UnderheardinNY@Tedx42ndstreet

@BBHNewYork@robertnweeks

"The Barn is BBH New York’s 10-week bi-annual, multi-discipline intern program that’s all about skunkworks, collaboration, making stuff and exploring new solutions to new (and old) problems."

Do something good...famously.  

Skunkworks > Your Work

Homeless Tweeting

We gave Danny, Derrick, Albert and Carlos prepaid cell phones and Twitter accounts.

Primary Goal: to create a supportive community around them.

101077

Why don't they belong?

We talk about the Underheard.

Not with.

They should only focus on primary needs.

Twitter is a luxury.

Twitter does satisfy a primary need

    INTERACTION | SOCIALIZATION

How do you interact with the homeless?

Using Twitter to affect behavior

Personal: Establish relationships, teach tech

Management: closed beta, no editing or interference, make suggestions

Articulation: aggregate, no requests, pose problems,

Disrupting Twitter demographics. Twitter Echo Chamber.

Predisposed to Juxtaposition.

Language | Content | Attitude

+18,000

• Reconnected Danny with his daughter and grandchildren after 11 years

• Found an author to write Danny’s life

• Offer of office space and the use of a desktop computer for Carlos

• Payment of Albert’s two transit tickets

• Job interview for Derrick

• Call to Derrick from Steve Smith, WR NY Giants and Facebook fundraiser

Thought Starters

Replacing real-world avoidance w/ Twitter following.

Creating conversations that shouldn't exist.

Why is it easier to do on Twitter?

How does this shift translate to physical space?

Members of the community were under-satisfied by our ask [interaction]

Accommodation: facilitating help, imitation, expansion

Skunkworks > Standard

1: 9: 90 1/100:

Institutions aren't set up to help a handful of people.    They use big words to tell big stories with big budgets.

What is the future of help? Micro? Crowdsourced?  Small groups using inexpensive toolsto help a few peoplein BIG ways.

@underheardinnyunderheardinnewyork.com