<commit_before>---
layout: portfolio
title: Text and Voice Messaging Service for Newcomers
desc: Empowering refugees and other newcomers to Canada through anonymous messaging
permalink: /messaging-service-for-newcomers/
heroic: /images/candidates/hand_phone_mockup_cropped.png
tags: Service Design, Conversational UI, Mobile
team_members:
- name: <NAME>
  role: Project Lead, Research, Design
- name: <NAME>
  role: Project Co-Lead, Research, Design
skills: Research, Project Management, Mobile Service Prototyping
project-date: March 2016
context: Research and Service Prototype for Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada
---

<ul class="subnav">
  <li><a href="#Overview">Overview</a></li>
  <li><a href="#About">The Story of the Project</a></li>
  <li><a href="#Next">What’s Next?</a></li>
  <li><a href="#links">Link List</a></li>
</ul>

<h2> An independent pilot project for Immigration, Refugess, and Citizenship Canada</h2>

We’ve been prototyping a service to connect refugee newcomers to volunteers via SMS text and voice messages.

### How does it work?

Newcomers can send questions about anything related to settlement or daily life—like who to contact about employment programs, or where to find specialty foods—and volunteers who are currently available will receive a notification, and the opportunity to respond to the question with a text or a voice message.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Will this actually be a real service for newcomers?

We hope so! We will be looking to learn from our testing and seek support to develop the project further. Get in touch if you are in interested in learning more.

### Are there other examples of this kind of service?

Yes, we will update this list but here are a few quick examples of projects supporting refugees using low-barrier technologies like SMS:

#### Project Pages

* [Refugee Text Service (Denmark)](http://www.refugeetext.org/)
* [SMS’UP (France)](http://smsup.weebly.com/)
* [Welcome! (Sweden)](http://welcomeapp.se/)
* [Services Advisor](http://peacegeeks.org/products/services-advisor)
* [Welcome Ontario](http://welcomeontario.ca/)
* [MCIS: #Interpreters4Syria](http://mcislanguages.com/interpreters4syria)
* [Textizen](https://www.textizen.com/)
* [Citygram](https://www.citygram.org/)
* [Botivist](http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=256068)


#### News Articles

* [How cellphones are redefining the Syrian refugee crisis](https://www.devex.com/news/mobile-technology-for-mobile-populations-how-cellphones-are-redefining-the-syrian-refugee-crisis-87871)
* [Smartphone use on the refugee trail](http://arstechnica.com/video/2016/04/smartphone-use-on-the-refugee-trail/)
* [How to make apps that help Europe-bound Syrian refugees](https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23030692-900-are-humanitarian-apps-aimed-at-refugees-meeting-their-needs/)
* [Text a Syrian: a New Service Will Help Refugees Navigate Life in Canada](http://motherboard.vice.com/en_ca/read/text-a-syrian-a-new-service-helps-refugees-navigate-life-in-canada-Mobile-Souktel)
* [The app that connects refugees with Swedish locals](http://screeninteraction.com/news/the-app-that-connects-refugees-with-swedish-locals.html)
* [Mobile for Development — Partnerships between MNOs and Innovators: Ideas from MWC](http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/programme/m4dutilities/building-partnerships-between-mnos-and-innovators-ideas-mobile-world-congress)
<commit_msg>More content and headers for the project page. Slowly but surely.<commit_after>---
layout: portfolio
title: Text and Voice Messaging Service for Newcomers
desc: Empowering refugees and other newcomers to Canada through anonymous messaging
permalink: /messaging-service-for-newcomers/
heroic: /images/candidates/hand_phone_mockup_cropped.png
tags: Service Design, Conversational UI, Mobile
team_members:
- name: <NAME>
  role: Project Lead, Research, Design
- name: <NAME>
  role: Project Co-Lead, Research, Design
skills: Research, Project Management, Mobile Service Prototyping
project-date: March 2016
context: Research and Service Prototype for Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada
---

<ul class="subnav">
  <li><a href="#links">Link List</a></li>
  <li><a href="#next">What’s Next?</a></li>
  <li><a href="#about">The Story of the Project</a></li>
  <li><a href="#overview">Overview</a></li>
</ul>

<h2 id="overview">An independent pilot project for Immigration, Refugess, and Citizenship Canada</h2>

We’ve been prototyping a service to connect refugee newcomers to volunteers via SMS text and voice messages. 

### How does it work?

Newcomers can send questions about anything related to settlement or daily life—like who to contact about employment programs, or where to find specialty foods—and volunteers who are currently available will receive a notification, and the opportunity to respond to the question with a text or a voice message.

<h2 id="about">The Story of the Project</h2>

### Where we began

### Where we ended up

### Who we are

<h2 id="next">Next Steps</h2>

### Will this actually be a real service for newcomers?

We hope so! We will be looking to learn from our testing and seek support to develop the project further. Get in touch if you are in interested in learning more.

<h2 id="links">Link List</h2>

Links to other projects using low-barrier technologies like SMS in this space, news articles, and resources about chatbots, conversational interfaces, and natural language processing in general.  

#### Project Pages

* [Refugee Text Service (Denmark)](http://www.refugeetext.org/)
* [SMS’UP (France)](http://smsup.weebly.com/)
* [Welcome! (Sweden)](http://welcomeapp.se/)
* [Services Advisor](http://peacegeeks.org/products/services-advisor)
* [Welcome Ontario](http://welcomeontario.ca/)
* [MCIS: #Interpreters4Syria](http://mcislanguages.com/interpreters4syria)
* [Textizen](https://www.textizen.com/)
* [Citygram](https://www.citygram.org/)
* [Botivist](http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=256068)

#### News Articles

* [How cellphones are redefining the Syrian refugee crisis](https://www.devex.com/news/mobile-technology-for-mobile-populations-how-cellphones-are-redefining-the-syrian-refugee-crisis-87871)
* [Smartphone use on the refugee trail](http://arstechnica.com/video/2016/04/smartphone-use-on-the-refugee-trail/)
* [How to make apps that help Europe-bound Syrian refugees](https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23030692-900-are-humanitarian-apps-aimed-at-refugees-meeting-their-needs/)
* [Text a Syrian: a New Service Will Help Refugees Navigate Life in Canada](http://motherboard.vice.com/en_ca/read/text-a-syrian-a-new-service-helps-refugees-navigate-life-in-canada-Mobile-Souktel)
* [The app that connects refugees with Swedish locals](http://screeninteraction.com/news/the-app-that-connects-refugees-with-swedish-locals.html)
* [Mobile for Development — Partnerships between MNOs and Innovators: Ideas from MWC](http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/programme/m4dutilities/building-partnerships-between-mnos-and-innovators-ideas-mobile-world-congress)

{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.12041219649915302, 'fraction_numerical': 0.01129305477131564, 'mean_word_length': 5.258833922261484, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 53, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 53, 'https://': 8, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 12, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 2, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
{'dir': 'git-commits-cleaned', 'id': '1878020', 'n_tokens_mistral': 2277, 'n_tokens_neox': 2126, 'n_words': 656}