The Listening Table: A Digital Experience for Collective Reading of the Testimonies from Colombia's Truth Commission
Year: 2025
Type: dissertation
Abstract: mesadelaescucha.co is a project that explores the ethical, narrative, and technological challenges of creating a digital space that invites users to collectively engage with the testimonies compiled in the Final Report of Colombia’s Truth Commission (CEV). Developed as part of a broader educational and commemorative effort, La mesa de la escucha (The Listening Table) is a transmedia storytelling experience that combines visual metaphors, web design, and interactive elements to foster a space of attentive and caring listening. The project is grounded in the idea that reading testimonies of pain and violence is also an act of listening—one that can be uncomfortable and should not be undertaken alone. Drawing from the metaphor of broken dishes and the Japanese art of kintsugi, this digital platform invites users to "reassemble" fragments while engaging in shared reflection. This initiative demonstrates how digital technologies, when designed from an ethics of care, can contribute to memory work and support emotional and collective reception of stories that have often been silenced. This is not only an educational resource but also an invitation to pause, connect, and sustain the broken pieces of Colombia’s past—together.
Institution: Universidad del Rosario
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6912002389
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