Hackastory

Kim: enable the disabled news consumer

It’s crucial for any newsroom or media company to know their audience. Blau Wow zeroed in on a group of news consumers that is often overlooked.

Meet Kim.

Kim is a non-gendered mentally disabled 20-year-old. They work at a creative working place with other disabled people and have an interest in educating themselves about current events. Do they experience barriers? Yes, but only the barriers society imposes on them.

One such barrier is news consumption. In many cases, articles are too long and too complicated, making them inaccessible to many people, including but not limited to those with intellectual disabilities. Now, there’s an app that allows Kim to consume curated news stories without feeling “different” or overwhelmed.

The process is simple: select a color-coded topic – politics, for example. You see a world map, with markers to show where important topic-relevant news has happened. When you click on a marker, a simple summary of that news story pops up, along with aiding visuals. After swiping, you’re presented with the necessary background information, and ultimately the story itself in the form of comics, videos, audio, simplified text and other low-barrier ways of consuming news.

Afterward, there’s a little quiz about the news story you’ve just read. With every correct answer, you increase your character’s ‘media literacy score’. If you weren’t able to solve the quiz, you’re presented with an accessible explanation and solution to the problem. Every day, you can get the 10 top news stories of that day in a serious, educational, fun, and accessible way.

Want to see our digital prototype? Check it out here.

Made by Blau Wow

  • Shubha Murthy – Coder
  • Markus Reichert – Storyteller
  • Ingo Kleiber – Coder
  • Sabine Kettner – Storyteller
  • Leon Erath – Coder
  • Alka Anna Goos – Coach / Storyteller