So recently as I was passing through my usual feeds, I chanced upon this gem. Now we’ve talked about listening and monitoring things in our classes so far but this really put a smile on me as I read it. If it’s still unclear to you what it is, or you’re just too lazy to peruse it, the article talks about a giant ear sculpture placed in front of Seoul’s City Hall. ‘Well that’s a bit too meta’ one might think, but what sets it apart is that it invites citizens over to come and voice their complaints or praises of the government. That’s right, you speak directly into the ear itself.

What’s even more interesting is that anything you say into this sculpture of an ear is actually recorded via a microphone installed inside it and is then played through speakers situated around City Hall. On top of that, sensors inside each speaker track how many officials are actually listening to each comment and then saves the ones that are listened to the most.

This gives the whole concept of listening in on consumer (or citizen, in this case) feedback. We’ve been hearing the world rave about we can use social media to listen in on people and monitor their opinions but whatever happened to just plain old voice conversation? I think this is a fantastic spin on a platform that can have real impact to motivate employees of the Seoul government. Reading feedback and analyzing data is efficient and all but the actual emotional and personal impact of hearing feedback through a voice resonating within your halls of work is something else. Props to Yobosayo (which is Korean for ‘hello’, by the way) and to personalizing the feedback conversation.