VozMob--Voces Móviles/Mobile Voices

A participatory design project and open source mobile media project, VozMob is a platform for immigrant and non-immigrant low-wage workers in Los Angeles to create stories about their lives and communities directly from cell phones. It facilitates greater participation in the digital public sphere for those with limited computer access. Workers send images, text, audio, and video in both Spanish and English. Mobile Voices emerged from a collaboration between the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California and the Institute of Popular Education of Southern California (IDEPSCA). From 2008 to 2010, Drupal software developers, IDEPSCA’s Popular Communication team (a Day Laborers and Household workers team), IDEPSCA staff, University of Southern California researchers, media activists, and volunteers collaborated to design the system, analyze stories, develop and share knowledge, and create training materials. VozMob makes visible the stories of those who the traditional mass media excludes and marginalizes.