-
Website
http://www.mathewingram.com/work -
Original page
http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2008/02/28/homeless-voicemail-only-in-the-valley/ -
Subscribe
All Comments -
Community
-
-
Top Commenters
-
Popular Threads
Sure, google could have an 'eat for a day event' at the Googleplex or invest their money somewhere else (although you do know about their philanthropy) however... why not stick with what they know and provide a service as part of what they already have? Using San Fran as a pilot for giving the homeless access to Grand Central is a novel concept... why not?
My frustration with this piece is that you didn't give it a whole lot of thought - you just said... well... the homeless must be hungry and cold, so... why not just focus on that? There's lot of research around technology and the homeless, see here:
http://scholar.google.ca/scholar?q=homeless+voi...
You might keep your eye on this CHI student design contest that has challenged people to use technology to aid the homeless in some way, I'm sure it will yield some interesting results: http://www.chi2008.org/student_design_competiti... .
going to come along and make that argument :-)
Contrary to your suggestion though, I did give this some thought. I
know there are gradations of homelessness, and that technology of
various kinds can be useful for some of the "near homeless." I'll
give you that. Heck, there's a homeless guy with a blog. I just
don't think voicemail ranks anywhere near the top of the list of
things most homeless people need.
And while it may be one of the things Google can give, it's also true
that giving it makes for great marketing for Grand Central.
On Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 12:19 AM, Disqus
glad you recognize the variations within homelessness.... and you're right, the homeless need homes - that's priority number one. however, there are things people can do to help even improve quality of life or to give some assistance and this is an area where google has resources and it's something that can be useful.
i recently did some research out of the university of toronto around the homeless and technology and you'd be surprised how many use e-mail and voicemail - i thought e-mail would be out of the question, but it's not.
"Give the homeless voice mail" certainly lacks the punch of "feed the homeless", but it might make a big difference in the long run. Here's hoping.
think it's a good idea?
On Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 1:43 AM, Disqus
people to start using Google to search for places to live, used
clothing stores, etc. :-)
On Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 8:25 AM, Disqus
did google get a bit of press out of this? yes. should they have? yes. and fyi, grandcentral has been doing this since day one.
i might be lame because my family was as close to being homeless as one could be when i was young but i think this is an excellent service that google/grandcentral is doing and it should be a nationwide or worldwide program.
food to eat, clothes to wear, health care (including mental health
care), medication, education, job training and plenty of other things,
all of which I think are indisputably more important to their lives
than voicemail.
On Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 8:42 AM, Disqus
Just because Google is providing this service doesn't preclude others from providing other services.
Sometimes people need a hand up and not a hand out. That was my case. And I'm thankful to have gotten the help I did when it came to a phone number and address to respond to job inquiries, etc.
-- I guess that means my thoughts about technology are totally
irrelevant, right? As for the "repurposed content," it's called "my
opinion." If you don't like it, feel free to take your eyeballs
elsewhere.
In order to get a job, to get an apartment, to establish anything - you need a consistent way of being contacted.
Living in squat after squat, sleeping on train after train, I can't tell you how much I am thankful for a few folks who took my phone calls for me.
That's not a joke. It was crucial to me getting off the streets. So was a mailing address.
On Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 4:18 PM, Disqus
I don't think publicity was a particular concern to Goog, it hardly needs it & it
could easily make a big play of charity sponsorship & get more bonus points.
Where the blog goes off at an angle, is that it overlooks that although adequate food & shelter are the basic essentals for life, today's world makes means of communication an added essential.& this is what Gog has given. And of course effective communication can help the homeless towards obtaining the other basics.
Also important is the psychological effect. The homeless are ' without ' & seperated off from the rest of society going past them in another world. To have no means of communication worsens this feeling & situation. To be able to freely communicate in the same way as others lessens the sense of deprivation &' outsideness ' & is one step back into the rest of the world.