The last post I wrote about the Remarkist project was at the beginning of April on my personal blog. A little over four months have passed, and it’s incredible to think how much the project has evolved since then. What was, at the time, just a crazy marathon attempt to watch the entirety of Gilmore Girls—a series I acted on for years but never actually watched—has become a beloved community of friends from around the world, sharing stories and connection with each other at a time when the world has been so isolated.
Our Remarkist app has been evolving since late April too. I threw it together as soon as I realized we needed more than just Clubhouse to grow and share the experience with others. I often say that the app was built with popsicle sticks, and perhaps that’s not giving myself enough credit. But the truth is, most of what’s in there is inspired by you. The harvesting and goodwill-sharing of Körnels. The exploration and collecting of memories in the form of Mementos. Polling each other on issues of importance and nothing in particular. And now founding new fandom Worlds to really challenge our original Remarkist motto: “a community of story lovers and fictional world explorers on a journey together.” Well, our journey is just beginning, and it is so exciting!
Time to Expand
This platform and project has a clear direction now, but it’s going to need others to help us get to where we want to go. I’ve been so lucky to have an amazing network of thinkers, storytellers, and technologists I could lean on for guidance these past months—folks I could go to for help when I was stumped or unsure of how to proceed.
I’d like to use this post to introduce you to one of those individuals—my friend Sean Harding. You may have seen him in our Discord or Clubhouse rooms. He’s a software engineer with years of experience building products for some of the largest companies in the world (Amazon and Google to name just two). He’s also an avid media lover like us and has been observing our “little engine that could” for months, sharing his insights behind the scenes. Well, I am absolutely, beyond-myself, thrilled (kinda still in disbelief, to be honest) to announce that he is officially joining the project in a full capacity to help us build the next generation of this.
The sky is now the limit on Remarkist. Heck, the milky way’s the limit. We have official iPhone and Android apps on the horizon now. We’ll have our own in-app audio chat experience in the foreseeable future with features particular to our needs (ie. in-room timecode, reactions, hand raising, fairer couch selection, better muting, auto KRNL harvesting, and so so much more). And I believe, together with you, we can build a platform that bridges the divide between fans and the artists behind their favorite stories—in fact, I believe Remarkist can help them become collaborators with each other.
So please give a warm welcome to Sean! I expect we’ll be seeing him much more around these parts!
Get our app on your phone by going to remarkist.com on a mobile browser—mobile Safari on iPhone or mobile Chrome on Android. Learn more about our project there, and join us on the virtual couch!