A Digital/Graphic Designer.
A Creative HTML Developer.
I'M LISTENING
A design technology story of one man getting to know a homeless shelter.
A speech-to-text device that forms lasting relationships between volunteers and the homeless. After visiting a homeless shelter for 8 weeks, I felt the need to create a communication form between the homeless residents and me. What they needed was simply attention, but as a volunteer I couldn’t be there all the time. I’m Listening is a personal expression to deeply connect with the homeless with whom we share society.
No one wants to be forgotten, I’m Listening is a project that gives private shelter residents an easy form of communication by voice. It spreads care and love by letting them know someone is always listening to them. The little things of everyday conversations are sent as a private message to the volunteers. Phrases like “Keep warm.”, “When are you coming by?”, “I’d like to eat sweets.”
I’m Listening, Conversations by Listening.
A speech-to-text device that forms lasting relationships between volunteers and the homeless.
Excerpts:
It’s a shelter that focuses on Korean-American Elders, the youngest resident was in their mid-40s and the oldest resident in their early 70s. At this point I would like to replace the terminology homeless with the word ‘family’ or analogies to family like aunts and uncles. I also want you to think about your best friends when I say family. Because during the 8 weeks I was there this is one of the biggest realizations that they are no real difference between the homeless and us. They are indeed our friends and family. And we always support our friends and family.
I started going and sitting there observing, listening in on my family’s conversations. I got to speak to a few of my uncles and aunts. This non-profit organization were kind enough to bring my aunts and uncles to live under their roof. There are around 12 members of my family who are residents there. The organization itself believes in spiritual growth as well as a community of sharing chores and schedules which help each resident live a healthy lifestyle. My family was always eating together talking together in the living and the kitchen. And it felt very nostalgic listening to my aunts and uncles (sometimes grandfathers). It felt as we were just spending time together talking about this and that from the neighborhood and listening to their life stories from long time ago.
Listen while viewing the images.
