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Hacio’r Laith: Promoting Welsh Language With Technology & Social Media

Categories: Events, Feature

The 3rd “Hacio’r Iaith” (Hacking the Language) was hosted by the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies of Aberystwyth University [1] in Wales on Saturday the 28th of January 2012. Hacio’r Laith [2] is an open conference, and is a meeting place for those who are passionate about technology, new media, and the Welsh language. A large number of participants joined to learn and discuss the latest developments in their fields.

[2]The event was in unconference format where idea sharing, demonstrations and practical sessions were all conducted in Welsh language. The schedules were user-generated, which means that anyone could take part and talk about a subject of their interest.

The subjects discussed included [3] local journalism in the digital age, art and culture online, campaigning, e-books, and developing free software for the Welsh language.

Rhys liveblogged the event [4] (in Welsh language). Here is a summary:

What worked?

Better range of subjects than previous years.

What did not work?

Need more grid

Too cold in some rooms

Not enough tea and coffee

Free Wi weak in some rooms

(translated by machine language)

[5]

Hacio'r Laith Conference. Image by Flickr user Lestyn Hughes. CC BY-NC-SA

Here is a storify link [6] (in Welsh language) compiled by Bryn Salisbury describing the reactions of Twitter users on this event.

Carl Morris wrote [7] in the forum blog:

Thanks to all who came to participate in the third Hacio'r Iaith in Aberystwyth yesterday! Thanks also to the sponsors for making this year's admission and food free.

There are more posts to come for the event, including notes, videos and so on.

Check the event schedule [8] and Wiki [9] for the details and here are photos in Flickr [10] taken during the event.

You can find the recorded videos of the event here [11].