We all tell stories

WeTellStories is just fantastic, and warrants an entry here (as opposed to my tumblelog, where stray links usually end up). I’m now quoting liberally from a quote at BoinBoing, whence I got this link in the first place:

I’m the lead designer for We Tell Stories – it’s a website created for Penguin, in which six authors are telling six stories in ways that are completely original to the web.

Our first story, The 21 Steps (a homage to The 39 Steps) was told over Google Maps; another was written live and displayed in real-time, in five hour-long installments, by Nicci Gerrard and Sean French. This week’s was by Matt Mason (‘The Pirate’s Dilemma’) and Nicholas Felton (‘Felton Personal Annual Report’), and they created an infographic snapshot of teen life and the new media world.

I had a quick look at the first story, the one with the maps, and it looks like it’s jolly good fun to read. I will go back there when I have more time on my hands, and you should too.

This of course is only a blatant rip-off of the Messages from the Lost Continent, the story written in real-time on a weblog and then turned into a book, which, as diligent readers of this blog of course know, I co-wrote under the guidance of Horst, the speaking aardvark.

So if you wanna talk innovation, the Messages tell the story first.