```cv
gallery
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```

We built the first "Digital Hearths" in the months leading up to the 2019 launch of the Local Voices Network pilot in Madison, Wisconsin. The hearths were designed to solve a specific problem: how do you have a cross-cutting, intimate, and vulnerable conversations with people you barely know when you've got a microphone in your face?

Part of the magic of an LVN conversation is that it is both *intimate* and *public*, the conversations ride an emotional grey-line that puts a very open and public  recorded conversation in the context of an intimate setting. When done well, it is incredibly empowering, but the environment has to be set correctly: no errant technological distractions and no microphones in people's faces... any technology that is present must act like furniture, serving to subtly focus participants' attention on each other.

Over time we hand built about 50 v1 Hearths that lived in public libraries across the country, available for checkout to any local Cortico partner. But poor reliability and high costs made the first version of the hardware incredibly resource draining.

### Hearth v2

Over a two-year effort, I worked with a dedicated hardware product lead and a team of engineers to make a new version of the Hearth that was: cheaper, easier to assemble, more reliable, and more accessible:

* We reduced the size and weight by one-third, allowing the hardware to be held in one hand instead of two and fit easily into a small backpack.

* We cut the cost in half by moving from off-the-shelf parts to custom components that could be fabricated in bulk.

* Developed a supply chain and designed sub-assemblies that could be put together by contractors and shipped to Cortico for final assembly.

* Moved design and development in-house, giving us full control over power, logic, audio, and compute subsystem PCB design, firmware development, and cloud connections.

We launched the Hearth with field partners in Q4 2021 and though there's plenty of improvements still to be made, I think this version has successfully bridged the gap between a bespoke design manufacturable in quantities of tens to a more scalable device that can be produced in the hundreds.

```cv
gallery
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```

They are beautiful and fun to take through airport security 😎

You can read more about the Hearth v2 [here](https://cortico.ai/news/hearth-v2-a-deep-dive/).

Digital Hearth v2

A purpose-built audio playback and recording device designed to capture intimate public conversations with intentionality, clarity, and ease.

An online platform designed to help a growing network of non-profits, municipalities, libraries, researchers, and community advocates make sense of thousands of hours of recorded group conversations.

Local Voices Network

We developed a new advertising metric called attention time, got it accredited by the Media Rating Council, and built a wonderful product to help publishers traffic campaigns, report campaign results, and optimize their inventory and sales offerings. We learned a lot from trying to change the fundamental economy of online display ads from CPM to CPH, and though Chartbeat exited the business, the ideas and methods we established live on in the industry.

Cost-Per-Hour Display Ads

The Action Button helps readers take immediate and meaningful action on issues they care about within the context of trusted publisher sites.

Action Button

gif.so

keeping everyone's favorite slack-based arbitrary point counter alive and well

plusplus.fun

subpar.fm

WXYC is a freeform radio station founded in 1977 that broadcasts in North Carolina. In 1994 it became the first radio station in the world to stream on the internet. It continues to produce pioneering programming and technology.

I sit on the board, help develop their iOS app, and in 2020 implemented a remote broadcast system that DJs use to do live shows from their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Board Member

Founded by Jordan Hewson in 2016, Speakable helps consumers take meaningful civic and philanthropic actions directly within the context of online news articles. I joined this seed-stage startup to help mature their product strategy and grow adoption amongst publishers and non-profits. They were acquired by NationBuilder in 2021.

Head of Product

Cortico builds products and programs that amplify under-heard voices in America, empowering marginalized communities to have a greater impact in local decision making. We do this by building scalable technology and analytic listening systems to support networks of on-the-ground conversation and community building initiatives.

Initially brought on to manage the product launch of the Local Voices Network, I now oversee all product development and organizational operations at Cortico, a 501(c)(3) non-profit spun out of the MIT Media Lab.

COO & Director of Product

I helped run the world's greatest curated collection of Creative Commons licensed music out of the venerable non-profit New Jersey freeform radio station WFMU. The platform was sold to Tribe of Noise in 2019.

Manager of Free Music Archive

I led new product development and managed Chartbeat's flagship editorial analytics product, used by over 50,000 media brands across 60 countries.

David van Dokkum

2021