MimiSeka Scia — Talk with a photograph; a diary you never write

You don't have to write.
Talking is enough to make a diary

Scia asks gentle questions about the photo you took. As you answer, memories you had half-forgotten come loose.

Where was this veranda?

My parents' house. First visit in a while — I was having tea with my mother.

There are two teacups side by side. What were you talking about?

Nothing much, really. We laughed a bit about when to bring the laundry in.

The diary, that evening

Home for the first time in a while. Tea with my mother on the veranda. We weren't talking about anything in particular, and still, we both laughed about when to bring the laundry in. It was only that kind of evening, but I think it was enough.

It is written as your diary, in the way you actually speak. The diary becomes a story, the story becomes a book, and all of it can be listened to.

A diary becomes a story

From the same photograph you can draw a story in any of ten styles — narration, scene, invention, a child's picture diary and more. Depending on the day, you can dress the same photo in a different style. Every one can be read aloud, and a gentle vibration can follow the reading, so the sentences reach your fingertips as well as your ears — the pulse of the voice.

The chapters you gather line up on a bookshelf, and you can find your way back through a calendar, a map, or a region — from “that day”, or from “that place”.

The same memory reaches the people who matter

Family without the app

Make a photo into a photograph you listen to, and you get a QR code and a link. All it takes is a phone's ordinary camera, and the reading begins in a browser. The person receiving it installs nothing and signs up for nothing.

People who cannot see

The description is written into the photograph itself. Post it on social media, and the same memory arrives in a screen reader's voice.

Enjoying a photograph should not belong only to people who can see.
——That is where this project started.
Which is why it carries a step that checks the story against what is actually in the picture.

With the ears and the fingertips, all the way through — on accessibility →

How to begin

Take a photo　→　talk　→　it becomes a diary　→　it becomes a story　→　listen

Get it free on the App Store

Free to start. If you settle into it, from ¥300 a month.
A one-minute set of questions at the start tunes the voice, the text size and the reading to you.
How to use it →　Taking, talking, the diary, the story — from the very first day.
Looking back, and giving →　Find a day by calendar, map or region; hand it over as a photograph you listen to.
A proper camera, too →　Portrait, colour, the volume-button shutter, a timer that counts aloud.
Tuning the voice and the reading to you →　The questions at the start, reading speed, choosing the reading voice.
Making a book →　Bind the chapters you choose; turn last month into a book; share photos with family.
Translating into English →　Translate the story and the description, and listen in English (Master plan).
From outside the app →　Today’s Photo on the Home Screen; Take a Photo in Control Centre and on the Lock Screen; Scia from the Photos share sheet.
Giving a photograph words →　For people using VoiceOver: from the camera roll to finding it again by word.
Letters arrive →　New in 1.3: a letter for today, a letter for the month, two tones for the description.

Patents pending

Parts of what Scia does are the subject of patent applications. These are the problems they set out to answer.

AI writes things that are not in the pictureSomeone listening to a description of a photograph has no way to check whether it is true.
Different sight, different wordsSomeone who lost their sight later in life, someone blind from birth, someone with low vision. The same sentences do not reach them the same way.
Sounds and smells slip into a text that only sawA description meant to carry what is visible ends up carrying sensations the listener cannot verify.