By Caitlin Moore

When Larry Smith and Tim Barkow started SMITH Magazine in 2006, their intention was to create a place where personal narrative could flourish and be shared online. This initial idea led to several successful developments, including the Six-Word Memoir story project. Here, anyone and everyone is encouraged to express themselves in the manner that texting, Twitter and Facebook have taught us so well – with brevity and, hopefully, with honesty and humor.

The Six-Word Memoir project appealed to so many people that it has led to two bestselling books, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure and Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak. “Six-Word Memoirs are the quickest, easiest way to get a glimpse into another person’s personality, humanity and essence,” says Smith. “There’s this feeling of intimacy and connection in a world gone digital.”

Smith’s panel It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs From Writers Famous and Obscure has been chosen for SXSW 2010, and the session will consist of readings from the new Six-Word Memoir book as well as contributions from the audience. Examining this phenomenon in a room filled with tech-savvy folks should lead to a better understanding of the direction in which communication and self-expression are going.

Over 200,000 Six-Word Memoirs have been submitted to SMITHmag.net and SMITHTeens.com, and many people (including several teens) make a habit of submitting something every day. Smith and another staff member read them all. “It’s a joy to read thousands and thousands of expressions of humanity, six words at a time,” he says. The Web site also includes six-word video memoirs and links to other projects in the making, with the underlying theme being that this is a democratic, forward-thinking and participatory mode of storytelling.