The Guantánamo Public Memory Project is using innovative technologies to foster dialogue about Guantánamo and the issues the site has come to represent. Visitors to the traveling exhibit are invited to interact with the exhibition by accessing mobile versions of the presentation on their smartphones and sharing their responses via text message.

Visitors may listen to oral histories and view maps, photographs, and art by scanning QR codes on the exhibition panels with their smartphones. Additionally, texting ‘GITMO’ to 41411 allows visitors to respond to a series of Yes/No questions posed by each of the exhibit panels.

Some questions include “Is the US an Empire?” and “Should GTMO be used for refugees in the future?” Here are some of the ways participants have responded:

YES Just until they are admitted and processed
NO The conditions are too harsh
YES If they improve the facilities and make it a safe haven
NO This should be a question for CUBA’s government

Other questions include: “Is the treaty leasing Guantanamo Bay just?”and “Would you have wanted to live at GTMO during the Cold War?”

Responses are presented on a continually updated video monitor in the exhibition, which can be viewed live here.

To join the discussion on the web, please visit our Participate page.