This is why we come to work

A couple of weeks ago we learned something amazing: 

A use case we never imagined

In Australia, a number of teachers who work with Deaf and hearing impaired kids have been exploring how different technologies can be used to help children learn. Unbeknownst to us, these teachers have flagged up the Holler Gram as an app that can be very useful for students who are Deaf or hearing impaired.

At last month's 2011 Itinerant Teachers of the Deaf conference, Apple got behind the cause and loaned the conference 150 iPads so teachers could see whether this technology might help them and their students. As a featured app, the Holler Gram was downloaded onto a central computer and then ghosted onto the iPads.

Feedback from teachers was really positive:

It was good to really play with the apps to see if they would be useful for students.

I can see how many of these applications would be useful for various students on my caseload.

Loved the technology focus of the day – great to be allowed to play with an iPad and all those applications for free! 

You know you've done something right when...

This is the story of a product that, once in the hands of the users, ended up being used in ways that we, the makers, never imagined. When that happens, you know you've done something right.   

Eight months ago when we made the Holler Gram, we were thinking about the SXSW use case: the playfulness of a giant glowing sign and the utility of an app that merged the Twittersphere and meatspace. The Holler Gram checks those boxes, but it also offers utility to groups we didn't think about. That's a huge bonus.   

A world of potential between education and technology

Most of us been engaged with the education sector before, either in previous roles or here at Made by Many on Skype in the classroom. It's a dynamic, meaningful space to work in. Something we've learned from Skype in the classroom is how incredibly useful some of these emerging technologies can be to teachers and students, and how hungry teachers are for things that make education better. We want to make more apps, products and services that do this.

This is why we do what we do 

The people who work at Made by Many share in the belief that technology has the power to do good for all kinds of people. A big part of our sense of who we are as a company comes down to being makers, not advertisers. It's not about flash gadgets and sexy ads, but about making things that can help people live better lives.

That manifests in different ways with different projects, but in this case, learning that something you made is making life a little easier for a child who's just outside the mainstream and maybe struggles with feeling isolated or unheard... that feels pretty special.