art.eri app

An application fighting our modern echo chambers and for open discussion.

Brief: How can an app encourage open discussion and debate between contrasting cultures or beliefs?

art.eri connects people who "normally" would not connect, thus promoting healthier cross-cultural exchange.

art.eri noun: /ɑːtəri/

• a muscular tube + part of the circulation system by which blood is conveyed from the heart to all parts of the body

• an important route in a system of roads, rivers, or railway lines

1. Instead of a typical registration form requesting race, gender and age, your personal profile is made of more personal "quirks", connecting people with the quirks they have in common.

2. No profile photograph is uploaded, to avoid prejudice of any kind. Instead, the initial of your first or last name.

3. Users swipe through pages containing different questions, often of a typically taboo or sensitive nature.

4. Once a question is chosen, users swipe through different profiles, choosing who they would like to have that discussion with, based on the profile's personal quirks. The pool of profiles is made up of people from countries different to the users' "place of local culture" alongside people from their local culture, and reviewed academic experts in each given field. So the exposure to alternative schools of thought is wide ranging to further discourse.