. The mystery of these undeciphered texts is as compelling for the public as it is for academics and the sesquicentenary of Dickens's death in 2020 provides an ideal opportunity to harness wider interest in solving the 'Dickens Code'.
The material is novel in its own right and the task of deciphering it provides a test case with implications far beyond Dickens Studies. An approach that combines machine learning's power to identify patterns across datasets with contextual interpretation by volunteers is likeliest to succeed. However, the limited corpus and idiosyncratic nature of Dickens's shorthand creates barriers to machine learning methods, while the complexity of the material places additional demands upon the human interpreter.
Tackling these challenges offers a template for approaching similarly complex decoding problems (e.g. the ancient shorthand of the Vindolanda tablets), where human expertise and technology have to work hand-in-hand. However, to understand these challenges and identify potential solutions, the 'Dickens Code' problem needs to be viewed in the round. Accordingly, this project will convene a network that draws expertise from different disciplinary areas (Dickens Studies, Digital Humanities, Forensic Linguistics, and Informatics) and stakeholder groups (museums and archives).
The network will meet at 2 symposia-'Digital Humanities and the Dickens Code' (Leicester, May 2020) and 'Textual Mysteries and Crowdsourced Solutions' (BSR, October 2020)-with discussion sustained between meetings via a Jiscmail list and blog. Network-generated insights will shape outputs, including an online exhibition of Dickens's shorthand. Additional targeted engagement of key user groups (primary school workshops; PG mini-Hackathon; Dickens Universe workshop) will ensure that outputs such as the 'Cracking the Code' resource, decoding games, and Zooniverse pilot are fit for purpose. The network's findings will also be collated and shared via a journal article, conference paper, blogs, podcasts, report for the *Dickensian*, 'top tips' toolkit, and social media.
In Dickens Studies, enhanced understanding of the author's shorthand will lead to internationally significant insights about Dickens's creative process. For Informatics, the 'Dickens Code' may generate modified or novel approaches to handwritten coded material with broader applicability. In Digital Humanities, the 'Dickens Code' provides a template for engaging users with 'difficult' content. Beyond the Academy, increased public awareness of Dickens's shorthand will bring to light a little-known aspect of the life of one of the world's most famous authors. Throughout his career, Dickens sought to cultivate a close relationship with his readers; 150 years on, the 'Dickens Code' seeks to revitalise this connection, by enabling academics and non-academics to work together to uncover Dickens's last unknown texts.
There are at least 10 known manuscripts of Dickens's shorthand, dating from the 1830s to the late 1860s. These manuscripts are located in 6 archives across the world, as well as 2 private collections. Several manuscripts remain undeciphered, including a letter from the 1850s and a set of shorthand booklets collected by Dickens's shorthand pupil, Arthur Stone. These booklets, totalling c.70 pages, include 6 undeciphered shorthand dictation exercises of 1-2 pages each. Dickens's shorthand has proved extremely difficult to decode and, in most cases, experts have been unable to locate the source texts used for the exercises. They could be published or unpublished passages written by Dickens, or by another author. The mystery of these undeciphered texts is as compelling for the public as it is for academics and the sesquicentenary of Dickens's death in 2020 provides an ideal opportunity to harness wider interest in solving the 'Dickens Code'.
The material is novel in its own right and the task of deciphering it provides a test case with implications far beyond Dickens Studies. An approach that combines machine learning's power to identify patterns across datasets with contextual interpretation by volunteers is likeliest to succeed. However, the limited corpus and idiosyncratic nature of Dickens's shorthand creates barriers to machine learning methods, while the complexity of the material places additional demands upon the human interpreter.
Tackling these challenges offers a template for approaching similarly complex decoding problems (e.g. the ancient shorthand of the Vindolanda tablets), where human expertise and technology have to work hand-in-hand. However, to understand these challenges and identify potential solutions, the 'Dickens Code' problem needs to be viewed in the round. Accordingly, this project will convene a network that draws expertise from different disciplinary areas (Dickens Studies, Digital Humanities, Forensic Linguistics, and Informatics) and stakeholder groups (museums and archives).
The network will meet at 2 symposia-'Digital Humanities and the Dickens Code' (Leicester, May 2020) and 'Textual Mysteries and Crowdsourced Solutions' (BSR, October 2020)-with discussion sustained between meetings via a Jiscmail list and blog. Network-generated insights will shape outputs, including an online exhibition of Dickens's shorthand. Additional targeted engagement of key user groups (primary school workshops; PG mini-Hackathon; Dickens Universe workshop) will ensure that outputs such as the 'Cracking the Code' resource, decoding games, and Zooniverse pilot are fit for purpose. The network's findings will also be collated and shared via a journal article, conference paper, blogs, podcasts, report for the *Dickensian*, 'top tips' toolkit, and social media.
In Dickens Studies, enhanced understanding of the author's shorthand will lead to internationally significant insights about Dickens's creative process. For Informatics, the 'Dickens Code' may generate modified or novel approaches to handwritten coded material with broader applicability. In Digital Humanities, the 'Dickens Code' provides a template for engaging users with 'difficult' content. Beyond the Academy, increased public awareness of Dickens's shorthand will bring to light a little-known aspect of the life of one of the world's most famous authors. Throughout his career, Dickens sought to cultivate a close relationship with his readers; 150 years on, the 'Dickens Code' seeks to revitalise this connection, by enabling academics and non-academics to work together to uncover Dickens's last unknown texts.
Planned Impact
Museums
Our confirmed museum partners and participants will allow items from their collections to be digitised, supporting preservation of the original manuscripts by providing a high-quality facsimile. By making items available to wider audiences, the online exhibition will boost the profile of all their collections. This is because these museums contain other items of Dickens material to which the public can be linked 'stenographically' via the exhibition: to Carlton's stenographic papers in the Dickens Museum, to the Forster Collection at the V&A, to Dickens's correspondence at the John Rylands Library and Free Library, and to his letters to Macready at the Morgan Library. The 'Dickens Code' is also complementary to the V&A's 'Deciphering Dickens' project, which explores Dickens's handwritten manuscripts, and this synergy will enhance engagement with both projects.
The 'Cracking the Code' resource developed for primary schools will be shared with curators and education officers at each institution, so that it can be adapted for use as part of museum-based decoding workshops, complementing existing programmes of activity planned for Dickens's sesquicentenary year.
Key learning about the presentation of dense, coded material online may also be of interest to museums beyond the network. Ongoing learning linked to this topic will be captured in a blog and form part of the journal article.
Primary and high school students
The PI will work with Year 5 and Year 6 primary school teachers and pupils (aged 9-11) to develop and pilot a decoding workshop for this age group. This will be linked to learning objectives in the Key Stage 2 English curriculum, as well as the requirement to engage pupils with authors from Britain's literary heritage. National Curriculum guidance for primary schools positions 'decoding' (using phonics to work out the pronunciation of unfamiliar words) as a key skill at KS2. Age-appropriate deciphering of *Brachygraphy*'s consonant symbols, which are easily relatable in class to modern text messages, will increase children's awareness of prefixes, suffixes, and the role of morphological structure in word formation and how they contribute to word/sentence meaning. Pupils will benefit from applying comprehension skills in a novel context, while also being inspired by the 'mystery' aspect of Dickens's shorthand-and contributing to its resolution.
The workshops will be delivered to 3 local schools in July 2020, identified through liaison with UoL's central outreach team. Evaluation of these workshops will feed into a downloadable resource, developed iteratively in collaboration with teachers at participating schools. This resource will be disseminated via the 'Dickens Code' website and promoted through existing links with the English Association to maximise uptake.
The Co-I will work with high school teachers at the Dickens Universe workshop, discussing how to use Dickens's shorthand with different age groups in the classroom.
The wider Anglophone public
A lecture and workshop hosted by the Co-I at Dickens Universe (July 2020) will introduce members of the public to Dickens's shorthand, as well as engaging them with the principles of *Brachygraphy* through a decoding workshop. The Co-I will also deliver a public talk related to Dickens and stenography at the BSR on the evening before symposium 2 (October 2020). In both cases, attendees will have the opportunity to learn about the influence of Dickens's stenographic training upon his writing, gaining a more rounded perspective. These events will also serve to officially launch the 'Dickens Code' website in the US and Europe, enabling attendees to engage with Dickens's shorthand on their own terms, via the online exhibition. This exhibition will be available to users across the globe, providing a context for a distinct and underexplored aspect of the work of a major and culturally iconic figure and stimulating interest in deciphering the shorthand.
Our confirmed museum partners and participants will allow items from their collections to be digitised, supporting preservation of the original manuscripts by providing a high-quality facsimile. By making items available to wider audiences, the online exhibition will boost the profile of all their collections. This is because these museums contain other items of Dickens material to which the public can be linked 'stenographically' via the exhibition: to Carlton's stenographic papers in the Dickens Museum, to the Forster Collection at the V&A, to Dickens's correspondence at the John Rylands Library and Free Library, and to his letters to Macready at the Morgan Library. The 'Dickens Code' is also complementary to the V&A's 'Deciphering Dickens' project, which explores Dickens's handwritten manuscripts, and this synergy will enhance engagement with both projects.
The 'Cracking the Code' resource developed for primary schools will be shared with curators and education officers at each institution, so that it can be adapted for use as part of museum-based decoding workshops, complementing existing programmes of activity planned for Dickens's sesquicentenary year.
Key learning about the presentation of dense, coded material online may also be of interest to museums beyond the network. Ongoing learning linked to this topic will be captured in a blog and form part of the journal article.
Primary and high school students
The PI will work with Year 5 and Year 6 primary school teachers and pupils (aged 9-11) to develop and pilot a decoding workshop for this age group. This will be linked to learning objectives in the Key Stage 2 English curriculum, as well as the requirement to engage pupils with authors from Britain's literary heritage. National Curriculum guidance for primary schools positions 'decoding' (using phonics to work out the pronunciation of unfamiliar words) as a key skill at KS2. Age-appropriate deciphering of *Brachygraphy*'s consonant symbols, which are easily relatable in class to modern text messages, will increase children's awareness of prefixes, suffixes, and the role of morphological structure in word formation and how they contribute to word/sentence meaning. Pupils will benefit from applying comprehension skills in a novel context, while also being inspired by the 'mystery' aspect of Dickens's shorthand-and contributing to its resolution.
The workshops will be delivered to 3 local schools in July 2020, identified through liaison with UoL's central outreach team. Evaluation of these workshops will feed into a downloadable resource, developed iteratively in collaboration with teachers at participating schools. This resource will be disseminated via the 'Dickens Code' website and promoted through existing links with the English Association to maximise uptake.
The Co-I will work with high school teachers at the Dickens Universe workshop, discussing how to use Dickens's shorthand with different age groups in the classroom.
The wider Anglophone public
A lecture and workshop hosted by the Co-I at Dickens Universe (July 2020) will introduce members of the public to Dickens's shorthand, as well as engaging them with the principles of *Brachygraphy* through a decoding workshop. The Co-I will also deliver a public talk related to Dickens and stenography at the BSR on the evening before symposium 2 (October 2020). In both cases, attendees will have the opportunity to learn about the influence of Dickens's stenographic training upon his writing, gaining a more rounded perspective. These events will also serve to officially launch the 'Dickens Code' website in the US and Europe, enabling attendees to engage with Dickens's shorthand on their own terms, via the online exhibition. This exhibition will be available to users across the globe, providing a context for a distinct and underexplored aspect of the work of a major and culturally iconic figure and stimulating interest in deciphering the shorthand.
Organisations
- University of Leicester (Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Manchester (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- Charles Dickens Museum (Collaboration)
- Victoria and Albert Museum (Collaboration)
- Morgan Library and Museum (Collaboration)
- Free Library of Philadelphia (Collaboration)
- Victoria and Albert Museum (Project Partner)
- University of California, Santa Cruz (Project Partner)
- The Charles Dickens Museum (Project Partner)
People |
ORCID iD |
Claire Wood (Principal Investigator) | |
Hugo Bowles (Co-Investigator) |
Publications

Bowles H; Wood C
(2023)
"Deciphered Shorthand" Online Exhibition

Bowles H; Wood C
(2023)
"Decoding Dickens: The Shorthand Mysteries" Online Exhibition
Description | Thanks to the efforts of the 'Dickens Decoders' - members of the public with an interest in puzzles - working alongside an interdisciplinary academic network, the 'Dickens Code' project has facilitated transcription of a range of undeciphered shorthand in Charles Dickens's hand, including the Morgan Library and Museum's 'Tavistock' letter and various dictation exercises from the notebooks of Dickens's shorthand pupil, Arthur Stone, at the Free Library of Philadelphia. In the process, the project has added at least 200 new characters to the glossary of Dickens's shorthand, enhanced understanding of Dickens's stenography within museum collections, and brought new audiences to it. The newly deciphered shorthand comprises two short ghost stories of unknown origin, an alternative account of Admiral, Lord Nelson's death, a meditation on the benefits of travel, and several passages dictated from the work of the philosopher Sydney Smith. This material raises new questions about the way in which Dickens used shorthand, the identity of source texts, and the role of dictation in the teaching process. Between 2022 and 2023 Dr Andrea Nini (University of Manchester) undertook extensive testing of the deciphered shorthand corpus to definitively attribute texts without a known author. While the results were ultimately inconclusive, they indicate the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to the challenges of Dickens's shorthand. The success of the international decoding effort is a testament to the imagination and tenacity of the 'Dickens Decoders', the way in which the project caught the imagination of the public, and the power of crowd-assisted efforts in solving complex research problems. Our 'Dickens Code' philosophy is that anyone can become a decoder, and the method we used - providing accessible teaching materials online and using them in targeted workshops and lectures for specific groups (primary and secondary school students, U3A, Dickens Universe) - was very successful. While transcription breakthroughs were, primarily, achieved by a small, dedicated group of decoders, engagement with the project more generally has been international and wide-ranging (including print and new media, radio, and television coverage). The breadth and depth of this coverage has brought Dickens's use of shorthand to wider public attention and raised the academic profile of shorthand studies quite considerably. The project has also provided an opportunity for shared learning, between related projects (such as 'Deciphering Dickens', 'Dickens Journals Online', and 'Transcribe Bentham'), and across different disciplines, in two symposia (July 2021 and July 2022). The academic network, which draws expertise from Dickens Studies, Stenographic Studies, Forensic Linguistics, Digital Humanities, and Informatics, has enabled consideration of the challenges of shorthand deciphering 'in the round', increasing the potential for novel solutions. Thanks to Leicester Institute for Advanced Studies seed corn funding, we are currently exploring the potential of computer-assisted transcription to aid human decoding efforts, working with Professor Zhou and his team in Informatics at the University of Leicester. The small data set and complexities of the *Brachygraphy* system creates problems for computers, as well as for people, and this strand of the project is ongoing. |
Exploitation Route | The project's activities have the potential to inspire further interdisciplinary exploration of Dickens's shorthand, as well as nineteenth-century shorthand culture more generally. The crowd-assisted methodology used by the 'Dickens Code' draws on learning from previous collective transcription efforts focused on printed or handwritten text. However, the nature of the problem means that there is often more than one plausible solution for individual characters. Thus, the 'Dickens Code' provides a model for engaging participants with a complex research problem, with numerous unknowns. The project also offers a case study for harnessing interdisciplinary expertise to identify solutions to a unique challenge. Dependent on the outcome of the Informatics strand, there may be learning for the application of deep learning approaches to small coded language data sets. |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Culture Heritage Museums and Collections Other |
Description | At this stage in the project, the wider impacts of the grant are still emerging. However, the transcription of shorthand documents at the Morgan Library and Museum and Free Library of Philadelphia, and, in the latter case, digitisation of the complete notebooks of Dickens's shorthand pupil, Arthur Stone, which are now available online for the first time, have enhanced understanding of museum/library collections and brought new audiences to this material. In addition, in 2023, the project supported the digitisation of the papers of Dickensian and stenographic authority William J. Carlton, held by the Charles Dickens Museum, London. These papers bring new insight to the difficulties of deciphering Dickens's shorthand by recording the attempts made by Carlton and his associates William L. Stower Hewett and Frank Higenbottam in the mid-twentieth century. Going forwards, Impact Development Funding from the University of Leicester will be used to deepen our existing partnership with the Charles Dickens Museum. In September 2023 we launched ''Decoding Dickens: The Shorthand Mysteries", a free online exhibition that brought Dickens's surviving shorthand manuscripts together for the first time, as well as contextualising the place of these documents in relation to the author's life and work (see https://dickenscode.omeka.net/exhibits/show/decodingdickens). The exhibition featured collection items from our museum and library partners, as well as professional voiceover recordings of the shorthand transcripts. In addition, we traced the history of deciphering attempts and presented all of the crowd-assisted transcriptions created by the Dickens Decoders between 2021-23 (see https://dickenscode.omeka.net/exhibits/show/deciphered-shorthand). The project has also worked extensively with primary and secondary students in a series of one-off workshops. To date, the project has introduced more than 1900 students to this previously little-known aspect of Dickens's career, as well as teaching pupils the basics of decoding. In the longer term, we are keen to understand the impact of the project for the Dickens Decoders, who have developed new skills through their participation. |
First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
Sector | Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Description | Being Human small award: Decoding Dickens events |
Amount | £529 (GBP) |
Organisation | Being Human Festival |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Start | 11/2022 |
End | 11/2022 |
Description | CSSAH College Investment Fund |
Amount | £586 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Leicester |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2022 |
End | 07/2022 |
Description | Impact Development Funding |
Amount | £4,632 (GBP) |
Funding ID | A14RF02 |
Organisation | University of Leicester |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2023 |
End | 07/2023 |
Description | Leicester Institute for Advanced Studies Seed Corn Funding scheme |
Amount | £2,821 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Leicester |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2022 |
End | 07/2022 |
Description | Charles Dickens Museum |
Organisation | Charles Dickens Museum |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | The project has helped to raise the profile of shorthand in the Museum's collections and illuminate the wider context for these items. In addition, the project paid for the digitisation of William J. Carlton's papers and provided interpretation for several key items as part of the 'Decoding Dickens: The Shorthand Mysteries' online exhibition. |
Collaborator Contribution | Curators kindly facilitated access to the Carlton papers on two occasions, participated in a curatorial roundtable at the 'Decoding Dickens: Contexts, Inspirations, Approaches' symposium on 23 July 2021, and featured on the ITV News at Ten coverage of the 'Tavistock' letter discovery. In addition, curators organised digitisation of William J. Carlton's papers. |
Impact | Recorded video presentation; television interview; collection items featured in 'Decoding Dickens: The Shorthand Mysteries' online exhibition. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Free Library of Philadelphia |
Organisation | Free Library of Philadelphia |
Country | United States |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | The project supported complete digitisation of the notebooks of Dickens's shorthand pupil, Arthur Stone, and hosted a series of #SolveItDickens challenges to enable this material to be deciphered for the first time. |
Collaborator Contribution | Curator Joe Shemtov organised a virtual tour of the Free Library's Dickens shorthand collection, via Zoom, as part of the 'Decoding Dickens: Contexts, Inspirations, Approaches' symposium on 23 July 2021, as well as coordinating the digitisation process. |
Impact | The digitisation of Dickens shorthand materials in the Free Library of Philadelphia's collections (see https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/collection/home/page/1/id/charles-dickens - shorthand material only). The project has completed transcription of Arthur Stone's Notebook A and begun Notebook D, enhancing understanding of material in the collection, and bringing it to a wider audience. Collection items also featured in 'Decoding Dickens: The Shorthand Mysteries' online exhibition. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | John Rylands Library |
Organisation | University of Manchester |
Department | John Rylands Library |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The project has raised the profile of the Dickens shorthand material held at the John Rylands Library - particularly the Manuscript Shorthand Book (ref. English MS 725), in which Dickens explains his interpretation of the *Brachygraphy* shorthand system. In promoting enhanced understanding of Dickens's shorthand, the project as a whole is also helping to place this material within a wider context. |
Collaborator Contribution | The John Rylands Library has facilitated access to archival material and also presented the collection as part of a curatorial roundtable at the 'Decoding Dickens: Contexts, Inspirations, Approaches' symposium, held online on 23 July 2021. In addition, the John Rylands provided feedback on the 'Decoding Dickens: The Shorthand Mysteries' online exhibition and helped to promote it. |
Impact | Recorded video presentation; collection items featured in 'Decoding Dickens: The Shorthand Mysteries' online exhibition. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Morgan Library and Museum |
Organisation | Morgan Library and Museum |
Country | United States |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | The project facilitated the 'Decoding Dickens' competition, coordinated the crowd-assisted transcription of the shorthand letter, researched the context of the letter in relation to Dickens's life and works, and publicised the results. |
Collaborator Contribution | The Morgan Library and Museum gave permission to use the 'Tavistock' letter (ref: MA 107.43) in the 'Decoding Dickens' competition and publicised the results, as well as granting the competition winner membership of the library. |
Impact | The 'Decoding Dickens' prize challenge ran from July to December 2021 and resulted in the transcription of 70% of the mysterious 'Tavistock' letter, allowing it to be identified as a shorthand copy of an 1859 letter from Dickens to J. T. Delane, the Editor of *The Times*. The collaboration resulted in enhanced understanding of this collection item, making the letter accessible in new ways to researchers, as well as showing the public the range and depth of the Morgan's Dickens collection. In addition, the 'Tavistock' letter was featured in the 'Decoding Dickens: The Shorthand Mysteries' online exhibition. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Victoria and Albert Museum |
Organisation | Victoria and Albert Museum |
Department | Research Department |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | The V&A holds two shorthand copies of letters written by Dickens to his publisher, Richard Bentley. The project has enhanced understanding of these letters, as well as sharing learning with the complementary, manuscript-focused 'Deciphering Dickens' project (see https://www.vam.ac.uk/research/projects/deciphering-dickens), also hosted by the Museum. |
Collaborator Contribution | In addition to facilitating access to the letters, members of the 'Deciphering Dickens' project team presented at the 'Decoding Dickens: Contexts, Inspirations, Approaches' symposium on 23 July 2021, as well as contributing to the network meeting in Rome on 14-15 July 2022. |
Impact | Recorded video presentation; mutually beneficial learning; collection items featured in 'Decoding Dickens: The Shorthand Mysteries' online exhibition. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | #SolveItDickens: An Introductory Workshop for New Decoders |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 20 people registered for this hour-long online introductory workshop hosted by Professor Bowles and Dr Wood on 22 April 2022 (including participants from the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Tunisia, the USA, and Iran). The workshop was designed to equip people brand new to decoding with the skills to tackle a Dickens shorthand manuscript. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | #SolveItDickens: Hunt the Source |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Approximately 11 people attended an hour-long online workshop hosted by Professor Bowles and Dr Wood on 7 May 2022. The workshop focused on free online tools and resources (e.g. Google Books, Dickens Journals Online, Dickens Library Online), to aid with identifying potential source texts for some of the exercises in the notebooks of Dickens's shorthand pupil, Arthur Stone, at the Free Library of Philadelphia. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://dickenscode.org/solveitdickens-hunt-the-source-workshop/ |
Description | #SolveItDickens: Workshop 1 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 11 people registered for this hour-long online workshop hosted by Professor Bowles and Dr Wood on 1 October 2021. The workshop focused on developing decoding skills, exploring a shorthand copy of a letter by Dickens. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | #SolveItDickens: Workshop 2 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 9 people registered for this hour-long online workshop hosted by Professor Bowles and Dr Wood on 5 November 2021. The workshop focused on developing decoding skills by exploring 'The Two Brothers' - one of the exercises from the notebooks of Dickens's shorthand pupil, Arthur Stone, at the Free Library of Philadelphia. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | #SolveItDickens: Workshop 3 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 10 people registered for this hour-long online workshop hosted by Professor Bowles and Dr Wood on 3 December 2021. The workshop focused on developing decoding skills, exploring a shorthand copy of a letter by Dickens. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | 'Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire' podcast |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 21 October 2022 Professor Bowles and Dr Wood featured as guests on Dominic Gerrard's 'Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire' podcast. In an hour-long interview, the researchers shared the story behind the 'Dickens Code' and the latest project discoveries, interspersed with readings from various Dickens novels. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-dickens-code-with-hugo-bowles-claire-wood/id1599241462?i=1... |
Description | 'Rediscovering Dickens' online talk for McGill Community for Lifelong Learning |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Prof. Bowles and Dr Wood presented an hour-long talk, followed by Q&A, to 18 members of the McGill Community for Lifelong Learning on 27 October 2023. The talk was rated 'excellent' by all those who completed the post-event survey, with comments including: 'inspirational. Enjoyed hearing about the project and most likely will delve further into it'; 'such an original topic and so well presented. I loved it!'; and 'wonderfully fascinating'. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | ABC Radio Melbourne 'Breakfast with Sammy J' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On the anniversary of Dickens's birth, 7 February 2022, Dr Wood featured on ABC Radio Melbourne's 'Breakfast with Sammy J'. In a 3-minute segment, titled 'What the Dickens?', Dr Wood discussed the 'Tavistock' letter discovery and Dickens's messy handwriting. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.abc.net.au/melbourne/programs/breakfast/charles-dickens-sammy-j/13745224 |
Description | ABC Radio National, 'RN Breakfast with Patricia Karvelas' (11 February 2022) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 11 February 2022, Dr Wood featured on Australia's ABC Radio National, 'RN Breakfast with Patricia Karvelas', discussing the 'Tavistock' letter discovery and Dickens's creative process. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | ARTE 28 minutes - Le magazine d'actualité |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 8 February 2022, the day after the anniversary of Dickens's birth, the project's 'Tavistock' letter discovery featured in a short segment (<5 minutes) on a cultural show for French television. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Being Human: Cracking the Dickens Code |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 28 people registered for this one-hour online workshop, hosted by Professor Bowles and Dr Wood on 20 November 2021, as part of the 'Being Human' festival. The workshop covered Dickens's shorthand background, as well as including a range of practical decoding tasks. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.beinghumanfestival.org/events/cracking-dickens-code |
Description | Being Human: Decoding Dickens Online |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | As part of the Being Human Festival 2022, 29 people registered for a 90-minute workshop exploring 'Decoding Dickens', delivered by Professor Bowles and Dr Wood on 19 November. The workshop included a talk on Dickens, the shorthand system that he used, and what makes it so difficult to decipher, before a series of practical decoding tasks enabled participants to work their way up to deciphering an authentic Dickens shorthand manuscript. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.beinghumanfestival.org/events/decoding-dickens-online |
Description | Being Human: Decoding Dickens with the Lionheart Educational Trust, Leicester |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | As part of the 2022 Being Human Festival, working in partnership with the Lionheart Educational Trust, 1490 Year 10 students from eight Leicestershire schools took part in 50 minute long in-school workshops hosted by Dr Wood between 7-11 November. Students had the opportunity to gain practical decoding skills and learn more about Dickens's shorthand and the ways in which it informed his work, tied to their study of *A Christmas Carol*. A supporting statement from Dr Lisa Coar (Assistant Director of English for Lionheart) is provided below: 'The Decoding Dickens workshops delivered by Claire Wood to a diverse range of Lionheart learners earlier this year were received exceptionally well, by both staff and student attendees. Workshop cohorts were made up of students from across each of our eight secondary schools in Leicestershire, and most schools targeted all KS4 students, regardless of ability. The workshops were accessible and inspiring to all, and even our weakest and potentially disengaged learners were motivated by the concept of engaging in a globally recognised research venture. Part of our mission at Lionheart is to ensure that students receive equitable curricular and extra-curricular experiences, and Claire made sure that everyone who attended could get involved. The workshops were particularly useful in supporting students with developing their critical thinking skills, and activities encouraged them to work resourcefully, reciprocally and with resilience. I speak on behalf of the many learners who partook in the workshops when I say the having the opportunity to work with Claire on the outreach strands of the Dickens Code project was exciting, inspiring and enriching.' |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Colin Marshall, 'The Code of Charles Dickens' Shorthand has been Cracked by Computer Programmers, Solving a 160-Year-Old Mystery', Open Culture (9 February 2022) [digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Open Culture (a platform for free cultural and educational resources) reported on the 'Decoding Dickens' prize and the results, commending the role of members of the public in deciphering efforts. To date, the article has been shared 2,400 times. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.openculture.com/2022/02/the-code-of-charles-dickens-shorthand-has-been-cracked-by-comput... |
Description | Decoding Dickens: Contexts, Inspirations, Approaches symposium |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | 110 people registered for an online one-day symposium on 23 July 2021, exploring 'Decoding Dickens: Contexts, Inspirations, Approaches' (including registrations from the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Ukraine, Turkey, Iran, South Africa, India, South Korea, USA, Canada, and Colombia). The symposium included panels on 'Shorthand Mysteries', 'Creative Crowdsourcing', 'Manuscripts and Digital Scripts', and 'The Decoding Challenge', as well as a curatorial roundtable on 'Spotlighting Shorthand'. The event also featured the launch of the 'Decoding Dickens' prize, focused on the 'Tavistock' letter. 30 of the attendees identified as members of the general public, teachers, or curators; the symposium also attracted a significant academic audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://le.ac.uk/dickens-code/events |
Description | Dickens Code Network Meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 14-15 July 2022, members of the 'Dickens Code' academic network met to explore emerging project challenges from different interdisciplinary perspectives. Sessions included an introduction to Arthur Stone's notebooks, the attribution of longhand and shorthand, consideration of Dickens's pedagogic process, an update on the neural network, identification of source materials, and questions of community, sustainability, and impact. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Dickens Day talk: 'Dickens's Shorthand Mysteries' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Approximately 20 people attended a 20-minute in-person talk delivered by Dr Wood on 'Dickens's Shorthand Mysteries', as part of a panel on 'Dickens's Early Writings: Experiments in Media and Genre'. Dickens Day is a one-day symposium dedicated to Dickens's life and work, consisting of talks and readings. The audience includes members of the public, academics, and university students. N.B. The event was originally scheduled for October 2022, but was postponed due to rail strikes. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://ies.sas.ac.uk/events/dickens-day-2022 |
Description | Dickens Universe: 'Solving Dickens's Shorthand Texts' Workshops |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Between 25 and 28 July 2022, a total of 66 participants were involved in four in-person hour-long decoding workshops, hosted as part of Dickens Universe at University of California, Santa Cruz. Participants had the opportunity to learn about Dickens's shorthand learning and the *Brachygraphy* shorthand system, as well as developing practical deciphering skills. The Dickens Universe is a unique cultural event, hosted by the Dickens Project, which brings together scholars, teachers, students, and members of the general public for a week of stimulating discussion and social activity, focused on a novel by Charles Dickens (in this case Dickens's semi-autobiographical novel, *David Copperfield*, which draws upon Dickens's memories of learning shorthand). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://dickens.ucsc.edu/universe/past-conferences.html |
Description | Gads Hill School Workshops |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | 30 primary school students in Year 5, 38 in Year 6, and 35 in Year 9 took part in hour-long workshops at Gads Hill School - an independent school based within the former country home of Charles Dickens - on 4 February 2022. Pupils had the opportunity to take part in a range of practical decoding activities, building up to deciphering an authentic Dickens shorthand manuscript. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | ITV News at Ten segment |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 7 February 2022, coinciding with the anniversary of Dickens's birth, the project's 'Tavistock' letter discovery featured in a short segment (approx. 5 minutes) on ITV News at Ten. The segment included an interview with the runner-up in our 'Decoding Dickens' competition, Ken Cox, as well as Dickens Museum Curator, Emily Dunbar. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Independently-produced YouTube video: LockPickingCuber '[064] The Dickens Code: Unsolved in over 150 years' (22 November 2021) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | LockPickerCuber (a YouTube channel dedicated to locks and puzzles) produced a 5-minute video about the 'Decoding Dickens' competition, independently of the 'Dickens Code' project. The video explores the nature of the challenge and the resources available to crack the code, as well as promoting the prize, while including links back to the project website and resources. To date, the video has been viewed 1,247 times. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ3Hwbx5fZo |
Description | Interview for BBC Radio 3 'Free Thinking' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 11 November 2021, Dr Wood featured on a special edition of the BBC Radio 3 'Free Thinking' programme for 'Being Human 2021'. The programme is now available as a podcast; the Dickens Code segment begins at 30:10. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011d1v |
Description | Interview for Times Radio 'John Pienaar with Times Radio Drive' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On the anniversary of Dickens's birth, 7 February 2022, Professor Bowles and Dr Wood featured on 'John Pienaar with Times Radio Drive', to share news of the Tavistock letter discovery. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Interview for talkSPORT/talkRADIO 'Extra Time with Paul Ross' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 30 December 2021, one day before the 'Tavistock' letter deadline, Professor Bowles and Dr Wood featured on 'Extra Time with Paul Ross' for talkSPORT/talkRADIO. The programme is available as a podcast; the Dickens Code segment begins at 05:48. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://talksport.com/radio/listen-again/1640826000/1640835000/ |
Description | Jennifer Ouellette, 'Amateur sleuths help solve 160-year mystery by decoding Charles Dickens letter', Ars Technica (10 February 2022) [digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Ars Technica (a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society) published an article about the 'Tavistock' letter discovery and the role of the public in solving the mystery. This piece, which was reposted to seven other websites, helped to raise the profile of the discovery and the project more generally. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/02/decoding-charles-dickens-amateur-sleuths-helped-decipher-1859... |
Description | Magazine article: Emily Burack, 'Charles Dickens's Coded Writings Are Deciphered After 150 Years', Town and Country Magazine (7 February 2022) [digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | *Town and Country Magazine* included a short write-up of the 'Tavistock' letter discovery, focusing upon the role of the general public in cracking the Dickens Code. The coverage helped to raise the profile of the project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a39003231/charles-dickens-code-cracked/ |
Description | NTV Russia - '? ???????? ???????? ???????????? ?????????????? ?????? ????????' [Decoding Dickens's letters] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 7 February 2022. to coincide with the anniversary of Dickens's birth, Dr Wood featured in a short film (approx. 7 minutes) about decoding Dickens's shorthand letters, produced for NTV Russia. The segment was played on Russia's prime time evening programme, and shown on every other news programme on 7 February. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | News article: 'Appeal for help to decode mystery Dickens texts', BBC News (24 December 2021) [digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On Christmas Eve 2021, as the deadline for decoding the 'Tavistock' letter approached, the BBC News website published an appeal for public assistance. The story helped to raise the profile of the project and led to an increase in the number of competition entry form downloads. The BBC article also led directly to the talkSPORT/talkRADIO interview. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-59760708 |
Description | News article: 'L'Uni Fg vince il "Times Higher Education Award": ricercatori hanno scoperto e decifrato una lettera di Dickens', Foggia Today (24 November 2022) [digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | *Foggia Today* (a regional online newspaper), covered the project's success in winning a THE Award. This helped to raise the profile of the project - particularly in Italy. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.foggiatoday.it/formazione/universita-foggia-decodifica-lettera-charles-dickens-code.html |
Description | News article: B. N. Goswamy, 'The Mystery of a Dickens letter', The Tribute (India) (27 February 2022) [digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 27 February 2022, *The Tribune* India wrote a reflective article about how there are still new things to discover about Dickens, referencing the work of members of the public in decoding the 'Tavistock' letter. The coverage significantly raised the profile of the project in India, with the article having been viewed 18975 times to date. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/features/the-mystery-of-a-dickens-letter-373491 |
Description | News article: Jennifer Harby, 'Charles Dickens Leicester codebreakers honoured at awards', BBC News (20 November 2022) [digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 20 November 2022, the BBC News website published a story about the 'Dickens Code' winning a THE award. This coverage helped to raise the profile of the project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-63680180? |
Description | Newspaper article: Daniel Capurro, 'Unique shorthand created by Charles Dickens finally deciphered, revealing angry dispute with newspaper', The Telegraph (7 February 2022) [print and digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 7 February 2022, to coincide with the anniversary of Dickens's birth, *The Telegraph* published a story about the partial transcription of the 'Tavistock' letter. This article helped to raise the profile of the discovery and the project more generally. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/07/unique-shorthand-created-charles-dickens-finally-deciphe... |
Description | Newspaper article: Kristina Kobl, '"Handschrift des Teufels" von Charles Dickens entschlüsselt', Süddeutsche Zeitung (21 February 2022) [digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Süddeutsche Zeitung (one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany) published an article in German about the 'Tavistock' letter discovery, raising the profile of the project in Europe. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/charles-dickens-handschrift-stenografie-1.5533465 |
Description | Newspaper article: Nadeem Badshah, 'Charles Dickens code cracked 150 years on with the help of Reddit', The Times (7 February 2022) [print and digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 7 February 2022, to coincide with the anniversary of Dickens's birth, *The Times* published a story about the partial transcription of the 'Tavistock' letter. This article helped to raise the profile of the discovery and the project more generally. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/charles-dickens-code-cracked-150-years-on-reddit-ljr0b6d08 |
Description | Newspaper feature: Jenny Gross, 'Decoding Dickens's Secret Notes to Himself, One Symbol at a Time', New York Times (8 February 2022) [print and digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 8 February 2022, just after the anniversary of Dickens's birth, the *New York Times* published a story about the partial transcription of the 'Tavistock' letter, focusing on the role that members of the public played in making the discovery. This article helped to raise the profile of the discovery and the project more generally - particularly in the USA. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/books/charles-dickens-secret-notes.html |
Description | Newspaper feature: Sara Tor, 'What the Dickens? Academics offer reward for anyone who can crack the great writer's code', The Times (Saturday 20 November 2021) [print and digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On Saturday 20 November 2021, *The Times* published a feature about the prize offered for decoding the 'Tavistock' letter. This included background on Dickens's shorthand learning, what makes the script so difficult to decipher, and the potential contents of the notebooks of Dickens's shorthand pupil, Arthur Stone. The project team received a range of enquiries following the feature, including from people previously employed by Gurney and Sons (a firm named after the inventor of the *Brachygraphy* shorthand system, which Dickens learned), as well as a spike in downloads of the competition entry form. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/what-the-dickens-academics-offer-reward-for-anyone-who-can-crack-... |
Description | Newspaper feature: Simon Usborne, 'Forget Wordle! Can you crack the Dickens Code? An IT worker from California just did', Guardian (7 February 2022) [print and digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 7 February 2022, to coincide with the anniversary of Dickens's birthday, Simon Usborne wrote a feature for *The Guardian* about the 'Tavistock' letter discovery, focusing on the role that members of the public played in transcription. The article also explored the story of the letter, detailing Dickens's anger at having an advert for his new journal, *All the Year Round*, rejected by *The Times*. The feature included interviews with the project team and the winner and runner-up in the 'Decoding Dickens' competition. The news feature helped to raise the profile of the discovery and the project more generally. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/feb/07/wordle-crack-dickens-code-it-worker-california-shortha... |
Description | Official YouTube video: 'Decoding Dickens's Shorthand' (20 December 2021) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Professor Bowles and Dr Wood created an 8-step video guide to decoding Dickens's shorthand writing, hosted on the College of Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities' YouTube channel. The video has received 9,992 views to date and helps new decoders to get started with deciphering. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDg1YhVs0CQ |
Description | Online news story: Jennifer Harby, 'Charles Dickens's code cracked by amateur sleuths', BBC News (6 February 2022) [digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | On 6 February 2022, ahead of the anniversary of Dickens's birth, the BBC News website published a story about the partial transcription of the 'Tavistock' letter. This article helped to raise the profile of the project and contributed to the story being picked up by other media channels. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-60261545 |
Description | Pre-16 Subject Insight Day (Leicestershire schools) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | 63 Year 10 students and 5 teachers from Leicestershire schools participated in a 'Decoding Dickens' workshop on 22 November 2023, hosted by the University of Leicester's Future Students Office. 36 commented positively on the workshop, noting how much they had enjoyed it. For example: 'completely different from anything I've ever done'; 'topic really interested me'; '[enjoyed] English [activity] because I didn't know Dickens used symbols as a secret language'; 'decoding was fun'. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Summaya Mughal on BBC Radio Leicester, 'The world's greatest literature code breaking project' (22 November 2022) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Summaya Mughal interviewed Dr Wood in a 5-minute segment for BBC Radio Leicester. The interview covered the history of the 'Dickens Code' project and its recent success at the THE Awards. This helped to raise the profile of the project - particularly within the Leicestershire area. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0dhynqs |
Description | The 'Dickens Code' website |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Hosted by Professor Bowles and Dr Wood, the Dickens Code website features regular decoding challenges, transcripts of shorthand manuscripts, resources, and details of upcoming events. To date, the website has received 53,732 views and 23,916 visitors. The majority of views come from the UK (14.5k), US (11.5k), France (2.3k), Spain (2.2k), Canada (2.1k), Germany (1.7k), and Italy (1.5k). However, we have also received visits from users in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Belgium, Australia, the Netherlands, Finland, Ireland, India, Austria, Russia, Mexico, Sweden, New Zealand, Argentina, Japan, Switzerland, Turkey, Denmark, Brazil, China and many others, indicating the international engagement with the project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022,2023,2024 |
URL | https://dickenscode.org/ |
Description | The Rundown by PoliticsHome: 'How Westminster Works: Everything that's ever been said in Parliament' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 5 August 2022, Professor Bowles featured on a special episode of 'The Rundown' for PoliticsHome, focused on 'How Westminster Works: Everything that's ever been said in Parliament'. Professor Bowles discussed Dickens's early shorthand learning, the transcription of shorthand back to longhand, and the connections with Dickens's semi-autobiographical novel, *David Copperfield*. The podcast was presented by Alain Tolhurst, produced by Nick Hilton for Podot, and edited by Laura Silver. Professor Bowles features between 15:32 and 19:00. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://podfollow.com/politicshome/episode/e9646a97b5d1ff6bcabda8ea73684c24aff3e306/view |
Description | U3A Cambridge lecture: 'The Dickens Code: uncovering the mysteries of Charles Dickens's shorthand' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 105 members of the University of the Third Age in Cambridge attended a 60-minute online lecture delivered by Professor Bowles and Dr Wood, which sparked a lively Q&A session and broadened the project's reach and audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.u3ac.org.uk/events/professor-hugo-bowles-dr-claire-wood-the-dickens-code-uncovering-the-... |
Description | University magazine feature: Valeria Monachese, 'Decoding Dickens: la sfida per decifrare la "Tavistock letter" di Charles Dickens', Unifgmag (29 November 2021) [digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 29 November 2021, the University of Foggia's online magazine, UNIFG, interviewed Professor Bowles about the 'Decoding Dickens' prize. The article included background on the Dickens Code project and why the team felt that a collective, crowd-assisted approach, was the best way to solve the mysteries of the 'Tavistock' letter. This helped to raise the profile of the project within the University of Foggia and Italy more generally. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://mag.unifg.it/it/decoding-dickens-la-sfida-decifrare-la-tavistock-letter-di-charles-dickens |
Description | University news story: 'The secret behind Scrooge? Research studies Dickens' coded letters', University of Leicester News (16 December 2021) [digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The University of Leicester ran a festive online news story on 16 December 2021 about research into Dickens's coded shorthand letters, promoting the 'Decoding Dickens' prize. The article helped to raise the profile of the project and the competition, and resulted in an enquiry from 14/48 UK regarding advice on an upcoming production of *A Christmas Carol*. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://le.ac.uk/news/2021/december/dickens-code |
Description | University of Leicester Brightsparks Primary Taster Day: The Dickens Code |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | 90 Year 5 and Year 6 primary school students took part in a series of hands-on decoding workshops at the University of Leicester on 30 June 2022. At the end of the workshops, each school received an age-appropriate compendium of Dickens's works, to take back to their libraries. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | University of Leicester Digital Primary Taster Week: The Dickens Code |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Approximately 160 Year 5 and Year 6 primary school students engaged with the Dickens Code project and developed practical decoding skills, as part of the University of Leicester's Digital Primary Taster Week in June 2021. The format for these workshops involved the schools being sent a pre-recorded talk, slide deck, and worksheets in advance. The teachers then hosted these workshops in-school. A further 57 Year 5 primary school students have used these resources subsequently. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | University of Leicester Festival of the Arts: The Dickens Code |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | 2 Year 12 students took part in an advanced decoding workshop, hosted as part of the University of Leicester's 'Festival of Arts' on 22 June 2022. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | University press release: 'Dickens codebreakers recognised at Higher Education "Oscars"', University of Leicester News (18 November 2022) [digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | This university press release reported on the 'Dickens Code' project being awarded Times Higher Education Research Project of the Year: Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences 2022. The story included feedback from the panel judges and comments from Dr Wood and Professor Canagarajah, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leicester. The press release led to a follow-up on BBC Radio Leicester. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://le.ac.uk/news/2022/november/the-awards-2022 |
Description | University press release: 'The Dickens Code: Enduring mystery of Dickens shorthand letter solved with crowd-sourced research', University of Leicester News (7 February 2022) [digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | This university press release provided a detailed account of the 'Tavistock' letter discovery, including the role played by members of the public in transcribing the mysterious shorthand symbols and the implications for Dickens's life and work. The press release, which was circulated under embargo ahead of Dickens's birthday, led to the story being picked up by print and digital media channels across the world, reaching an estimated 2 million people. The press release has remained the fourth most-read news story on the University of Leicester's website for the past year (2022-2023). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://le.ac.uk/news/2022/february/dickens-code-tavistock-letter |
Description | University press release: Francesca Romana Cicolella, 'Decoding Dickens: decifrata la "Tavistock letter"', Unifgmag (15 February 2022) [digital] |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 14 February 2022, the University of Foggia's online magazine, UNIFG, published a story about the transcription of the 'Tavistock' letter. The article, written in Italian, included an interview with Professor Bowles about how the Dickens Decoders pieced together different shorthand clues to solve the mystery. This article helped to raise the profile of the project within the University of Foggia and Italy more generally. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://mag.unifg.it/it/decoding-dickens-decifrata-la-tavistock-letter |