I just came back to Chicago on Tuesday energized from a full week of Southby SXSW trying to process what I’d learned, focusing on where I wanted to go with my app , when I got wind of all the controversy surrounding the use of the homeless as wireless hotspots. Homeless residents were paid $20 a day to walk around as hotspots (turns out it was officially $50).
It’s been called everything from a commoditization of the poor to a highly staged marketing event by BBH Labs. In my opinion this media event was both and opened up a space to discuss how we really want to envision a world where technology reaches not only the affluent and middle class but those on the other end of the income and access divide.
One of the themes that I have come across in the past few months since I created iFindit, a mobile app that allows residents of Illinois to search for over 5000 homeless shelters, medical clinics and food pantries, is that lack of awareness by the mainstream and clinging to stereotypes of who is adopting technology is stymying our path to innovation and creation of solutions to some of society’s stickiest problems.
I can’t tell you how many people have asked me How can the poor have cell phones? According to Pew Research, over 70% of adults in poverty have cell phones. And one of my favorites, How can poor people have smart phones. According to the same study, 40% of smart phone users have incomes under $30,000.
I think we can use this homeless hotspot firestorm as an opportunity. Other cities have already broken down certain assumptions about who deserves technology and dismantled stereotypes of how it’s to be used. See how Craig Newmark of Craigslist is breaking down the digital divide for homeless at the St. Anthony Tenderloin Technology Lab in San Francisco.
Making the invisible visible and moving forward with solutions that include everyone is one way of saving us some time and money. Alternatively, we could still just cling to preconceived notions of how people crawl, walk and then run to technology. But I venture, we’ll likely be having the same conversation next year and look to others to provide the answers. For me, that’s not an option.
I’m hoping both Austin my new mainstay for spring break and Chicago become hotspots for real conversations and solutions that are focused more on on innovation than avoiding topics that make people feel uncomfortable.
Elizabeth Park
Founder, iFinditChicago
@ifinditchicago
http://www.facebook.com/ifindit
FYI:
The number of homeless in Chicago in 2011 - 98,000. The number of attendees at this year's SXSW Interactive fest - 25,000.
