77 karma · joined November 1, 2011
And it sounds like it has all of the care and sensitivity we could ever hope of bringing to people. So, it means a lot that you would even consider what we are building in the same context.
I'll also say that you've really honed in on our goal with Artifact - to create both an impetus and a space where going deep on the important things is just a little bit easier.
- re: interview requirement - Since launching we've had a lot of interviewers (moonlighting journalists) come inbound and we feel lucky for this. It's also a great help that George, one of my co-founders, has been a journalist and editor for 15+ years, so his network is deep and he's developed trust over the years. This is fine for the immediate future, but we will need to build out an interview portal in the future. Just not there yet.
re: interviewer vetting - We ask for writing and audio samples in advance. Each interviewer will then conduct at least one and sometimes up to four practice interviews with Artifact team members or friends of the company to collect feedback. There is a lot to build out here over time but we feel good about the quality of interviewers. It's core to the experience and so I'm really glad you asked about it!
re: interview <> guest matching - We make note of interviewer attributes like language proficiencies, skill at speaking with children, grandparents, subject matter expertise, etc. Based upon the information an Artifact buyer provides in their Artifact creation flow, we are then able to match an interviewer appropriately. That said, this is also something that we will build upon heavily going forward. Early days.
I hope the above helps and very happy to answer additional questions you may have!
Thanks so much for the wishes! Would love to hear more about the social-film camera idea / if you guys are still working on it. No pressure at all, but feel free to email us at contact@heyartifact.com. Can def set up time to chat!
We have been deeply inspired by StoryCorps. And I couldn't agree more with Dave Isay's vision - this goal of creating a "hope machine".
What we've found with Artifact (thus far) is that the "do-it-for-you" aspect has been important - that we set up interview guests with a professional interviewer, who helps guide guests through the things they want to capture.
We see this as a natural extension of the StoryCorps mission - with the idea of making capturing the important stuff in life even more accessible.
And btw, the Betty Jenkins 3-minute summary is amazing! Thanks for sharing!
We'd love to have the opportunity to serve you as a customer. We're interviewing parents and grandparents about their life stories everyday. Feel free to reach out directly with any questions at contact@heyartifact.com.
And in case helpful, we typically create a "Life Story" Artifact over three to four interviews (so it's like a mini-series). The outline, which you can of course adjust to your needs, tends to look like this:
Interview #1: Family Heritage & Childhood - Your dad's personal memories of prior generations. Interview #2: Teenage Years / Young Adulthood / Early Career. Interview #3: Mature Adulthood / Family Life / Career. Interview #4: This tends to be a "wild card." Your dad and the interviewer may just have more territory to cover after the first sessions, or your dad may want to return to a certain time in his life or several themes. We can also 100% refund if this interview is not needed (we find that 80% of the time it is desired).
The feedback we received then and continue to receive from customers is that people are using our service to record what you might call "archival conversations". These are conversations about important questions, events, or people that you, and your friends and family may want to listen to again in the future - or later share with new friends and family (children and grandchildren) along the way.
I'd also say that we are finding that there is some kind of magic that happens when we bring together a professional interviewer with someone to talk about important things. The candor and depth in that session is something that continues to surprise us and our customers.
All of that said, I really appreciate your direct question about a potential weakness in what we creating.
Instead we share Artifact episodes with you (the buyer in this case) via your Artifact account. You can then share out each episode as as weblink via text message, email, or however you prefer to share with your parents and they can listen from the browser on their mobile phone or computer. Example here of an Artifact that we are authorized by the interview guests to share publicly: https://www.heyartifact.com/daryl
So, no set up required!
Of course, happy to further clarify / answer any additional questions you might have - we'd love the opportunity to serve you as a customer.
I eulogized my grandfather and felt similarly at his funeral - I learned so much about him over that day and weekend, and felt he would loved to hear those thoughts.
To your point on pricing - you're correct, we are very much focused on quality. As I mentioned in another comment on the post (and while it's off in the future), we do hope to bring price per episode price point down as we streamline ops. We really want our service to be accessible to all.
I very much look forward to serving you as a customer in the future.
I'll also say that (and this is off in the future), that we hope to bring this per episode price point down as we streamline ops. We really want our service to be accessible to all. Not there yet.
I also like to think about podcasting as the "modern" medium for oral history and story creation. At its core, we think about Artifact as a service that makes it easier to go deep - and it just so happens that this podcast interview setting seems to be a good way to do that.
Thus far (and, admittedly, it's early days), we are growing organically. When people are interview guests for an Artifact or listen to Artifacts involving, friends, family, or colleagues, they are becoming customers.
In this way, people are telling us that they can see a "constellation" of Artifacts around them and the people in their lives — and that they'll add to it over time. So, we might do an annual Artifact interview with your child from age 9 to 18, capturing their voice and their thoughts, and then you might sit for an Artifact with colleagues as a send off before leaving for a job, capturing that work together. You also might use Artifact to capture family heritage - with parents, aunts/uncles, and grandparents, and do so incrementally over time, etc.
So yeah, early days but this is what we are seeing. We'll be keeping our heads down, focused on providing quality service day in and day out.