An information experience
Qwiki is an interesting online application that attempts to present the information available on the internet in a more comprehensive, immersive way.
In basic terms, Qwiki is a search engine. Enter your search topic into the box, and choose from the options that appear. You’ll then have an “information experience” – in other words Qwiki gathers video, text and audio data about the subject you are searching for and automatically collects it into an audio-visual presentation for you. If an element of the Qwiki catches your attention, you’ll then be able to click through to the associated Qwiki, and so on.
Qwiki is still in the early stages of development, so there’s a way to go. Even still, it offers a really good variety of topics, and even if you don’t register, you’ll be able to provide feedback on the Qwikis you have seen, suggesting images, videos and sound quality. This means that as more people use the service, we can expect it to keep getting better and better. As you might expect, there are plenty of sharing options for Qwikis you have seen.
Oddly, registering for Qwiki doesn’t seem to have many benefits – you get an account and can choose when you receive email updates, but apart from that it doesn’t seem to give you many other advantages.
Qwiki is a novel – and rapidly expanding – way of digesting the mess of information available on the internet.
