Children gather around the campfire, the uncle is talking about his hobby:
If you grew up in the 80s and 90s like me, then you might remember the cartoon series DuckTales and the Junior Woodchucks Guidebook, a tiny book the ducklings Huey, Dewey and Louie (Tick, Trick und Track), and niece Della (Nicky) took along on their journeys. And it was always mysteriously packed with never ending information about whatever place or situation they found themselves in – more than once saving their featherily bums in dangerous situations. Remarkably, it was also a book, that was always sort of up to date- and just thinking about this now, maybe an early version of the internet? It’s mind-blowing!
I never outgrew this cosy feeling that whichever place they would go in their adventures, their guidebook would reveal the most exciting information to them.
At the same time, my parents did an awesome job introducing me and my siblings to the concept of treasure hunts (..all the efforts they put into our birthday parties.. Thank you!), while the town I grew up in invited us to discover the secrets of mysterious places (like abandoned train tracks, old castles, tiny rivers –> come and visit Hoehr-Grenzhausen). Basically a form of GeoCaching.
Now in the present times, getting older and becoming nostalgic about my childhood, I wanted to reproduce this feeling with the plan to add some color to my, and others’ daily routines of passing by seemingly grey, predictable and worn-out places (I also wanted to build something for my kids, but the app is for grown ups so will leave this out here :)).
Now my work on wyah (while you are here) began somewhere in 2010, and I think ever since the development alone has become a meditational break out for me, just by imagining what one could do with it.
With wyah I (and some gifted developers) created a tool to give you the power to see a place from a new perspective, to read what others connect with it and to add your own daily stories to it.
I hope our app wyah will revive that joy in you of stepping out of your house every day anew to discover your daily places and your community from a new perspective!
Thank you for reading through to the end, please check out our introduction videos now, download the app yourself, register as a storyteller, create content yourself and add to this excitement, have fun and just get in contact with us if you have any ideas or questions.