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Pindex - Stephen Fry's 'Pinterest for Education'

USA Today
Stephen Fry has a complicated relationship with social media. He was one of the earliest and most outspoken exponents of Twitter, but eventually after a few sabbaticals he decided to leave the platform altogether, mostly because it's become overrun with jerks. Another thing Fry is famously interested in is education, particularly of the scientific variety. QI owes a great deal of its success to being the only panel show which aims to educate, as well as entertain.

Fittingly, as he's recently announced his impending retirement from the show, news has surfaced that he's been quietly embarking on a new venture - a social network built around education. Pindex, which launched a few weeks ago, is being billed as a 'Pinterest for education'. Staff and other contributors create video and infographic content which can be browsed by teachers and students, or anyone who else who might be interested.

It's invite only at the moment, but I got my invitation within seconds of putting the request in, so it's effectively on a standard sign up basis at this point. Aesthetically, it's very similar to Pinterest, showing you a spread of boards under different categories, housing images, videos, text and audio content. Thus far, two explainer videos have been posted by Pindex themselves, one about the Large Hadron Collider and one about the Hyperloop high speed train. The former is narrated by Fry, and he's expected to carrying doing so as more are published.

The idea behind it is to place the most engaging content on a range of topics at front and center. Eventually, hopefully, the platform will be populated by an extensive network of students, teachers, professors, other academics and enthusiasts, all sharing the best educational content in order to help each other. They also hope to invite other well known figures to join Pindex as curators, further expanding the scope of the platform.

Fry himself allegedly plans to be intimately involved with it, rather than just acting as a famous spokesman, which can often be the case when somebody well-known backs a start-up. Speaking on it, he said "At a time when it is easy to lose faith in an online world that seems to centre around trolling, bullying, hating, trivialising and belittling, it is worth remembering the incredible power of the internet to inform and educate, lucidly and entertainingly."



Callum is a film school graduate who is now making a name for himself as a journalist and content writer. His vices include flat whites and 90s hip-hop. Follow him @CallumAtSMF


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Pindex - Stephen Fry's 'Pinterest for Education' Reviewed by Unknown on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 Rating: 5
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