By Serbino Sandifer-Walker, Multimedia Journalism Professor, DJTF Contributor
Imagine being able to tell a story in four dimensions on one media platform that includes Google maps, video, audio and photos.
Misha Leybovich has created such a tool that he hopes will appeal to anyone who has a story to tell.
Leybovich’s new enterprise is called Meograph and the geospatial data curation program goes public in early July.
It allows users to incorporate audio, video, photos, Google Maps and Google Earth into a simple one-page interface that creates a four-dimensional story or Meograph as Leybovich has coined and publishes instantaneously to the Internet.
Leybovich, who has degrees from MIT and University of California, Berkeley, in engineering, has been thinking about Meorgaph since he read Edwin Abbott Abbott’s Flatland when he was 8-years-old. His fascination with space, time and communication led to Meograph’s creation.
“I think that everybody is creative and everybody has a story to tell,” said Leybovich. “We want to make it so everybody can take the stories they have and have an easy way to tell them.”
Meorgaph has already been put to test. Several stories are on the demo site at http://www.meograph.com/, including one that documents the events in the Trayvon Martin case, the Sanford, Fl. teen killed by George Zimmerman, a self-appointed crime watch volunteer, who claimed self-defense.
The Meograph appears in a 707 by 450 pixel frame with an interactive Google Map and narration from a reporter. A timeline takes the viewer through the events in the case while showing images of Martin, Zimmerman and audio from 911 police dispatch tapes. YouTube videos, multiple images and maps of the community, where Martin was shot are included in the Meograph timeline as a signature “M” mobiles across each location.
As of June 29, more than 9-thousand viewers have watched the Meograph titled Trayvon Martin Case. Other Meographs on the demo site include “The Arab Spring, Whitney Houston’s Life, Facebook’s Timeline and Gay Marriage Rights.”
Journalists produced many of the stories on the demo site; however, Leybovich hopes that Meograph will appeal to everyone. He says the site is so user friendly that it would take anyone about 10 minutes to produce a multimedia story.
“Whether it’s a personal story, a travel story, your company story or teaching… your students,” Leybovich said Meograph revolutionizes storytelling with a few clicks.
Leybovich said Meograph would be free to use; however, special customization and premium platforms will be available too.
Leybovich, who grew up in Irvine, Ca., visited 70 countries and lived on four continents, said there are so many great stories to tell and he can’t wait to see how people use Meograph to tell their own stories.
See Misha Leybovich talk about Meograph here.
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