Storybuilder – A History
This is a little story about a storybuilder and a project that came and went and came back again. Way back when the universe was young and zinc Roe was operating out of a bachelor apartment we created this thing called flashcan. It was a simple tool that let users drag and drop artwork onto a background and add text. This was pretty nifty stuff for the year 2000. We approached some clients and ended up licensing it to Teletoon and Family Channel.
Flashcan caught the attention of a team working at the CBC and soon I was in Vancouver working with the cbcr3 team to rebuild it as the CBC storybuilder. Shortly after the launch of the most-beautiful cbc4kids.ca site the project was cancelled and it disappeared into the ether. But not long after we started working with the Toronto Public Library. Once again we went back and improved things and launched it as part of the new KidsSpace website. The library also uses the system for their Summer Reading Club sites. This summer it will showcase the work of Werner Zimmerman.
In each of its various incarnations the storybuilder idea has resonated with kids and each project was just as rewarding as the last. For us, it also brought us in contact with some especially gifted folks – the artists who created the assets, the designers who helped shape the interface, the teachers and educators who integrated it into their classrooms and the kids who continue to produce crazy and amazing work with these tools.