Quick Pitch: Qwiki is a platform that uses proprietary technology to consolidate multiple data sources on search topics into an immersive information experience.
Genius Idea: Information is easy to come by, especially on the web. A simple search for a person, celebrity, monument, restaurant or destination via a traditional search engine will return a bevy of results, albeit results that are mostly lifeless.
Newly launched startup Qwiki aims to reinvent the way people experience information by providing interactive video presentations that are weaved together in near real-time from multiple data sources. Qwiki currently hosts upwards of 3 million rich and immersive presentations on a variety of people, places and things.
The slick animation in each Qwiki is generated on-the-fly via data pulled from Wikipedia (for narration) and thousands of media sources. Most elements in Qwikis are interactive. So, video clips can be selected and viewed in their entirety and clicked photos will bring up slideshows. Related Qwikis, maps and timelines in Qwikis are also highly interactive.
Qwiki is merely an alpha stage product, which means what you see now is a fraction of what the service is being built to do. Qwiki is today little more than a cool interactive reference tool, but the startup is actively working on a number of products and a platform strategy that will better showcase what its technology is capable of.
In an interview with Mashable, CEO Doug Imbruce explained that Qwiki’s next two products — one for social media users and the other for small businesses — are slated for release in the the first quarter of 2011. The first offering will let users create Qwikis based around their social data in aggregate, while the small business product will allow merchants to aggregate reviews from third-party sites like Yelp and turn them into Qwiki’s.
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