Pick up a rotary phone, ask a question, hear real wisdom from someone who lived it. The Living Library turns the stories of our elders into a searchable, voice-powered knowledge system — for schools, care centres, and communities everywhere.
When an elder passes, decades of hard-won life lessons go with them. At the same time, young people are struggling with anxiety, isolation, and a lack of mentorship — cut off from the very people who've already walked similar paths.
Hours of lived wisdom lost every day as seniors pass without their stories being recorded
Of young people say they have no elder mentor they can turn to for real-world advice
Of oral histories are never written down, recorded, or made findable by anyone else
Physical meets digital. A retro rotary phone powered by AI lets young people literally "call the past" for advice — while seniors share their stories with a single tap, no typing needed.
A modern-retro rotary phone with a see-through base. Inside: a Raspberry Pi, quality audio, and a directional microphone. Place it in a school library, community centre, or care home.
Whisper transcribes speech. ChromaDB stores stories as meaning — not keywords. When a young person asks a question, the AI finds the elder story that best matches what they're asking about.
A secure cloud connects every phone, senior tablet, and youth app into one national knowledge network. Every community contributes. Every community benefits.
From picking up the phone to saying thanks — six simple steps.
Lift the handset at your school library or community centre — or open the app on your phone.
Spin the rotary dial: 1 for Resilience, 2 for Career, 3 for Relationships — or 0 to search everything.
Just talk: "How do I deal with failure?" or "What do you wish you'd known at 18?"
The system turns your question into meaning and searches thousands of elder stories for the closest match.
The elder's actual voice plays through the phone — raw, unfiltered, human advice from someone who's been there.
Dial 1 to send thanks, or leave a 10-second voice memo. The elder hears it and knows they made a difference.
Click a number on the dial to filter the stories of famous living Canadians. Click any story card to hear more.
← Click a number to filter
Three different experiences on one platform. Switch tabs to see what each person gets.
Dial a number to pick your topic — Resilience, Career, Relationships, Health, Finance, or search everything.
Just ask your question out loud. The AI understands what you mean, not just the words you say.
After hearing advice, send a quick thank-you or leave a short voice memo for the elder who shared.
Can't get to a physical phone? The mobile app has the same rotary dial — plus Area Codes to explore wisdom from other cities.
One big Record button. No typing, no menus, no passwords. Tap and start sharing your story.
After you finish talking, the AI shows three big emoji buttons for what your story is about. Tap the right one. Done.
See how many people listened to your stories this week and read the thank-you messages they left.
Record in Tagalog, Punjabi, Mandarin, or any language you're comfortable with. We translate it automatically.
See which topics students are asking about most. If "anxiety" or "bullying" spikes, you'll know in real time.
No individual student data is ever stored or shown. Only aggregate trends — designed for the public sector.
Track senior participation, story contributions, and gratitude messages — ideal for grant applications and family updates.
Auto-generated reports with charts showing measurable social impact. Formatted for government and foundation submissions.
Slide the bars to see what a Living Library could do at your school or care centre.
A snapshot of what the Living Library network would like in action.
Each user gets an experience designed for exactly how they'll use the Library.
Three quick questions — we'll show you exactly where you fit in.
Open, proven tools — nothing proprietary, nothing locked in. Built for transparency and trust.
Validation and insights - from focus group surveys.
I don’t need more information. I need perspective. If this platform can connect me to people who’ve actually lived through what I’m going through, I’d use it.
If my experiences could help even one person avoid the mistakes I made or find courage, that would mean a lot to me.
We’re always looking for meaningful ways to engage seniors. A platform that turns their life experiences into something valuable for younger generations could be incredibly powerful - for both sides.
Four phases from first prototype to national community network.
Wire up the Raspberry Pi inside the rotary phone. Get the voice listener working. Test speech-to-text end to end.
Partner with one care home. Onboard 10 seniors with the tablet app. Record 100 hours of lived wisdom.
Install the Story Hub in a school library. Launch the mobile app. Turn on the Gratitude Loop.
Unlock dashboards for counsellors and directors. Use the data for government grants. Expand across the country.
The short answers to the questions we hear most often.
Whether you're a student, a senior, a school, a care home, a non-profit, or a city — there's a place for you in the Living Library.