Be My Eyes | Hans Jørgen Wiberg | TEDxCopenhagen

"Be My Eyes" may have solved a problem and potentially could make life a bit easier for blind people all over the world - and also may have made a tiny revolution in the world of volunteering. Hans Jørgen Wiberg is visually impaired and got the idea of a volunteer video service for the blind using the great cameras in today's smartphones. From that idea, he founded "Be My Eyes" with the vision of becoming a global micro-volunteering platform on iPhone*, providing help for the blind. With "Be My Eyes," he hopes to rethink traditional volunteering and provide meaningful and much needed help for the blind.

Hans Jørgen is trained in philosophy and works as a craftsman, but first and foremost is an idea-starter with a deep interest in society, arts, and technology - with focus on access for all, regardless their handicap!

*Now also available for Android

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Thank you.

Have you ever considered volunteering

to make this world a little bit better?

But you didn't have the time,

it was too complicated to squeeze
into your schedule, and so on.

Well, now you can.

Now there's an app for that.

(Quiet laughter)

But let's start somewhere else.

Imagine you're blind.

Whoa, you're good!

Imagine you're standing
in your kitchen, cooking dinner.

The recipe says,
"Add a can of coconut milk."

You open your kitchen cupboard.

On the shelf, there's three cans.

You know that only one of them
is coconut milk.

What do you do?

Well, you might gamble ...

(Laughter)

... not a good idea, I can tell you.

(Laughter)

What you do is you put on your jacket,
grab the cans and your cane,

and for the second time that day,
you walk over to your neighbor

thinking, "He's so helpful,
I'd better ask him over for coffee soon."

You ring his doorbell and ask him
to pick up the coconut milk.

There are a lot of situations like this
in a blind person's everyday life -

situations where you need a pair of eyes
just for a short moment.

We all know situations like:
When does this milk expire?

How do I keep track of my electricity use?

Or checking yourself in the mirror.

It's OK to ask your neighbor
for help once in a while,

but there is a limit,

and you don't want
to push your luck too much.

The reason why I am so engaged in this

is because I'm visually impaired myself.

I was born with a normal
180-degree vision,

and over the years it has decreased
to now five degrees.

If I look straight ahead right now,
I can see two people.

Thank you for coming!

(Laughter)

(Applause)

Now I work for a Danish blind society,

and in a three-year period,

my job was to visit blind people,
in their home, as their consultant,

advising about how to cook
with visual impairment.

And I very often heard people say,

"Oh, if I just had a pair of eyes,
once or twice a day,

I could really do
a whole lot more on my own,

and I wouldn't have to ask
friends and family for help."

Be My Eyes is my little magic trick

where, as a blind, you can ask for help
without really asking,

where you can let people
into your house

without really letting them
into your house.

Be My Eyes is an iPhone app,

an app that makes a video connection
between the blind person's iPhone

and a normally-sighted person's iPhone.

The first move was among my blind friends.

They already used Skype
or FaceTime on their iPhones

to make this video connection.

But they still have to call
their friends and family,

and again, ask for help.

What makes Be My Eyes different

is instead of calling
your friends and family,

you call a Be My Eyes volunteer.

And as a blind,
you can be sure that the volunteer

is more than willing to help you

because that's why
he or she signed up to be a volunteer.

The Be My Eyes volunteer
just takes a look at his iPhone, and says,

"Is the coconut milk on the left?"

without even entering your house.

And you don't have to offer him coffee.

You can just say thank you
and get on with the cooking.

(Quiet laughter)

Be My Eyes is a whole new way
to be a volunteer.

It's the most easy
and convenient way to do it.

And I like to call it micro-volunteering.

And you can volunteer from everywhere:

whenever you have a break at work,

standing in line at the supermarket,

or even lying on your couch at home.

Whenever we have a break,
many of us play casual games,

like Angry Birds,
Jelly Splash, or Fruit Ninja.

I love the names!

I think we can do better.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

Instead of ... (Laughing)

... instead of playing casual games,
we can do casual micro-volunteering.

And I hope, I'm sure Be My Eyes
will be an alternative

for those who want to do better.

To make this a reality, we have set up
Be My Eyes as a non-profit organization,

and our goal is to connect blind
and sighted people all over the world.

Being able to see yourself
in the mirror every morning

is not something we can take for granted.

But with your eyes and Be My Eyes,

we can look into the mirror together

and maybe make this world
a little bit better.

Thank you.

(Applause)

(Cheering)