This is Now – A Portrait of Life

August 15, 2012

I believe that a more beautiful web is not simply showcased through your choice of browser. It’s what you look at on that browser that counts. This concept of beauty in technology – what does it mean? Speed? Graphics? Fluidity? Maybe. But ultimately, if there’s nothing shiny and nice to look at, then all the cutting edge technology in the world isn’t going to do you one iota of good.

Content is king and beauty is in eye of the beholder. The guys at Lexical Gap pretty much have that covered with This is Now – a visual composition made up of Instagram pictures, compiled into real time stories of different cities around the world using users geo-tag locations.

It’s everyone’s. Everyone’s story, everyone’s artwork and everyone’s life. Content relative to all is beauty in the eyes of every beholder who cares to behold. And the smartest bit is that it is run by everyone – constant fresh, instant and free content. Give the man a fish and he will eat for a day. But give a man the means to catch his own fish…

Ok, enough of the cliché quotes. Ultimately, the users of This is Now will catch their own metaphorical fish and feed themselves and Lexical Gap until they get bored of doing so. And that implosion of interest could strike without warning at any time (R.I.P. Bebo). But for now, This is Now is crazy cool.

Image from This is Now

I’m one of only 4 people watching Rio right now. Users are uploading pictures of palm trees, beaches and the famous Sugar Loaf mountain. They are also uploading pictures of life. A baby, a group of friends and a screen shot of a Temple Run high score. Traversing to Tokyo, it’s after midnight and people are eating, drinking and reflecting on their day.

Users of This is Now, which “captures a city’s movement in a fluid story”, can check out life in various cities around the world, including Stockholm, New York, Paris and Sydney. Instagram snappers can also tag their photos with #thisisnow to contribute to the general story of the rest of the world.

Image from This is Now

Its 8.22 in LA and as the metropolis wakes up, photos of sunrises and Hollywood stars appear alongside weary eyed self-portraits, spilt coffee and an image advertising professional Ghost Hunting Equipment. Only in America, eh?

But I’m not in America. Hence the beauty of this visualization tool. This is Now bridges the gaps in geography that the rest of the internet doesn’t really touch. This isn’t Facebook, where photos are scrutinised by users before being posted for their friends and pseudo-friends to see. This is just the world living, filling up the cracks between the life events that people rely on to define their world. This is…well, this is now.