We believe that everyone has a story to tell.

“Computers do a lot of these things but the most important thing is that they extend our imagination.”

-- Will Wright, Creator of the Sims at SxSW presentation.

Before the days of science, people made up stories to explain the world as they saw it. They told stories to explain why seasons change, why birds migrate, why each group of stars is in the sky, and why everything else was the way it was. They were not true, but showed that the people who made them up were really trying to understand the world around them.

Stories told our histories, our triumphs, our disappointments. They allowed us to discover who we were as a people and as individuals. Stories helped us to understand each other.

Most importantly, stories imparted knowledge.

In this modern world interactivity is riding, no, guiding the current story telling wave. People want to participate. People need to contribute. People desire to provide feedback. They do this on social networks where they contribute content: pictures, stories, videos.

Internet enabled social networks are based around three rules, the three R’s if you will: Ratings, Rankings, and Reputation. People Rate content, content is Ranked, and its all about garnering Reputation. This is also the essence of any game: casual, hardcore, or serious.

But social networks lack one thing, true interactivity. They allow people to put up static content that can be viewed or read, but not actively participated in. MyndSparc will change this dynamic by offering a place where everyone can share their stories, whether purely for entertainment or to impart knowledge, and do it interactively.

FUN

It’s all about fun. Create an epic tale of heroic proportions and intrigue. Tell a tale of suspense and horror. Craft a comedic yarn. Create your own interactive, online, multiplayer game with any back-story you desire.

Create your own personae and live through someone else’s tale. Choose your appearance, personality, skills. Choose your friends, choose your rivals. Gain status with the other players online.

LEARNING

There is only one real way to learn how to do something and that is to do it. Parents usually teach children in this way. They don’t give a series of lectures on how to walk, talk, play, or learn how to behave. They let the child try. If he does it wrong he learns from his mistakes and tries again. We learn by doing.

Learning by doing works because it strikes at the heart of the basic memory processes upon which humans rely. We learn how to do things and then learn how what we have learned is wrong and right. We learn when our rules apply and when they must be modified. We learn when our rules can be generalized and when to make note of exceptions.

Which brings us back to the three R’s again, this time Reading, Writing, and ‘rithmetic. I know, they aren’t R’s, but I didn’t make it up, SIR WILLIAM CURTIS did. We’re talking about online learning and education. Everyone has the need to learn.

As we said, everyone has the need to learn, but there is a corollary. Everyone also has the desire to pass on information, knowledge, or guidance; even business.

So it’s not just about teaching, it is about training. Does that change our R’s a little bit? Robert Carkhuff, a contractor for the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), came up with three new R’s for education that might relate a little better: Relating, Representing and Reasoning.

That’s MyndSparc in a nutshell.