Saturday, February 13, 2010

Launching Twit Rapper…

Launching Twit Rapper…
Every now and then you come across a book that truly inspires you.

And, I don't mean it makes you feel good.
I mean, it puts a thousand volts of electricity in your head and sparks a lightning storm of 'gotta do that' ideas.
Well, this book did just that for me!

It's called 'Twitterature'.
And for the Twitter afficionados you'll instantly guess that it's short for 'Twitter Literature'.

It's written by a couple of college stud
ents in the US: Alexander Aciman and Emmett Rensin.
They've taken some of the classic literature books and rewritten them in less than 20 tweets -
  • Macbeth,
  • Moby Dick,
  • Crime and Punishment,
  • Wuthering Heights,
  • Dracula and even...
  • Lady Chatterley's Lover
The language is colourful, contemporary and oh so clever!
It made me realise that most of our classic literature is based upon male power trips and conquering women. C'est la vie! LOL!
So, it got me thinking...
I've had people say to me,
'Yeah, Book Rappers good and can you do a summary in a single page.'
For a while there I thought,
'You lazy $#&%@!'
And, now, I've responded with my own version of Twitterature.

It's called Twit Rapper.
It reframes my mission.
It's given me a different reference point and a knife to sharpen my thoughts around what I'm doing.


I'm exploring idea modelling and information design.
I think the whole shift to living online, the Apple iPad era, requires a revamp in how we design our information.
Having a page full of text is no longer respectful of your audience.
You seriously can't expect us to wade through a screen full of text when there are some many more appetising ways to digest ideas.
Can you hear your audience chanting...
  • I want it now.
  • I want it quick.
  • I want it easy.
Thus I will continue to layer the ideas from Book Rapper so you can get it in multiple ways:
  1. Twit Rapper will be offered as tweets and a YouTube video for you to watch with leisure.
  2. Book Rapper will be offered for those who want more details.
  3. And the book we RAP will be the ultimate source for more.

Therefore, if Book Rapper is designed to be read in 30 minutes, then let's do a book in 26 tweets.
That's under five minutes.


So, my newly refined and redefined mission is:

To Accelerate Reading.
Or perhaps, 'To Accelerate Learning'.
Or… help me out here.
I'd love to hear what appeals to you…


Tomorrow's post will be our first Twit Rapper issue.


PS: If you can't wait until then, visit TwitRapper.com
And, if you want to stay in touch, tweet with us http://twitter.com/twitrapper

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