The Team

Streetlight Photo by Ryan Kemp began as a side project to help out with my other side project, playing guitar out on the street corner.

Street performance can be a strange mix of intensely social and intensely isolating. Like many of my software engineering peers, I am not blessed with a level of charisma that lets me strike up an easy conversation with people walking by. But sometimes magic happens, and someone stops to talk or even sing a song with me, and it's always the best part of my day.

I want a way to let these interactions happen more naturally, so I write a little app called Streetlight. People can scan a QR code, and it will pull up a website where they can find my music, request songs, or sign up for a duet.

The app works beautifully for its simple purpose, but I'm not a particularly disciplined developer, and I am cursed with no natural defense against feature creep. Other street performers express interest in using the app, so I add a way to create an account and set up shows. I want a way to easily see all the street performers in the area, so I add a map. I go to a lot of open mics, a unique opportunity for musicians to connect, so I add a way to post events.

At this point, I realize I am just a few database tables away from making the social media app I always wanted, so I get to work.

Like other people in my age bracket, I'm a little disappointed with how the internet evolved. I grew up during a wildly optimistic time that gave us sites like Wikipedia, flickr, Craigslist, and Reddit. Suddenly, it's possible to connect with complete strangers either directly or through their posts and feel understood on a level that can be elusive offline. The internet was never perfect, but at the time it seemed to have a trajectory toward something truly great.

I have a background in Psychology. After graduating, I worked for several years as a research assistant, and later entered a graduate program in clinical psychology. In the therapist's chair I gained a better understanding of human creatures, our needs and our challenges.

Over that time, the internet has shaped our world profoundly, and not clearly for the best. It's never been easier to find other people, and at the same time there is a society level phenomenon where people report feelings of isolation at unprecedented levels. Something seems broken, and our relationship to social media seems to be a part of it. As someone with an unusual combination of work experience, I believe I can understand at least part of the puzzle.

I've never been able to shake my optimism about the internet. I don't think technology was destined to drive us part, I think it happened because of the choices we made. Streetlight is an experiment in making a different set of choices, plant a different kind of seed, and to watch what grows.