The KLE / Freedom of Speech

The KLE (Kit de Libertad de Expresión/Free Freedom of Speech Kit) is a portable digital device designed to allow people to express themselves all around the world. The display is able to show text messages in the public space, conceived as a tool to promote freedom of speech thanks to its wireless interconexion to the Internet.

KLE has being envisaged initially as a digital personal placard for demostrations, where the message can be changed using different types of interfaces (mobile application, web page, physical keyboard, digital blackboard, etc).

“This is the reason that we are working to make it portable, energetically efficient, wirelessly connected to the Internet, accesible and absolutely social: one of the key ideas, is that although this is a personal device, its use is shared by the community promoting participation and expression.”

It has been created as a DIY kit so that anyone will be able to access to the development documentation to build their own device. Besides this, it allows the KLE to evolve in unexpected ways thanks to the community contributions.

This initiative has been possible by the union between ETC Inventions, a cooperative that creates interactive technologies, and María Solé, an architect focused on the research of dynamics in public spaces, together with a great team of collaborators and the support of MediaLab Prado Madrid.