For my thesis, I would like to explore a project that uses technology to foster better understanding between people who belong to different groups in society. Looking back at my previous projects, this is a common theme.

I think it is an important topic to me because I think in order for there to be more equality in the world there needs to be more empathy. To me, empathy is one of the greatest tools/emotions that can help to create social change. When you are challenged to understand the feelings of another person this can help you to make different choices and form different opinions about the world.

But in order to have empathy for another person, you need to have the opportunity to experience the world beyond what you know. Lack of exposure to people, groups, cultures that are different from you can be a roadblock to empathy. Sometimes things that are different can be scary or can seem weird and give us negative feelings because we feel uncomfortable. Sometimes you’re so comfortable in your own life that you have no need to try to see the world differently until you’re forced to.

Movies, videos, photography, books, articles, documentaries are great ways to capture people’s attention and give them the opportunity to experience the world from someone else’s viewpoint. Storytelling and visuals are key. The opportunity to see these visuals and stories that can help to inspire change.

Some great moments in history where new technology served as a medium with visuals and storytelling to inspire social change was:

  • In 1963 Americans saw coverage of the Civil Rights movement in Birmingham when police sprayed high-powered water hoses at Black Americans. Maybe some people heard about the protests and had an opinion of them but seeing the disturbing visuals on their TVs in front of them was very important in inspiring change.  https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/06/18/193128475/how-the-civil-rights-movement-was-covered-in-birmingham
  • In 2020 Americans saw a viral video of a Black American George Floyd being shot by the police. For years, the Black Lives Matter moment and the black community has expressed concerns about racial profiling with the police and the killing of innocent Black lives but the video that spread throughout social media help to inspire change and helped people to start posting

This is something I think is really cool about social media. The ability to follow the lives of strangers around the world helps to introduce people to cultures outside their own circles and perspectives. On social media, you can find and discover online communities that maybe you never had access to in your part of the world. This may be a contested statement but there’s definitely the potential to use social media to be more educated and have more empathy just from learning from

For my thessis I want to create a project that is a platform that helps to connect people but more based on what’s trending in a location than based on what your followers are posting. I want you to be able to look at a map and see what people from around the world are posting in their locations. For example if I was planning to visit New York soon I could use this platform to learn more about the city and see what’s trending there that day. Visually I’d be able to see what posts people are making and that would help me to learn more about what’s happening in the city. This feature would be especially be important if there was breaking news of a protest or severe weather etc. The platform could be used to quickly see what people are posting in the area.

Example of a similar project is Snapchat’s maps https://map.snapchat.com/

I still kind of think this idea is too big for now and needs to be narrowed down but this is where I’m starting!