If you notice people staring into their iPhones in strange places in the coming months, don't presume they're your usual over-networked addicts. Presume instead they're deep in The Silent History.

It's best described as a madly ambitious, beautifully designed and ever-expanding history of a doomed future. The Silent History is the brainchild of Eli Horowitz, former Managing Editor of McSweeney's, and a cast of hundreds of writers around the globe (including several Smith contributors).

Much of the work is location specific - you physically have to go to far-flung spots to read small fragments. So, if you see some folks at the end of Brookes Jetty in St Kilda, staring into their phones, the waves lapping around, that's just us, looking for the dead bodies.