Boma Community

The Brief

BOMA was born out of a deep concern for the ethics of data use in the event application market. The misuse of data and increasing prevalence of algorithmic manipulation in society, compelled us to consider an independent ethical approach to event apps.

We wanted a festival app that met our creative ambitions, was flexible and individual. It needed to be cutting edge and importantly, for a green field event, fully robust offline. We wanted the architecture to be both user-intuitive, audience forward and built to be efficient. Accepting the norm of increasing screen time and pointless online interactions as top of the agenda was not possible for us. We want festival goers to get the information they needed, put their phones back in their pockets and get on with enjoying the real world.

The options available did not come close. For ourselves and our audiences we were not willing to accept the many offers of a free application based on data as a commodity.

The Process

Involved throughout development stages, and on an ongoing basis, Kambe has partnered with BOMA to create a bespoke listing apps built on blockchain technology. Data privacy and anonymity is at the core of the app’s architecture, being a key component of presenting audiences with responsible, usable and people-focused tech. 

Shambala has been the testing ground for increasingly ambitious ways app technology can be used as a tool to nurture community. It is a tool both at the event and year-round, supported by content management systems and blockchain functionality, to build trust in the digital sphere and connect with audiences in real-time, anytime. Read about these experiments in good technology in the news stories linked above.

The Result

Aside from Kambe’s flagship Shambala, BOMA have already built bespoke event apps for a growing portfolio of events and institutions. Delivering apps for Cheltenham Jazz, Nyege Nyege in Uganda, Greenbelt and the Association of Independent Festivals amongst others.