Blog + News. Two weeks ago, at the World Economic Forum’s “Annual Meeting of the New Champions” event in Tianjin, China, I delivered a brief presentation as part of a session on “Computing and Technology: A Springboard for the Human Mind” (yes.. that’s me in a suit). My presentation was structured according to a variant of the popular (if somewhat tyrannical) Ignite or Pecha-Kucha formats — in this case, 15 slides, 20 seconds per slide — and was entitled, ”Radically Local: Personal Fabrication and Future Economies.”
Then, earlier this evening, I came across Anab Jain‘s fantastic presentation from the Global Design Forum, “Design for the New Normal“, which she posted on her blog. By coincidence, Anab’s presentation mentioned a few of the same projects as I did in my lecture — such as the world’s first 3D printed gun, and my Free Universal Construction Kit. Clearly, we had been following similar news, and extrapolating similar conclusions from these trends. Good afternoon. Ah yes, — we have access. Little Miss Robot - Digital Creative Studio. Hobo Network. Augmented Reality Hobo Signs? There’s an App for That | Gadget Lab.
Forget coal, chalk or even magic-markers. The latest, and probably the greatest, way for hobos to communicate is, you guessed it, the iPhone 3GS. iHobo is a spoof augmented reality application for the iPhone which overlays virtual hobo-signs onto real places. What are hobo-signs? They are symbols marked on the ground or other street-furniture so railroad-hopping, homeless bums can communicate over distance and time. They might mark the site of a friendly house which will provide food, or the presence of a bad-tempered dog. From Wikipedia: To cope with the difficulty of hobo life, hobos developed a system of symbols, or a code. So it has been for years, but now there is a fake iPhone application which take the humble, hand-scratched hobo sign into the digital age.
The advantages of a virtual sign system are clear: pesky non-hobos can’t spot them and scrub them off, thus depriving the hobo of vital information. Photo illustrations: Charlie Sorrel/Wired Hobo Signs [World Path] Notes....alternative....hobo signs. Scheda progetto HOME04. Titolo del progetto e programma HOME04: Networking for integrated care homeless (Lavoro di rete per migliorare i servizi integrati di cura per le persone senza fissa dimora) www.peopleproject.eu Programma di cooperazione interrregionale INTERREG IVC, miniprogramma PEOPLE Obiettivi del progetto Il progetto si pone gli obiettivi di migliorare la qualità dell'assistenza e dei servizi alle persone senza fissa dimora attraverso le nuove tecnologie dell'informazione, di influenzare le politiche di inclusione e di analizzare il fenomeno della povertà da un punto di vista di genere.
Il Comune di Venezia ha il ruolo di promuovere l'uso delle nuove tecnologie nei centri di accoglienza per persone senza dimora per rafforzare l'autonomia e i processi di integrazione sociale e lavorativa degli utenti e per migliorare le competenze degli operatori. Partenariato Durata progetto 18 mesi, da 1 gennaio 2010 a 30 giugno 2011 Valore complessivo del progetto Contributo nazionale e della Commissione Europea. iHomeless app. Social Media for homeless people - tiblog. iFindit Android App Helps The Homeless Get Off The Streets. iFindit collected a $10,000 app-contest grand prize for taking Chicago’s homeless from the streets, to food pantries, farmers’ markets, medical clinics and shelters. The first of its kind, Apps For Metro Chicago Illinois provided contestants with about 200 data sets from government agencies and regional planning organizations, so they could develop applications that would improve residents’ lives, according to the contest’s website.
Elizabeth Park, founder of "iFindit,” nabbed a list of more than 2,500 resources for the homeless, so her application could help lower-income communities of Chicago that are increasingly gaining access to Androids, she said in a video interview. "If a mother with kids is at a bus station and needs to find a food panty or a medical center for the uninsured...this app can give [that information] to her,” Park said. Video unavailable due to location We're sorry, but the video you are trying to watch cannot be viewed from your current location. Five Hypothetical Homeless-Friendly iPhone Apps. We recently teamed up with Cleveland Scene for an unconventional clothing drive. Rather than burning beautiful, barely-worn LeBron Cavs jerseys in front of Quicken Loans Arena, we encouraged former LBJ fans to help clothes Miami's homeless by donating their unwanted NBA gear.
As a result, about a hundred down-on-their-luck guys and gals can be seen sporting the number 23 near bridges, street corners, and soup kitchens around Miami. But the city's homeless population needs more than jerseys and sweet NBA wristbands, they need cell phone apps. Many of the folks we encountered on the street had mobile phones, some even better than our staffers. We brainstormed and came up with a few homeless-friendly, hypothetical phone apps to make living on the streets a little easier. Dumpster Diva; LifestyleThis app offers the latest tips in DIY fashion and accessories. Cardboard Life; LifestyleCardboard homes need renovation too. App for the Homeless. iHobo app puts a homeless man in your pocket. iHobo is a ‘virtual pet’ app with a difference – your ‘pet’ is a homeless person.
While that may sound a little crass, it’s actually a tastefully presented app that might just change the way you think about the plight of the homeless. iHobo [iTunes link] is a game that takes place in real time over three days. Presented with a realistic, animated homeless man you get the choice to give him a sleeping bag, food or money. Take your choice and that’s it… until you start getting push notifications on your screen updating you on the man’s status. Late at night I got told that he was cold and needed sleep. It’s a simple game but having the plight of the homeless person on my mind changed the way I thought the next time I walked past a beggar in the street. The free app was created (pro bono) by Publicis London to raise awareness of Depaul UK, a charity devoted to youth homelessness in the UK. iHobo is essentially a “Tamagotchi with a social conscience”, and it’s well worth experiencing.
iFindit | Helping Chicagoans Access Vital Resources, Faster. Smartphone | Homeless On Wheels. I recently did a guest post over on So Much More Life comparing multifunction and single purpose devices, using a smartphone as an example. It seems that while some commenters agreed with the general premise of the post, there was some question as to whether my example was the best one.
Smartphone owners seem very happy with their devices and consider them among their most useful and important possessions. I’m guessing that they love their phones not so much because they also include a camera, GPS, and music player, but because they are miniature computers with access to email, social networking, and the rest of the internet. Perhaps my choice of a smartphone as an example in that post was a result of the fact that I don’t carry one, and don’t feel the need to be always connected everywhere I go. Allow me to elaborate. I’m No Luddite It isn’t that I dislike technology. What Changed? Perhaps it is a bit of burnout. Maybe it’s an age thing. Distracted Much? I Don’t Need It Anymore. Location Based Apps for the Homeless | Our Man Inside. During the 90′s I spent a lot of time ‘roughing it’ and wandering Europe. I’d walk between France, Switzerland and Germany sleeping under the stars and making money where I could. If you’ve ever read Narcissus and Goldmund by Hesse you’ll get the idea.
I starting writing a book called the ‘Blaggers Guid To The World’. I never finished it. At the time I felt I could easily justify some of my money making and free travel methods I was exploring but now.. written down.. they don’t look entirely ethical, so the book sits half finished in a tatty notebook. My social network at the time lived in the same leather bound notebook. There was an unwritten code of mutual assistance for anyone wanting to follow a nomadic way of life.
The noticeboards at youth hostels would give you the latest local information. Markets and Hari Krishna temples always had free food and in Italy I could be sure to feast on salami, bread and cheese should I wander into a church looking hungry. UK. Arriva l’app per i senza tetto (15/09/2011) | Vita.it. Anche i senza tetto sbarcano sugli smartphone. A loro infatti è dedicato una serie di nuovi mobile tools che vanno a formare il pacchetto “Homeless sms”.
La proposta parte dall’esigenza di aiutare i senza fissa dimora che in Gran Bretagna sono una presenza importante. Nonostante sia un fenomeno difficile da censire si sa per certo che nel 2010 a Londra hanno dormito per strada 3.673 persone, in 50 mila hanno fatto uso di ostelli, e 65mila famiglie hanno vissuto in alloggi provvisori. Sono però centinaia di migliaia gli “invisibili” che non rientrano nei conteggi dormendo presso rifugi, B&b o a casa di amici e familiari. Un fenomeno che, a causa delle dimensioni, è difficilmente risolvibile. Tanto più che in molti casi è l’esito di una vera e propria scelta di vita. Una novità che ha una duplice utilità: cercare di promuovere un reinserimento nella società e rendere più funzionale e organizzata l'esiguo meccanismo di aiuti ai senza fissa dimora. Volunteers Use Smartphones To Count Homeless In South Bay.
SAN JOSE (KCBS) – Volunteers in Santa Clara County are going high-tech to help gather data from the hundreds of people sleeping on the streets. Armed with their smartphones, volunteers are continuing the homeless census in the South Bay. If they find a homeless person willing to talk to them, they do an interview, enter the information into their iPhone or Android and take their picture, before sending that information back to a database. Jen Padgett, the Executive Director of the Community Technology Alliance, said the national campaign, “Common Ground,” is using the technology to help create a homeless registry. “Instead of writing it down and bringing it back, where there could be some data quality issues, the person who is uploading the information is the one who actually did the survey with the client,” said Padgett.
Volunteers hope to complete the registry by the end of this week, after which it will be used to craft homeless services. KCBS’ Matt Bigler Reports: Underheard in New York | Fighting homelessness 140 characters at a time.