DotComGuy

Before Survivor and Big Brother (television voyeurism on CBS), the Internet had several versions of “people in a fishbowl.” Starting with Jennifer Ringley (JenniCAM – a $15/year pay for view site), the current site-du-jour is DotComGuy. While lacking entertainment drama (generated by compressing day or weeklong activity into half hour tightly edited segments), the always-on cyber-venue possesses a certain charm not found on television.

On January 1, 2000, 26-year-old Mitch Maddox moved into a Dallas townhouse with nothing but a laptop. His objective was to demonstrate that an average person could “live off the Internet for a year and never leave the apartment.” The place had been prepped with approximately two dozen video cameras and high-speed access to the Internet – nothing more. Totally immersed in the project, Maddox changed his name to (are you ready?) DotComGuy. Bankrolled by advertisers (UPS taking a primary role), DotComGuy launched himself on a buying spree evidenced by furnishings that appear when a visitor enters the “Watch Live” area of the site. Initially, the media embraced this undertaking with the fanfare lavished on a minor celebrity. However, with this past spring’s all-things-dotcom stock market implosion, DotComGuy disappeared below the radar screen. In July, having passed the midway point, DotComGuy received a late summer bounce in the polls. With only months to the finish line, DotComGuy has comfortably adjusted to the environment.

Not Always What It Seems

Running a 24x7 Webcam takes considerably more effort than simply plopping a camera on a PC monitor and sending a feed to the Internet. DotComGuy’s crews of friends and relatives (numbering about a dozen) have managed to present a consistently stable (and often interesting) personal diary of this Texas bachelor on the Web. The sound quality is good and the video clearly outshines significantly lower quality witnessed on the CBS Big Brother continuous broadcast. Mass media, CBS in particular, could learn from the DotComGuy. There is a lot of broadband access behind the broadcasts. Frankly, to get a fuller appreciation for the Web site, one needs to view the live broadcast over a period of days, weeks, or longer.

In My Experience

I have become a fan. My broadband access (cable modem) allows for fluid motion; however, 56k modem connections provide satisfactory results. On the home page, the visitor receives a lineup of the day’s activities. By multi-tasking, I watch DotComGuy in a small window while performing word processing, Excel spreadsheet entries, game contests, and general surfing functions. Often I listen to music (MP3 via WinAMP) and watch DotComGuy with the sound turned down. Keep in mind, power-surfing the Web holds a completely different experience than viewing a television show.

When DotComGuy surfs the Net (or participates in the site’s active chat room) a window opens to enable viewers to watch his monitor. Often, a large green screen appears in the background bringing his surfing to life. Interesting effect. In addition, full video broadcasts can be made from the site. Ray Dunmayer, a blind UPS employee who will participate in the Judo para-olympics in Sydney, Australia, made a guest appearancoe. A promotional video introduced this interesting guest.

Talking Shop

Many of DotComGuy’s bachelor-driven on-screen activities (taking golf lessons, hosting a Survivor Party, discussing online personality profiles with a dating expert) hold only mild interest. However, when he discusses downloading Stephen King’s second segment of The Plant and the frustration he faces with Real Audio software, my interest spikes. We seem to agree on major issues.

For me, the stickiness of DotComGuy’s site is evident in long (30 to 60 minutes) visits. Many multi-tasking visitors feel that way. The site sports a lively chat room (often 15 to 25 visitors), energized when DotComGuy juggles responses/comments on five or more unrelated threads (personal and cyber subjects). Should you find me standing in a corner of the c-room (user ID Internetinfo), be sure to say “Hi.”

Salon Gets It Wrong

In late July, Salon’s Janelle Brown wrote a sophomoric article called “A Poster Child for Internet Idiocy. Voyeurism! Consumerism! Hype! DotComGuy is a human incarnation of the worst the Net has to offer.” (http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/08/01/dotcomguy/index.html?CP=SAL&DN=660) WOW! In reading the piece, it appears the dire straits at Salon (recent staff reductions) have spilled over to the editorial staff. They published a sensationalized piece that misrepresents serious trips to DotComGuy’s Web site, at least to this writer. See for yourself. Skim the piece (full reading not recommended) and determine if your experience is closer to Brown’s or mine. (Earth to Salon editors: You can do better.)

The Net Is Different

There is little similarity between a group of people sitting around talking about themselves (current television Big Brotheresque fare) and a guy like DotComGuy talking/performing mostly “net stuff.” Incidentally, DotComGuy stands to make $98,000 if he endures the confinement (it is not really an ordeal) until January 1, 2001. Not a bad gig.

I would like to see a 24x7 Web site dedicated exclusively to eBay activities – discussion of auction strategy, photographing items, making cyber payments (PayPal), packaging items for shipment and so forth? Now that eBay has country specific Web sites around the world, filling 24 hours of eBay activity should not be difficult to achieve. In fact, eBay carries so many items that a survivor-type would not need the entire Net, they could easily sustain a comfortable lifestyle on purchases made on eBay alone. Interesting.

URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) of interest:

http://www.dotcomguy.com

(This is the 221th of a series of elementary articles designed for surfing the Internet. Next, “Cybercaf” is the subject on tap. Stay Tuned. Until next week, happy travels through cyberspace. Previous issues of Internet Info for Real People can be found: http://www.thebee.com. Please e-mail comments and suggestions: rbrand@JUNO.com or editor@thebee.com.)