/Interview/ The brains behind: Around America in 2.0
13/02/2008 | Filed under Discover > Interview
We meet Matthew Danzico, who journeyed around the US, solely relying on users of video sharing websites for food, shelter and transport
.net: What was Around America in 2.0 all about?
MD: Around America in 2.0 was an internet-based film project aimed at exploring trust and connectivity on the web. On 16 July I spread a video around the internet asking for volunteers to drive, house, and feed me on an 80-day trip around the country. Throughout the journey, I filmed my experiences and produced a daily web show from the footage.
My initial aim was to determine if individuals involved in Web 2.0 were interested in physically meeting with persons whom they previously were connected only digitally. Or to put it another way, are online users interested in meeting individuals who contribute to the profiles and video clips that comprise Web 2.0 or is their interest in connecting digitally grounded in the safety of anonymity and geographic separation?
The second objective of Around America in 2.0 was to test the possibilities of guerrilla media on the web. With the rise in popularity of user-generated content, traditional media appears more and more disconnected from its audience. Lean back corporate media is simply a thing of the past. At the same time, however, there are very few web creators who have been able to make a reasonable living from their videoblogs. In my case, by asking volunteers to provide project necessities including transportation, food, housing and Wi-Fi, I essentially sidestepped that issue.
Lastly, a large part of the project focused on dispelling a misplaced fear of strangers. I feel that traditional media, including mainstream TV and print journalism, intentionally instil a degree of fear into the minds of their readers and viewers, and I believe this fear is for the most part unwarranted. I wanted to create a project that demonstrated the trustworthiness of the American public. Around America in 2.0 demonstrated that trust can and should exist between complete strangers despite cultural, ethnic, or religious differences. Corporate media seeks to reinforce sinister stereotypes and perpetuate mistrust amongst its audiences. Left unchallenged, that premise has grown and solidified into reality. I strongly believe that we no longer need to stand idly by when we now have the power to connect directly to unfiltered entertainment and news through creators and citizen journalists.
.net: How did you come up with the idea?
MD: Last spring I saw Jimbo Wales speak about Wikipedia at the foreign press centre in New York City. He was talking about how free access to ideas and information from an aggregation of the world’s knowledge can positively affect communities on a global level. I thought, “Why stop there, why not services and commodities as well?” I began thinking a lot about this and was curious to see how far these socialist notions could be taken on the web.
A few months later, I interviewed a videoblogger named Ze Frank who transported a fan of his website home for the holidays by asking other fans to drive him across the country. A night or two later, I was sitting in a bar in Minnesota with a staff writer for my paper when we began talking about how the transportation age ultimately lead to the industrial revolution and what that could mean for the current information age. Somehow the conversation turned to the subject of a book I was reading at the time, Jules Verne’s' Around the World in 80 Days. Before I knew it I had struck a deal with my colleague whereby if I managed to circumnavigate the world solely through connections via the internet, he would write an in-depth piece on the trip.
When morning broke and a heavy night of lager and conversation wore off, I realised that a trip of that magnitude would take years to plan. After a few days, I cut the idea down to cover “only” the United States.
Around America in 2.0 is happy to join the ranks of other esteemed ideas born over a pint of grog.
.net: How did you prepare for the trip? And did you have to take a sabbatical or is this “work”?
MD: Much to my friends' dismay, I attempted to put myself through “too-busy-to-deal-with-it boot camp” before I left. I wore the same clothes (socks and underwear included) for a week straight per pair to prepare myself for the grime I would later experience. Other than that, I planned a route, created a website, and purchased myself a haircut. That was the extent of my preparations.
Is this work? If by work you mean a 24 hour-a-day passion that pays nothing, leaves you broke and drooling for more, than it most certainly is. I left my position as a reporter to pursue this project. Unfortunately, sabbaticals don’t really exist in foreign correspondence bureaus, especially at my age. I continued working as a reporter until I saved up enough money for the needed equipment, put in my notice, and got on the road. I was ready for a change though anyway. I absolutely adored my job, but I ultimately want to work in new media.
.net: What did you expect when you posted your video request on the web? And how does the actual journey compare with your initial expectations?
MD: I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I posted my video request on the web simply because I had no prior experience in the web industry. I thought that the project just might be bizarre enough for it to take hold, and somehow, someway it took off immediately. I began getting emails the day the site went live.
The trip differed significantly from what I expected in the emotional support I received from complete strangers on the web. I received many emails and met many people along my way who, for one reason or another, really connected with what I was doing. They became emotionally invested in the trip, which really gave me the “chutzpah”, as my Mississippi volunteers call it, to keep going. It may have been due to a lack of proper nourishment, but after a while I truly felt as if I were on some sort of nerdy, divine mission.
.net: What’s the response been like? Who did you meet and what did people offer you?
MD: The response was unbelievable. I stayed with people from all walks of life. Volunteers included a Google engineer, a pornography star, and a retired 78-year-old grandmother. People offered everything they had. They gave me their beds to sleep in, the clothes off their backs (sometimes literally), and many offered to donate cash to the trip. They were generous, hospitable, and caring. I couldn’t have asked for better volunteers.
.net: What was your favourite experience and what was your worst?
MD: My favourite experience was dumpster diving in Santa Cruz, California with a graduate student who was secretly living in his office in an attempt to attend school while spending no money. My least favourite experience occurred in Kansas during an interstate bus ride. I was woken around 1am in the middle of nowhere by an exploding bus engine. As I was sitting in a prairie about 100 meters from the smoking bus, I was reminded of the Missouri college students, who had purchased the ticket for me, warning of Kansas locals and prairie rattlesnakes. Unlike Dorothy, I will never go back to Kansas as long as I live.
.net: Parents always tell their kids not to meet strangers they talk to on the internet. How worried were you about your safety during the trip?
MD: To be completely honest, the only concern I had was whether or not I would find time to capture and edit footage. Given the project’s premise, to have worried about my safety would have been hypocritical. I am pleased to report there is absolutely no cause for alarm with a trip of this nature.
.net: How much money did you spend?
MD: In the end, I didn’t spend a dime on food, transportation, and housing. However, between an endless amount of equipment, health insurance, and random outings and mishaps that occurred along the way, I spent between six and seven thousand US dollars.
.net: What have you learned?
MD: I have learned that it truly doesn’t really matter where you are going, but who you are going with. Sounds cliché, but that is whole-heartedly what I am taking away from this experience. I started forgetting what state and town I was in halfway through the trip. It just didn’t seem to matter any longer.
I also learned not to hitchhike near the border of Mexico.
.net: I think it’s an understatement to say this is a life-changing journey. What are your plans now?
MD: It sure is. I really don’t know what’s in store for me in the future. I’m going to continue to look for a position in new media. However, until then I have to make it to a Chuck Berry concert. He’s still alive and well, and he’s playing a concert in St Louis tomorrow! It’s only a 15-hour drive from NYC. Anyone want to come? I know some people we could stay with.
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Comments
Johan / 15/02/2008 / 11:22 / http://www.hypotheekaanbiedersnet.nl/
I really like the America in 2.0 approach. Creative, simple and effective.
Debbie / 19/02/2008 / 22:26
This guy seems like a really interesting character. if i didn't live in NY I would have volunteered to help him out!
