Upon the first anniversary of the Egyptian revolution, a group of journalists and technologists have come up with an innovative way to document the historic events from the last few months online. 18DaysInEgypt is a new online, group storytelling module that allows anyone to submit any digital media they created while witnessing the beginnings of the Arab Spring. Instead of filming a traditional documentary, 18DaysInEgypt co-founders Jigar Mehta and Yasmin Elayat are using their private beta site, Groupstre.am, to solicit submissions of tweets, video, pictures and other media to create an interactive product.
Participants can go to the website and register their own account or “stream” and invite friends in their online social circles to participate by submitting their own media to tell a story in a slideshow module. Participants can also add tags and map locations for easier navigation. Viewers are able to look at the stream and see other streams that took place at the same time or at the same location. So far, many of the streams represent an array of the Egyptian experience, ranging from press freedom, women’s rights to even some underwater humor. Pretty cool, right!
This project is supported by the Tribeca New Media Fund, and Mehta and Elayat are hoping to fully launch Groupstre.am in the next few months.
Comments are closed.