Here We Listen: Positioning a Hybrid "Listening Station" to Circulate Marginalized Voices across Physical and Digital Channels in a Neighborhood

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Conference paper: Presented at the 67th Annual ICA Conference, San Diego, CA: International
Communications Association. May 25-29, 2017.
Here We Listen
Positioning a Hybrid “Listening Station” to Circulate Marginalized
Voices across Physical and Digital Channels in a Neighborhood
Benjamin Stokes, Samantha Dols, Kara Andrade
American University School of Communication
Introduction and Purpose
Listening to marginalized voices
takes deliberate effort, and may demand new
methods to guide technology design and
neighborhood engagement. Hybrids that
weave together the physical and digital are
increasingly viable. Distinct ways to listen
are emerging, as public spaces are
increasingly filled with “smart” devices and
wired objects (Gordon & de Souza e Silva,
2011; Townsend, 2014).
How might neighborhoods and
universities use such hybrid objects –
blending physical with digital – to shift the
circulation of hidden and marginalized
voices? This case study advances research
methods for positioning hybrid “listening
stations,” especially when the goal is to alter
the circulation of stories and deepen how
marginalized voices are heard.
Hybrid objects, such as physical
listening stations, require positioning in two
kinds of space. First, they must be
positioned in physical space as installed
objects, whether on a public lawn with a
loudspeaker, or a quiet library café with an
earpiece. In this sense, the positioning is
akin to how architecture can facilitate or
obstruct conversation, and how traditional
cafés can foster or undermine dialogue as
third spaces (Oldenburg & Brissett, 1982).
Methods of physically positioning
technology are often akin to neighborhood
planning and community organizing that
emphasize stakeholders tied to place
(Stokes, Baumann, Caldwell, & Bar, 2014).
Yet simultaneously, hybrid objects
require positioning in digital flows. Just as
residents increasingly communicate with
mobile media, a hybrid object can receive
text messages, send links to read more, or
even post pictures to a community blog.
Much like mobile media, such objects
function as hybrid interfaces (de Souza e

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Silva, 2006) that shape our sense of place by
integrating physical experience with geo-
spatial information and hyper-local
conversation online.
The stakes are high for many
neighborhoods and universities with shifting
racial demographics. Marginalized voices
can be isolated online and in residential life,
as individuals cluster along lines of race and
class in housing, the workplace, and in
social activity. Minority voices can suffer
disproportionately from the mental health
cost of everyday racism and micro-
aggressions (e.g., Smith, Allen, & Danley,
2007) including on sexual orientation and
gender diversity (Nadal, 2013).
Fortunately, research at universities
has shown that positive interactions with
diverse peers results in a greater sense of
belonging to the campus community for all
students (Locks, Hurtado, Bowman, &
Oseguera, 2008). Listening to neighbors can
also help individuals to retain social capital
for communities in transition (Stolle,
Soroka, & Johnston, 2008).
Case Overview
Hybrid objects, which have both a
physical and digital footprint, have the
potential to play a distinct role in shaping
place-based discussions of race and
diversity. This case study (2015-2016, in
progress) investigates several methods for
positioning a hybrid “listening station” to
bridge physical and digital flows of
communication.
The timeframe for this study
concerns the first year in the development of
the device, including the needs assessment
and the co-design process with local
stakeholder groups. The analytic methods
are discussed below; the general approach
was to test and refine theory through
participant observation (Spradley, 2016) and
design research “in the street” (March &
Raijmakers, 2008), which is particularly
important for under-constrained problems in
interaction design (Zimmerman, Forlizzi, &
Evenson, 2007).
Physically the device in this case
study resembles a payphone on wheels,
positioned in public spaces where foot
traffic is high. Yet functionally the device is
wired to the Internet, receiving text
messages and even sending email using
cloud-based telephony. Since the device is
moved around the neighborhood, often for
special events, it can be understood as a
hybrid mobile interface (de Souza e Silva,
2006), contributing to both the physical
experience and to the digital flows that
increasingly define our sense of place.
At the journalistic core is the chief
editor, who is a student appointed to the
graduate student government. Stories are
recruited of and by community members on
specific topics, such as a “multicultural
alumni remembering a time when their
ethnicity first mattered on campus, and what
they did about it.” Graduate students in
journalism then shape the audio stories and
testimony into interactive pieces for the
listening system, in person and by SMS
request. While listening, the payphone
keypad can be used (e.g., “push 1 for the
voices of Latino students on this month’s
issue, or push 2 for a compilation of Black
alumni voices as they reflect how the
campus has changed”).

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Research need: Methods for positioning
hybrid technology
Adoption of the technology is only
likely to occur when there are generalized
principles for adapting the technology and
positioning it locally. How should the
positioning of hybrid technologies be
approached? In contrast to narrow research
in laboratories, the need is to advance our
understanding of the complexities of real-
world adoption, and stakeholder
expectations for impact.
This study advances two
communication frameworks to investigate
how they help position hybrid objects and
shift the local circulation of community
stories. The frameworks are: (1) mobile
media as an approach to hybrid objects: by
emphasizing how communication is shaped
by mobility, alongside the culture of mobile
interpersonal exchange; and (2) frameworks
and methods for the ecological positioning
of a technology in the community’s human
networks. Together, these two perspectives
are hypothesized to empower communities
to position hybrid listening stations in
technical and ecological terms to shift local
circulation.
Framework 1: Positioning as
mobile media tied to place
At first glance, “mobile media”
might seem quite broad -- and certainly it
has the potential to embrace everything from
mobile games to ubiquitous computing. Yet
the communication emphasis of mobile
media contrasts with much of the research
on hybrid interfaces that emphasize the
human-computer interaction in individualist
and often functional terms (e.g., Antle,
Corness, & Droumeva, 2009). The historical
and ongoing emphasis on communication in
mobile media, going back to its origins in
telephone calls (Farman, 2016), aligns with
the goals of listening to diverse voices and
traditions in oral history and radio reporting.
Just as importantly, mobile media distinctly
help to shape our sense of locality and place
(Gordon & de Souza e Silva, 2011).
The listening station can engage
directly with mobile media, since it can
respond to mobile phone calls, send email,
exchange text messages (and even pictures).
Taken together, the multiple perspectives of
“mobile media” can help to frame and
position the listening station in the flows of
everyday communication. Such positioning
includes the physical mobility of the device
around campus, and the embedding in flows
of SMS and audio voices on issues of local
concern.
Framework 2: Ecological
positioning for story circulation
For community impact, the most
important positioning is not technical but
ecological. Local stories and information
circulate between individuals, often
multiplied and framed by local organizations
and hyper-local media. This ecological
perspective is perhaps best modeled with the
framework of “community storytelling
networks” (Kim & Ball-Rokeach, 2006). To
analyze the ecological position, three nodes
are necessary:
(1) Interpersonal – as stories are
exchanged between residents,
including face-to-face on
residence halls, through text
message, and online;

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(2) Organizational – when quotes
and statements on diversity are
made publicly by local clubs and
organizations, giving them
privileged status, including by
multi-cultural alumni
associations, activist student
groups, administrative centers for
diversity and inclusion, and
mental health services;
(3) Local media – when stories are
broadcast by news and media
organizations, including the
campus newspaper, city
newspapers, local radio, and
individual journalists with their
own news distribution tools
including blogs.
Using this networked model,
structural holes in circulation can be
identified (e.g., between the multicultural
alumni association and incoming freshmen
who identify as Caucasian).
Research questions to sequence the study
Three research questions guide the
case study, ensuring a baseline for mapping
the existing community ecology before
moving on to diagnose the intervention
structurally and in terms of content;
specifically:
R1: Is there a perceived gap in the
local ecology for sharing stories of
marginalized voices, especially on issues of
diversity and inclusion?
R2: Can the hybrid listening station
fill a structural gap in the community’s
existing ecology for circulating stories?
R3: Are different stories circulated
as a result of the listening station?
Analytic methods
To pursue these questions, several
methods are used. First the local ecology for
sharing stories is mapped using methods of
communication asset mapping (Villanueva
& Broad, 2012), coupled with interviews at
key nodes in the local network (semi-
structured interviews using a snowball
sample).
Subsequent analysis of the design
will include participant observation of the
process, as well as interviews with co-design
participants, probing the desired goals for
filling structural gaps in the circulation of
stories. Post-launch interviews with
community members as well as selected
leaders of key local organizations will probe
perceptions as to whether the circulation of
stories is different in content as well.
Power is a central concern in any
analysis of marginalized voices, and a
concern for designs that shift how voices are
positioned. Part of the goal is to address the
established silencing effects of being in the
minority (Noelle-Neumann, 1993) of
perceptions that authorities are watching
(Foucault, 1977). Building trust is an
iterative process, both with sub-communities
and to guide the positioning of the listening
station.
Initial and Expected Findings
The study is currently halfway
complete, with completion expected by May
2017. Embracing the mobility of the station
quickly emerged as one finding. Formative
stakeholder interviews identified two
reasons: (1) placement in a single physical
spot is likely to align with a single
institutional actor, and risks speaking only to

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minority students; some of these concerns
go away with pop-ups that may appear in
residents’ courtyards, etc.; and (2) without
care, hybrid objects can fade into the
architectural background. Sustaining
attention emerged as an increasingly central
design goal.
There has been high demand for the
mobility of the stories themselves. While
listening might begin at the hybrid station, a
great story might need to be shared a month
later in a hallway discussion on
speakerphone. Allowing mobile devices to
replay key stories is distinct from the “tell a
friend” functionality so common on social
media, and is better suited to group
discussions in physical space. Such
retellings can also help to ease the burden on
minority students who are disproportionately
asked to explain repeatedly what exactly it
feels like to be marginalized in the
community.
Currently the listening station has
been deployed with demonstration content,
including with interactive audio, SMS
follow-up, and voice recording. As
additional stories are gathered by journalists
and the physical location is rotated, a
methodology for positioning hybrid listening
stations will emerge.
Conclusion
In a digital age, strong communities
may need new ways to listen, especially to
marginalized voices. Increasingly, local
communities are shaped by a blend of
physical and digital flows (Castells, 2010;
Gordon & de Souza e Silva, 2011). Through
a case study of one university, this paper
investigates the emerging role for hybrid
“listening stations” that seek to shift the
circulation of specific voices and stories, not
just across platforms but across groups and
human networks.
Preliminary findings support the
claim that gaps in the circulation of key
stories could be filled by hybrid designs that
integrate physical presence with digital
responsiveness – including as mobile media.
For success, the technology is predicted to
remain secondary to fostering the conditions
for a safe community space to speak and
listen. Methodologically, this paper
advances the study of Communication and
Technology (CAT) by demonstrating how
communication asset mapping (Villanueva
& Broad, 2012) can help to position hybrid
designs to effectively shift the circulation of
local stories, especially for marginalized
voices on issues of diversity and inclusion.

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