Ask while you still can.
Told records one person's life in their own voice, over as many conversations as it takes, and keeps it for the people who will wish they had asked.
Audio by default, video when wanted. Private by default. Reviewed by a person.
Families rarely lose the dates. They lose the voice.
The version of events only one person could give. The way they told it. The detail nobody thought to write down because everyone assumed there would be time.
The call to Told tends to come after something has shifted. An eightieth birthday. A diagnosis at fifty. A move into care. A grandchild who will never meet the person as they were. The intention to record someone has usually existed for years. What changes is that the window is now visibly closing.
Told exists to make the next step easy while it is still possible, and to do it properly, so that what comes back is something a family keeps.
Someone else handles the technology. You choose who.
Nobody should have to learn software to be listened to. Told is built so that the storyteller sits down and talks, whatever their age. Everything else happens around them.
A phone call at the same time each week.
Told rings at the agreed time. A patient interviewer asks one question, listens, and picks up where last week left off. Ten minutes today and forty next Tuesday is fine. It doesn't get tired, doesn't watch the clock, and will happily hear the same story three times. Nothing to charge, install or learn.
Thirty minutes every Sunday.
A son, daughter or grandchild leads the conversation, in the room or over the phone, and records on their own device. Told suggests the next question, notices the thread worth following, and organises what was recorded. Different family members can record different parts of a life over a few months.
For the conversations that matter most.
A trained interviewer visits, with proper audio and, if the family wants it, video. Told handles the preparation, the transcription and the follow-up questions for next time. Some material needs a person in the room who knows when to stop talking. Software is not a substitute for that.
People have been talking on the phone for a hundred years.
No device to set up, no screen, no account. The phone rings at the agreed time, on a landline or a mobile, and someone asks about the house in Carlton. It can be done in bed, in hospital, or with eyes closed. When they've had enough, they say so and hang up. Told calls back next week.
Audio is the default because the voice is what families say they miss. Nobody cancels a phone call because of their hair. For families who want their parent on film, video is available with a visiting interviewer.
If a story was lived in Vietnamese, Greek, Italian or Mandarin, it can be told in that language. The family receives the original recording alongside a translation that a person has checked.
Their voice, their photographs, and a map of the life.
- The recordings, untouchedEvery call and session is kept in full as the authoritative source, audio and any video. Nothing generated ever replaces what was actually said.
- A transcript a person has readSoftware transcribes. A human checks names, places and meaning before anything is treated as final. Uncle Bill stays Uncle Bill.
- Chapters by place and periodCarlton, 1942 to 1953. Preston. The years at the hospital. Easy to find, easy to share one part of.
- Photographs where they belongScanned or uploaded by family from their side, then placed against the stories they illustrate. The storyteller never has to handle them.
- A Life MapThe people, places, years and unfinished threads, kept as structured record so the next conversation knows where to go.
People
- George father
- Alice mother
- Joan sister, three years younger
- Frank husband, married 1963
Places
- Carlton 1942 to 1953
- Preston from 1953
- Lakes Entrance holidays
- Royal Melbourne nursing, 1961 to 1974
Told so far
- Childhood home
- Father's return from New Guinea
- Meeting Frank
- First years of nursing
Still to ask
- Why they nearly didn't marry
- Joan's move to Canada
- The strike in 1969
- What she'd tell her grandchildren
Twenty residents. One purchase order.
An organisation funds the program. Its people tell their stories. Their families receive the record. With permission, selected stories become a collection that belongs to the community that made it.
Retirement living
Independent-living communities commission a defined group of residents. Told calls residents each week, or sends an interviewer for a recording day. Residents don't need to do anything but talk. The village gets a community project people talk about. Families get something they keep.
Cultural and migrant associations
A collection built around one experience: arriving from Vietnam in 1978, Greek Melbourne, post-war Italian families in the north. Interviews in the first language, with reviewed translation. Questions written with the community, not for it.
Clubs and societies
The players, coaches, volunteers and committee members who carry a club's history in their heads. Told records them and connects the accounts. Three people will remember 1973 differently. That's the point.
Companies and institutions
Founders, long-serving staff and the moments that shaped the place, recorded before that knowledge retires.
Residential aged care is a different setting from retirement living. Where a resident may not have full capacity to consent, we work to a specific process agreed with the provider, not a generic form. If that's your setting, talk to us before anything else.
Some stories should be public. Some absolutely should not.
Every story starts private. Publishing is a choice the storyteller makes, chapter by chapter. A childhood in Carlton can be part of a public collection while the chapter about a marriage stays with the children.
Only me
The storyteller alone. Nothing leaves.
My family
The people they invite by name.
My community
Members of the organisation that commissioned the collection.
Public
Searchable by anyone, with explicit written consent for that use.
The technology does the work around the conversation, not instead of it.
Choose the people
One parent. Twenty residents. A club's oldest members. A community with a shared story.
Record over time
Told calls, family asks, or an interviewer visits. Short conversations over weeks work better than one long afternoon.
Build the Life Map
Names, places, years, photographs and the threads nobody has followed yet, while the original recording stays untouched.
A person reviews it
Transcription, names and meaning are checked by a human before anything becomes the finished record.
Share on their terms
Family, community or public, decided per story.
Before you ask us.
Does the person being recorded need to use any technology?
No. In the simplest version, Told rings them at an agreed time on their ordinary phone. They answer, talk, and hang up when they've had enough. Family or staff handle setup, identity and permissions. Nobody is asked to install, charge or log in to anything.
Is it audio or video?
Audio by default. Most families tell us the voice is what they were afraid of losing, and most storytellers are more relaxed without a camera. Video is available with a visiting interviewer for families and organisations that want it.
Can stories be recorded in a language other than English?
Yes. If a story was lived in Vietnamese, Greek, Italian, Mandarin or another language it can be told in that language. The family receives the original recording and a translation that a person has checked.
Who can see the recordings?
Every story starts private. The storyteller decides, chapter by chapter, whether it stays with them, is shared with named family, is visible to the community that commissioned a collection, or is made public. Public use requires explicit written consent.
Does AI write the life story?
No. The original recordings remain the authoritative record. Software transcribes, organises and suggests follow-up questions. A person reviews names, places and meaning before anything is treated as final.
How long does it take?
It depends on the person. Short conversations over several weeks work better than one long afternoon. Ten minutes today and forty tomorrow is fine. A typical life runs to several hours of recording gathered over a couple of months.
Do you work in residential aged care?
Residential aged care is a different setting from retirement living. Where a resident may not have full capacity to consent, Told works to a specific process agreed with the provider rather than a generic form. Talk to us first.
What does it cost?
Told quotes a plan and a price before anyone is asked a question. Cost depends on which of the three ways of recording you choose and, for organisations, how many people are in the collection. Email hello@told.media.
Start with one person.
We'll tell you what it costs and how long it takes before anyone is asked a question.
For a parent or grandparent
Tell us who they are, roughly where they live, and which of the three ways of recording feels right. We'll come back with a plan and a price.
Record a parent's storyFor an organisation
Tell us about your community and roughly how many people you have in mind. We'll scope a collection with you.
Commission a collection