It looks like the newest entry to the online storytelling bonanza, projeqt, is sexier than Intersect and Storify, but less useful. Minimalist can be good, especially from a design perspective. But as a storytelling tool, projeqt appears to be pretty limited. (Check out the video introduction here.) And waaayyy too linear. Web enabled digital storytelling should open up whole new realms of non-linear narrative. Time to leap-frog past hum-drum slideshows, even when they look pretty and allow video, etc. It’s worth noting that I haven’t been under projeqt‘s hood, so I judge prematurely. And since they’re still in beta, I probably won’t get a more ample perspective any time soon. (I did sign up to beta test. Maybe I’ll be able to share a surprising, exciting update soon?)
Despite my reservations, there’s tons of potential for this project. And their vision is spot on!
Your story is who you are and how your story gets told is just as important as the story itself. Great stories keep us riveted to the page. Or the screen (whatever shape or size it happens to come in.) Great stories get shared and are retold time after time after time. Great stories always leave us wanting more. Projeqt gives you the tools and technology to tell your story. It provides a robust architecture, with unprecedented flexibility and possibilities. Projeqt is about giving you the power to projeqt your story to the world.
My hopes are high. And my enthusiasm for the current proliferation of storytelling apps and websites is legendary!
Update:
The year is a-waning (scarcely a week left in 2010), but still no word fromprojeqt. Hmmm… Beta boy is offering to bust a move, but so far no beta invitation. So, I still can’t comment on the underbelly of the beast. Nor does much new content seem to be emerging. If you’re looking for a quirky tour of what can be generated with this platform, meander through the Brain Pickings projeqt.
I’m not sure that this example (or any of the other currently published examples) demonstrate projeqt’s gotta-have-it awesomeness, but it did introduce me to Brain Pickings, and now I’m hooked!
Brain Pickings is about curating interestingness — picking culture’s collective brain for tidbits of stuff that inspires, revolutionizes, or simply makes us think. It’s about innovation and authenticity and all those other things that have become fluff phrases but don’t have to be.
The site is slooowww, at least lately, but it’s well worth the wait. Fascinating and fun and packed full of provocative ideas, links, videos, etc. Check out Maria Popova’s How To Be Alone for a refresher in (introduction to?) solitary contentment. Here’s the I-bet-you-can’t-resist-watching-the-whole-thing video:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7X7sZzSXYs&w=335&h=276]
