Dara (platform)

Dara is a communications platform that helps people and organizations build social capital. Dara started through a digital arts grant from the British Council, and is an example of an arts project that has grown into a SaaS start-up with the operational investor Techstars.^[1][2] Dara is partnered with various organizations focused on changemaking and upskilling, such as the Goethe-Institut^[3] and BeFantastic.^[4]

The platform is currently accessible on Android, iOS and Windows, and offers several features that are meant to ease online communication and collaboration. One example is Dara's asynchronous video messaging system, which allows users to send short video notes that may be responded to at a time of convenience.

History

The platform was founded by it's Chief Creative and Operations Officer Archana Prasad, along with it's CEO Sean Blagsvedt in May 2019, using a grant they won from an Open Call announced by the British Council, who leverage technology towards expanding Indo-British cultural partnerships.^[5][6][7] Prasad and Blagsvedt had responded to the British Council's Open Call for Digital Arts (2018) by proposing the development of DaraBot, which was conceived as India's first chatbot for creative professionals, and now sits at the core of the Dara network.^[8]

Dara went through three major tests during it's early development. These began with asking a group of twenty people from the UK and India if the idea of a chatbot meant to spark creative collaboration intrigued them. Next, Prasad and Blagsvedt undertook the Wizard of Oz experiment, which involves a machine shifting it's personality from mechanical to human during the course of a conversation, without the human engaging with it being aware of the exact point at which this takes place. This was meant to gauge DaraBot's human-likeness. Finally, the duo would deploy Dara's early prototype to nine people, to see whether it's language was relatable.^[9] The word "Dara" is used to refer to a thread in Kannada, which is the state language spoken in Prasad's native Karnataka.^[10]

Initially, the Dara network, along with the ubiquitous chatbot for which it is named, was designed as a community-building project, with the aim of helping Indian artists access international collaboration through a secure communications channel. Over time, the Dara platform has grown to inculcate a focus on creative and cultural discourse, and now hosts several projects that fit within the ambit of art and technology. Dara also hosts discussions featuring speakers who practice within the art, technology and cultural sectors.

Features

Dara is a fully integrated platform. Some of its most salient elements are listed below:

Communications

Dara features an asynchronous chat system that allows users to send and receive audio, video and text messages, along with the ability to add emojis and create polls.

Community Building

Dara's users receive affiliation badges that indicate their involvement with the platform’s Partners. Additionally, Dara provides community management, engagement and analytics support, along with web support on all major browsers.

Events

Members may post events on Dara, which provides them with RSVP and event-tracking features, and also allows for calendar linkage.

Job Board

Dara has a job board, where members can post gigs, as well as provide links to their parent organizations' own websites and social media handles, along with details regarding the nature of work involved.

Additionally, Dara had some other features during it's early development, that have either been abandoned or retooled into currently existing features. An example of this was a personality test meant to match people based on their dispositions.^[11]

Monetization

Dara does not host advertisements, and instead receives a membership fee from it's Partners. Additionally, Dara is a Techstar start-up, for which it has also received funding from the Colorado-based seed accelerator.^[1]

References

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