When asked about SMITH’s Six-Word Memoirs, I often tell people that sharing those six little words is easily done here: simply type, publish, and share. But those short, short life stories can be explored through different mediums—such as a “river” (of sorts).

Launched by three RIT faculty members—Xanthe Matychak, a visiting lecturer in the E. Philip Saunders College of Business, Michelle Harris, an assistant professor in the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, and Andrea Hardy, a First-Year Enrichment instructor—created what they call “River Memoir.” It caught the attention of creative minds at the World Maker Faire in New York City, where the project was recently showcased.

An interactive art exhibit, River Memoir, allowed visitors to incorporate their own Six-Word Memoirs into tactile and virtual rivers. It worked like this: participants wrote their Six-Word Memoirs on tiny rocks and stones made out of round pieces of paper, the stones were cast into a flowing scarf of blue and green representing the tactile river. (Check out more photos to see how it worked here). “The Six-Word Memoir is a lovely constraint for writing and worked well at the faire,” says Matychak. “Though we did have the occasional hipster ask if they could write a haiku instead. Of course, we said yes.” We know that feeling…