Voice Amplification for Immigrants

jaekyung.jung@gmail.com — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 07:09:08 +0000

Jaekyung Jung & Sohin Hwang

Background & Problem

We investigated on and interviewed a Korean immigrant family who
have been suffering from a lawsuit with big corporation for eleven
years and still experiencing difficulties in finding a channel to
communicate their story publicly [1]. We also found that this
problem is not just about their case.

Immigrants who are suffering from the socioeconomic vulnerability
think that letting the organizations and the pressure groups to know
about their stories will potentially be helpful for resolving the
situation. However, the limited English skill is one big obstacle for
them to communicate to the world, while the unfamiliarity to the
internet media is the other barricade especially for the elderly to be
widely heard.

Service Concept

Voice Amplification for Immigrants service allows the immigrants,
who can not speak well and are not educated to communicate in
written English, to talk about their stories of being treated unjust and
unfair through mobile phone, which will be automatically posted
online to be heard by the world.

Upon calling the Voice Amplification for Immigrants service at the
specific number, users can directly talk to the phone to have the
stories uploaded to the website. In case a user cannot speak
English, the story still can be told and uploaded; A volunteer group
will translate the story into an English text afterward. The uploaded
voice and text can be subscribed by and forwarded to related
NGOs, research centers, activist groups and any other public
spaces to increase the exposure and recognition by the public.

[1] Choi Family Story
http://www.choifive.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=152...

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Voice Amplification for Immigrants