From capturing stories of everyday people through a mobile app to gathering information from those patronizing a park through a solar-powered smart bench – technology’s influence on culture continues to increase and evolve. Exciting opportunities to make art, organizations, and communities more responsive to diverse voices are popping of everywhere.
Here are some of our favorites:
Building Powerful Connections
The StoryCorps app is just one example of a project at the intersection of art and technology that facilitates human connection. The app is a free tool for collecting stories that empowers anyone to record a conversation and upload it to the Library of Congress. In addition to being a great way to preserve stories from our culture, a 2016 evaluation of the app revealed that 95 percent of users reported feeling more connected to others as a result.
Benches for Community Engagement
Launched in Boston in 2014 and now in over 100 cities, Soofa Benches can charge phones, collect data about a community, and offer an inviting place to sit and relax.
Interested in Experimenting with Tech in your Org?
The Knight Foundation recently put out a call through the Knight Prototype Fund which helps people quickly develop and test early-stage ideas. While recognizing that no single technology will suit every community the same, they are hoping to catalyze technology development in the arts so that they can learn and share lessons.