Paul Salopek and the National Geographic Society are excited to share with you—the loyal followers of the Out of Eden Walk—a first look at our new, integrated website. This post will help you explore it and find the stories and other offerings that interest you most.
As you’ll have noticed, the two previous walk-related sites—the dispatch blog page hosted by National Geographic that presented Paul’s stories from the trail and the website dedicated to such features as the Milestones, Map Room, and Classroom—looked quite different. Our goal in bringing the two sites together was simple: to create a unified, aesthetically pleasing, and easy-to-use digital home for Paul’s epic experiment in slow journalism. Whether it’s his writing that draws you, or a desire to learn more about contemporary cultures and landscapes or the deep past, or an interest in using the project to expand your students’ understanding of the world—all the many facets of the walk are now available in one place. Take a look around, and if you’d like to give us your thoughts about this new experience, please email us at info@outofedenwalk.com.
A Saga Told in Chapters
The Out of Eden Walk now unfolds in chapters that divide Paul’s journey into geographical legs. You can follow the latest “in progress” chapter as it unfolds, or travel back to the starting line at Herto Bouri, Ethiopia, or skip around to chapters covering the regions and narrative themes you find most interesting.
The Journey
Paul’s dispatches, Milestones, and other content are brought together in a timeline-based section called The Journey. This is the heart of the new site—a central hub from which to scout out your interests as you delve into the walk’s vast and growing archive of stories and multimedia features.
Use the Explore menu to filter stories by chapter, location, language, or category. Too much to take in? Toggle the Editor’s Picks button for highlights chosen from among the hundreds of stories filed from the Out of Eden Walk trail so far.
Mapping the Walk
To help chart your own reading journey, we’re featuring narrative maps on nearly every page of the site. The maps locate Paul’s stories and experiences and show his walking route.
The Dispatches
Paul’s dispatches from the trail, previously seen at outofedenwalk.nationalgeographic.com, make up the core of each chapter. To read his most recent updates, follow the Latest Stories link from the site’s main navigation menu or the homepage. Discover earlier dispatches by browsing the chronological chapter list in The Journey section’s Explore menu.
Milestones and Walking Tours
Paul will keep recording storytelling Milestones every 100 miles (160 kilometers) along the route. And in cities of special interest, he’ll continue to map out virtual Walking Tours. These special features are now presented in a more immersive format, allowing you to experience the rich sights, sounds, and sensations of the diverse landscapes and people Paul encounters.
Milestones are included in the scrolling timeline of stories displayed in The Journey section. To see a list of all Milestones, choose By Category from the Explore menu, then select Milestones. To view an individual Milestone, click its title or photo. Then, from the Milestone’s introduction page, click Start and use the icons along the bottom of the page to navigate through its component elements.
You can explore the sights and neighborhoods of Jeddah, Jerusalem, Tbilisi, and Baku by joining Paul on a Walking Tour. To start a tour of the major urban centers along the path of the walk, click on a Walking Tour item in The Journey section. If you don’t see a Walking Tour, choose By Category from the Explore menu, then select Walking Tours. Once a Walking Tour has been selected, click Start to stroll with Paul through the bustle of daily life in these diverse locales strung across the globe.
Join the Conversation
Our ancestors’ first trek out of Africa is a journey that belongs to everyone. So please—walk along! We’ve enhanced your ability to comment on Paul’s stories and share your own insights. Now you can join the conversation around almost every piece of content. To comment, log in through your Facebook, Twitter, Google, or Disqus account. Don’t have an account? Don’t worry: You can sign up for a new Disqus account quickly and easily or post comments as a guest. After you comment, keep a lookout—Paul just might respond.
A Work Still in Progress
If you have difficulty navigating the site or finding a particular piece of content, it may be because we’re still refining or incorporating elements. Email us with any questions at info@outofedenwalk.com, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, if you’d like to have the walk’s highlights sent straight to your inbox every month, be sure to sign up for the Out of Eden Walk newsletter.
This site experience was made possible by a grant awarded to the National Geographic Society by the trustees of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The Knight Foundation is one of the many extraordinary partners of the Out of Eden Walk project, making it possible for Paul’s storytelling to reach educators, children, and lifelong learners around the globe. Learn more about our partners, Paul Salopek, and the Out of Eden Walk.