Magic Words was an integrated platform to help these people writer their own stories and massages to their loved ones. One of the ideas of the project, was to install an interactive booth that created a truly unique post card. On one side, a photograph of the person is taken and printed with HP quality. On the other, a message is “written” by the illiterate person, using a technology that writes and prints using voice commands in real time. Then all they have to do is send it on to their families.

The Magic Words booth was designed to make the technology as simple and didactic as possible for those unable to read or write. Inside the booth, all we needed was an HP printer, a monitor, a camera and a microphone. As each person entered, a recorded voice guided the user through the process. First, it invited the person to take a picture. Then it asked them to start saying their message. The microphone captured their words and started to write a message on the monitor. When the person stopped talking, the software asked for the name of the recipient and their address. The postcard was printed in a few seconds. Finally,with all of the footage of the initiative, we put together a digital movie and sent it out to the HP mailing list, touching people across all social classes and showing in practice how HP technology can improve everyone’s lives.

The test launch of Magic Words was a success. In one week, the booth printed 1,567 postcards, and an estimated 2,000,000 people were affected directly and indirectly by the initiative. As a result, a project is currently underway to install Magic Words booths in transit hubs in every state capital, as well as the development of versions of the interactive booth to help illiterate people to fill in registration forms and put together resumes.