VIEWS project

YouTube video by Visual Interactions in Early Writing Systems Kit Lee – Haptic Knowledge and Iconicity in Knotted String Records

And the second video is from our visiting fellow Kit Lee on ethnographic khipus: youtu.be/aWWwOTtbgLQ?...

YouTube video by Visual Interactions in Early Writing Systems Sabine Hyland: Human figures as visual signs in khipus

7. Khipu

Knotted cords used to convey complex information, best understood in an Andean epistemological context where hapticity and material are crucial.

Two videos for the price of one again, first Sabine Hyland: youtu.be/FtaZEHygGEw?...

#adventcalendar

Script Keepers Network – Safeguarding Scripts Script Keepers Network Unites People To Protect And Revitalize The World’s Endangered Writing Systems.

Become part of this movement to safeguard minoritised communities and their linguistic and cultural heritage - check out the website here. You can get in touch to join or come along to a meeting first to find out what it's all about.

www.scriptkeepers.org

Script Keepers is a joint initiative between the Endangered Alphabets and VIEWS projects aiming to foster new collaborations and promote action to tackle writing endangerment. Some 90% of the world's distinctive writing traditions are under threat - both heritage scripts and emergent scripts.

The next meetings of the Script Keepers Network will be next Sunday, 14th December, all very welcome. Here are the zoom registration links:

09:00 ET (14.00 GMT) - us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

16:00 ET (21.00 GMT) - us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

YouTube video by Visual Interactions in Early Writing Systems Cassandra Donnelly - A Sensory Approach to the marking strategies of Late Bronze Age Cyprus

6. Cypro-Minoan

The syllabic script of Bronze Age Cyprus, with evidence for the use of writing in trade, religion, administration and everyday life.

In the video Cassie Donnelly explores Cypro-Minoan writing through an innovative sensory approach:
youtu.be/PtINiOWX68I?...

#adventcalendar

Thank you! Yeah, I've definitely spent more of autumn/winter ill than not ill, they really seem to drag on these days 😕

Ben has a runny nose two days after being at the same event, now you mention it.

YouTube video by Visual Interactions in Early Writing Systems Joshua Fitzgerald - Uprooting Botanical Morphemes, Visual Difrasismos, and Nahuatl Foods for Thought

And the second Nahuatl video is from our visiting fellow Josh Fitzgerald:

youtu.be/Y7AypveIpfo?...

YouTube video by Visual Interactions in Early Writing Systems Elizabeth Baquedano - The Visual Importance of Nahuatl Writing

5. Nahuatl hieroglyphs

Or Aztec writing, if you like, a highly iconic system in which meaning is conveyed in incredibly visually intricate ways. Two videos for the price of one, first from Elizabeth Baquedano:

youtu.be/FtOi6j8ZSVI?...

#adventcalendar

😂😂😂

Ooh, a Playmobil advent calendar though!

Red patterned advent calendar with a wooden bunny and copy of Mr Jelly and the Pirates on top

Detail from Mr Jelly and the Pirates

It's a good day today!

Another beautiful advent calendar to follow

YouTube video by Visual Interactions in Early Writing Systems Sematography in Linear A and B and related problems

4. The Aegean Linear script

Or Linear A and B if you prefer! Bronze Age syllabic systems with logograms (or whatever you want to call them) - which is the very subject of this recent presentation by me.

youtu.be/oqwzTSLCeBE?...

#adventcalendar

YouTube video by Visual Interactions in Early Writing Systems Daniel Anderson - Alphabet Exercises and Learning Aids in Ancient Classrooms

3. The Greek alphabet

The most fetishised of writing systems perhaps, but one of the longest surviving scripts still in use today. Have you ever wondered how was it learnt in the ancient schoolroom?

Daniel Anderson: Alphabet exercises
youtu.be/RY7H15I9mOo?...

An opposites primer... I think they might be glossing over some details 😂

Small wooden elf, tree and mummy/baby polar bear figures

Mr Men and Winter Wonderland advent calendars with dinosaur toy, alphabet magnets and bookcase also in view.

What are the coolest advent calendars you are following on Bluesky this year?

At home we have Mr Men books (mine 😁) and wooden winter wonderland.

Sharing a couple of nice ongoing advent calendars: 3

Sharing a couple of nice ongoing advent calendars: 2

Sharing a couple of nice ongoing advent calendars: 1

YouTube video by Visual Interactions in Early Writing Systems Daniel Anderson - Alphabet Exercises and Learning Aids in Ancient Classrooms

3. The Greek alphabet

The most fetishised of writing systems perhaps, but one of the longest surviving scripts still in use today. Have you ever wondered how was it learnt in the ancient schoolroom?

Daniel Anderson: Alphabet exercises
youtu.be/RY7H15I9mOo?... #adventcalendar

YouTube video by Visual Interactions in Early Writing Systems Richard Sproat - The Relevance of Heraldry to Writing Systems

2. Japanese

Logosyllabic writing in a rather different way from yesterday's, more like multiple systems combined in one tradition. The video is not about Japanese writing per se but includes research on phonographic elements in Japanese heraldry.

Richard Sproat: Heraldry
youtu.be/jF4cOkhNa8M?...

YouTube video by Visual Interactions in Early Writing Systems Annick Payne - Anatolian Hieroglyphic Masterclass

1. Anatolian Hieroglyphs

A logosyllabic system established by the 14th C BCE under the Hittite empire and resurging in the Syro-Anatolian States of the early first millennium BCE.

Annick Payne: Anatolian Hieroglyphic masterclass
youtu.be/Y3VRENJB3dg?...

#adventcalendar #adventcalendar2026

christmas decorations hanging on a string with numbers 1 through 24 ALT: christmas decorations hanging on a string with numbers 1 through 24

For our VIEWS advent calendar this year we are going to highlight a different script every day, with something to watch or read from our archives.

#adventcalendar #adventcalendar2026

I think that counts as a review article 🙃

😂

Some engravings and Tifinagh inscriptions from southern Libya

Reminder: you can WIN a copy of my new book By Hand in my global handwriting contest! Details at www.endangeredalphabets.com/2025/11/22/g...
Spread the word!

Yes, I can't find the link now but it seemed there was someone in Chester who has made a replica for the museum - they have some reconstructed bits of building around the display and I think I remember it from that.

There's this, stated to be from the Grosvenor. I used to go there a lot as a child so I'm not sure now how much is real memory or half remembered things!

chester.shoutwiki.com/wiki/File:Af...