I have long felt too many family historians overlook a precious piece of their family’s history, the living. When asked about why they got involved in family history, I have found most people respond, “because of the stories.” The problem is, we tend to get set in our ways and make excuses for never getting around to sharing and capturing the stories of our living relatives. When was the last time you asked a parent or grandparent to share a story? When did you last go through your family pictures and take notes on the who, when, where and why? How do we find the time to capture the stories of the living before they become a part of the forgotten past?
The guys over at Storytree have a solution. They take a simple approach to capturing stories. Using their website and optional iPod/iPhone app, they make both capturing and sharing stories with family and friends fun and easy. Using video, audio, photos and text, family members of all ages can easily tell their own stories as well as request stories and input from others. To get a quick idea of how easy and fun their service can be, watch this short video:
Storytree is hardly the first company to try and facilitate the sharing and gathering of family stories. Some have tried through social networking, some through memoir writing and others through story sharing, like Storytree. Most of these sites have failed or moved into other aspects of research. The guys at Storytree believe their concept will work because technology has finally gotten easy enough for family members of all generations to use without having to be media or computer experts.
At the very least, getting started with Storytree is as simple a process as one could ask for. Just head on over to their site at www.storytree.me and click the “get started” button. On the next screen you enter a name for your “storytree” and click “go”. If you are unsure of what to do next, they have simple FAQ and Tips pages to help you out.
Storytree gives you control of the security for each storytree you create. You decide who has access and who can share information. You can also download the contents of your tree. In addition, their new free iPod/iPhone app makes collecting and posting story items easy, even while on the go.
The Storytree site is new and will likely grow as new features are developed and added to the system. However, simple design and structure coupled with ease of use show a lot of foresight has already gone into development. Since getting started is free, no mention is given of future intent to charge for the service, what does it hurt to give this new service a try?