Be a Time(line) Bandit

Blair Golson July 8, 2008 | 12:27 pm EST

Trying to get ADD-prone Internet surfers interested in a socially conscious issue? Here’s a hint:

More images. Fewer words.

Videos work well, but they take a long time to create – and even longer to do right.

Slideshows, like those from Flickr and Slide, are slick — but don’t offer a whole lot of context.

Instead, try making a timeline.

Benefits:

They’re story-like. And everyone loves stories.
You can (sneakily) accompany each item in the timeline with a lot of text without your viewers immediately realizing that they’re, you know, learning.
Many are collaborative, meaning other people can add to and edit them.
Their slider bars are fun to play with.

Here are the best five services I found: