The Hackerati at the UN

The Hackerati was invited to present at the United Nations on April 4th to explore technological applications for Humanicy: The Human Side of Diplomacy. Google Glass was an obvious focus because of its revolutionary interface, and though the device itself is still in its infancy and certainly hasn’t brought about any major technical revolutions just yet, we strongly believe in the transformative power of a hands-free, voice-activated device — especially in conjunction with other technologies.

Humanicy

Humanicy is a portmanteau formed by fusing humanity and diplomacy, and was coined by Angelo Toriello — ambassador-at-large for São Tomé and Príncipe — in an effort to bring members of diplomatic and political communities closer together. He sees art as the foundation of the human experience, and believes that diplomats and politicians who see each other as fellow human beings before discussing politics are more likely to establish meaningful connections.

To promote these kinds of interactions within the diplomatic community, Toriello created a forum to highlight the power of art in transforming “hatred into compassion; war into peacefulness.” Presentations included a speech by Toriello, an explanation of Ambassadors Sing for Peace by singing-ambassador Simona Miculescu, an overview of the Global Citizenproject, and a performance by the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit, who bring healing humor to nearly 225,000 hospitalized youths every year.

There was also a documentary shown after the presentations called Dancing in Jaffa. Jaffa has Israeli and Palestinian populations, and ballroom dancer Pierre Dulaine — who grew up in Jaffa — taught children from both schools to dance. Humanicy was introduced when he paired Israeli and Palestinian students together as dancing partners, effectively muting their cultural differences through the art of dance — of knowing and understanding another human being through movement. The film was fantastic and is highly recommended.

But Google Glass Isn’t Really Art…

an early prototype of Google Glass

So — how does does an esoteric face computer like Glass come into play?Toriello is keen on highlighting the union of science and art, seeing technology as an artistic application of science — one that enhances awareness and, ultimately, security. He’s particularly interested in wearable electronics, and Google Glass is by far the most intriguing of the bunch.

With our limited knowledge of diplomacy and the UN’s efforts, we selected two ideas solely related to a hands-free, head-mounted computer like Glass, and two more general ideas:

Glass App: Conversation Starter

We envisioned diplomats and ambassadors walking around the UN wearing Glass, and thought about how useful it would be for them to be able to send personal information to each other’s units. By opting into the system and sharing information about oneself beyond the political systems and ideals they represent, diplomats can be informed of each other and have more meaningful interactions.

The application would allow users to create profiles to provide information such as position, amount of time in that position, political interests, personal interests, hobbies, etc. When the user’s smartphone noticed another Glass unit’s unique bluetooth ID, it would alert the user through their own Glass and allow them to retrieve that information seamlessly.

Glass App: Hands-Free Medical Aid

We then focused on refugee camps and disaster relief centers. Displaced populations seek refuge across the globe, and devices that enhance their user’s abilities are ideal for saving lives and enhancing quality of life during such difficult times.

Imagine needing medical aid in a camp that has a shortage of medical professionals. True emergencies could be dealt with by establishing a video relay between a field worker and a central medical staff, walking volunteers through diagnoses and remedies. The awesome part is that video chats launched as standard Glassware, so minimal effort would be required to implement such a system.

Infrastructure-Free Mesh Network

The goal is to send text messages where there’s no cellular infrastructure, which seems impossible at first look. But recognizing that every smartphone — and many traditional cellphones — are bluetooth-enabled leads to the realization that there is always a network through which information can travel.

By leveraging this ever-present network, refugee camps and disaster relief centers will be able to send messages to each other, allowing for faster response times to emergencies, sending information about delayed food trucks, reuniting separated families, and whatever other problems are hampered by a lack of telecommunication. The best part is that none of these messages would cost any money to send. While text messages are relatively inexpensive for first-worlders, every penny counts when considering displaced third-world families.

And if messages need to be sent greater distances from users outside of the range of cell towers, they can piggyback off of others in the network to enter the proximity and have that user send out the message.

3D Mapping of Refugee Camps

We understand separated families to be a major issue within refugee camps, so we applied Google’s recently-publicized Project Tango to this environment and imagined the ability to provide 3D maps of camps by simply walking around the camp holding a special Tango smartphone. The device has multiple cameras and vision processors that enable it to sense depth just like the human brain. It would be amazing for a lost child to be reunited with their family by asking volunteers to search the database of last-known locations via Glass and then being provided with 3D directions to that location with information collected from Tango.

Just the Beginning

The April 4th event was only a media launch event to announce the official Humanicy forum that will take place in December. We’re gearing up for another presentation and some awesome project work that we look forward to unveiling when the time is right.

We’d like to heartily thank Mr. Ambassador Toriello for his invitation to join him in promoting Humanicy, the Friendship Ambassadors Foundation for sponsoring the event, and the United Nations for offering a platform for such powerful modes of expression. This is an exciting time in the technological world, and it will only lead to more excitement, creativity, equality, and Humanicy in the world at large.

Check out the video we made to demonstrate these Glass apps and a recording of the presentation on UN Web TV (beginning at 1:05:45).