Big White Wall is like a combination of social network, support forum and online art project. It is a space (quite literally) where members can leave anonymous expressions of their everyday concerns and worries and have the community respond and comment. There are 6 main things that members can do:

1) Members can express their thoughts and feelings on “The Wall” using images, text or by drawing using the Brick Builder tool. Members can give a gift to a friend (in the form of a Brick) so they can anonymously vent their own feelings.

2) On Talkabout, members can connect to a dynamic community of users that talk about issues and concerns that are important to them.

3) Members can build friendship networks and exchange private messages.

4) On Useful Stuff members can learn more about themselves and particular emotional health issues by browsing stimulating articles from a range of authors including leading psychologists.

5) On News Walls members can express their open and honest feelings raised by news and events that are important in the world.

6) Members can learn more about Big White Wall’s commitment to offline emotional health projects and vote to support them on News Worthy.

I must admit, looking through the “bricks” that people have posted on the walls is quite addictive. There is a real sense of people trying to capture the essence of their pain/problem in a quick and visual way. The wall appears to be growing and thus takes a while to load, but it is certainly worth a browse. Clicking on an individual brick takes you to the specific information about that brick, as well as the comments that others have made. The Big White Wall team believe that as natural support networks have disappeared, the internet has opened many possibilities for tying people into a global support network. Big White Wall seeks to provide people with a place to increase their emotional health through healthy (anonymous) expression and social networking.