# WayFinder Platform

The core of the WayFinder Platform is a digital "canvas", where content can be positioned and visualised in many powerful ways to enable reflective practice, sensemaking, ideation, discovery and more - processes that cohere with the over-arching [philosophy of "wayfinding"](https://www.wayfinders.network/blog/philosophy/).

A strength is the ability to quickly switch contexts, from a personal view that has only your content, to a shared/collaborative perspective that displays other peoples content in relationship to your own.

The innovation here is a user interface that moves away from restrictive vertical timelines as found in social media feeds, blogs and group chats; to something that allows many entry points and quickly reveals themes, patterns and connections. Maggie Appleton has described this as ["topography over timelines"](https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history#1-topography-over-timelines).

In this sense the platform is breaking new ground in social, knowledge and sensemaking systems.

With a strong focus on stories (hence the [StoryKeeper app](https://docs.wayfinders.network/apps-and-tools/storykeeper)), exploring a canvas will often feel like sitting around a digital campfire and reading/listening/watching the stories people have shared...

<figure><img src="https://4069604972-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FLLZ7p94OHguiKBpQrfag%2Fuploads%2FdLHP2lwu0Abq9Qiz3ytt%2FScreen%20Shot%202024-04-08%20at%205.09.07%20pm.png?alt=media&#x26;token=249d11a0-eb68-4fc2-a9b1-2a9768c0871e" alt=""><figcaption><p>An example of a WayFinder "canvas" with stories, reflection, questions and personal profiles depicted using various iconography</p></figcaption></figure>

The following sections provide more detail regarding how you can interact with a canvas, as well as the options for designing and customising canvases to your requirements.