Matthews Family Herald

I thought you would enjoy seeing this article appearing in The New York Times about how a company paid a group of homeless men $20 per day, plus tips to carry around wireless routers at a large conference in order to meet the cell phone and internet needs of the conference participants. The homeless workers were provided T-shirts and other items to aid them in doing their job.

Apparently, a person desiring service would visit this website on their mobile device:

http://www.homelesshotspots.org/

and then click the paypal button with their homeless provider's name in order to access the internet or cell phone provider. In following the link, you learn a little bit about the homeless person on the site and suddenly, the whole process makes a homeless person a real human being that we might be able to relate to.

Other than potential health concerns associated with wireless devices, I think it's great that they have this opportunity to work. Maybe I would change the shirt from saying "I'm Clarence, a 4G Hotspot" to "I'm Clarence offering you a 4G HotSpot." He's a person not a hotspot. But otherwise, awesome stuff. I don't make this statement in an unqualified manner either. I've been homeless myself briefly, someone very dear and in my immediate family was homeless for years, and my wife and family have worked quite a bit with the homeless among other Christians and friends. I'll close with 1) a link to the article, 2) a few quotes from that article coming from the three sides of the argument, and 3) a YouTube link where you can hear from Clarence himself (the guy in the picture) talk about the program for about 40 seconds.

1) New York Times Article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/technology/homeless-as-wi-fi-transmitters-creates-a-stir-in-austin.html?_r=1&hp

2) Quotes from the three sides of the argument:

The company says: “We saw it as a means to raise awareness by giving homeless people a way to engage with mainstream society and talk to people,” he said. “The hot spot is a way for them to tell their story.”

The opposition says: Tim Carmody, a blogger at Wired, described the project as “completely problematic” and sounding like “something out of a darkly satirical science-fiction dystopia.” (You can see the opposition blog on Wired by clicking on the highlighted words "described the project" in this paragraph.)

The homeless workers said: “Everyone thinks I’m getting the rough end of the stick, but I don’t feel that,” Mr. Jones said. “I love talking to people and it’s a job. An honest day of work and pay.”

3) Clarence on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuykePeqzp8&feature=player_embedded