Hearken, Inc.: Case Studies
Client: Hearken
Brief: Write case studies for Hearken’s 2023 “Champions of Curiosity” awards. Hearken is a social impact consultancy that uses democratic practices and the power of engagement to impact and influence systems for the public good. Through the use of technology, training and consulting, they identify where existing systems—like journalism, business, and higher education—are limiting democracy from happening in its fullest form. (Essentially, Hearken’s Engagement Management System helps organizations generate actionable insights from the public to create more relevant content.) Then, Hearken reimagines and democratizes their practices in ways that improve systems, and create the conditions for longterm, positive social change.
View the published WBEZ case study here and the Vermont Public Media case study here.
Response: All of the winners of Hearken’s 2023 Champions of Curiosity Awards were public radio stations who’d used Hearken’s technology, consultancy and training. In order to understand why they were award winners, I listened to the correlated stories, then interviewed the Hearken founder about how the organization’s story aligned with Hearken’s ideals, mission and values. Last, I reviewed the format and structure of awards from past years so that I could stay consistent with the flow and language. I also made image recommendations for each story (based on the original piece’s graphics, photos and social media). Once the pieces I wrote were approved by the client, they were published on Medium and LinkedIn, and shared with Hearken’s followers.
Vermont Public’s “Engaging in Emergency” award
In 2023, a storm in Vermont led to the state experiencing catastrophic flooding.Three days after, Vermont’s public radio program released a documentary about river management in the area—it had partially been in the works, but once the storm hit, the team did a real-time “deep dive” to iterate with the current events. Their nimble reporting turned into an impressive, expedient story of a state crisis.
Baltimore Banner’s “Engaging the Future” award
The Baltimore Banner used Hearken tech to ask people what they wanted from the redevelopment plan of the Inner Harbor. Using their results, they created a chart tallying the most commonly mentioned requests, along with a design that featured the waterfront, food hall, public art, green space and more. Next they had an illustrator do sketches of the three most popular ideas. They’re a great example of using Hearken to generate multiple “engagement layers” in terms of audience participation.
WBEZ Chicago’s “Engaging Beyond the Headlines” award
WBEZ’s Curious City program tells deep-dive stories and in 2023, reporter Adriana Cardona-Maguigad did an in-depth dive into a Venezuelan migrant’s dramatic and compelling story of being bussed from Texas to Chicago. WBEZ translated it into Spanish to reach the listeners who’d be most impacted by the story. This was a great use of Hearken’s tech because it gave context to the broad story of migrants coming to the US from South and Central America—and it highlighted the difficulties, challenges, and gaps in the system. Overall, an incredible example of serving your community using Hearken’s tech.