Cowbird

Cowbird calls itself "the most beautiful place in the world to tell stories," and "the free public library of human experience." This platform offers its users - which it calls "citizens" - the opportunity to tell their life stories. Their basic layout is usually the same - a single photograph is accompanied by a short text, although there are also audio stories or visual essays. The stories can be browsed by the cities and countries they are set in, the roles people play in them ("Boyfriend," "Free Spirit," "Lover of Life"), and keywords. Furthermore, they are grouped in "Sagas," such as "First Loves," "Working," and "Occupy." The site was initiated by artist and computer scientist Jonathan Harris (known for We Feel Fine), with an eye to distill new forms of narrative from large amounts of data, as well as to offer its users a place for a deeper, longer-lasting kind of self-expression is likely to be found on Facebook. These are the kinds of stories that will continue to resonate 50 years from now. And that name? "Slow like a cow, fast like a bird."