Thursday, November 8, 2001

People put their lives online
Some personal Web pages are just collections of oddities
Clare McIntyre is a columnist for the McGill Tribune at McGill University.

Anyone who has spent even a modest amount of time on the Internet will agree that the somewhat bizarre genre of the personal Web page has become a standard in self-expression and in communication with the world.

People’s online pages cover the spectrum from the boring to the bizarre, and their purposes are just as diverse. A Google search for the term “personal Web page” turned up over 368,000 sites, beginning with the homepage of “Sandy Cummins: Christian Freelance Writer.” But Sandy is just one among many — more and more people are putting themselves out there by putting their lives online.

The biggest question that anyone who reads these sites will be left asking is “why?” What would motivate someone to put his or her life online? High school courses in computers are increasingly focusing on the Internet, and some Web pages seem to have emerged from that basis. But not everyone took World of Computers as their grade 11 elective — there must be other reasons. Maybe it’s vanity; maybe it’s a simple desire to establish contact with other people or maybe it’s a message they have for the World.

Peter Pan’s homepage (www.pixyland.org/peterpan/index.html) is a perfect example of the personal Web page as a “vanity” Web page. It’s the “home on the web” of Randy Constan, who calls himself a “Guitarist, Inventor, Engineer, (and) Eternal Child,” and is devoted to his life, personality and interests.

The Eternal Child indeed — at 47 years old, Constan doesn’t just admire or have an interest in Peter Pan. He actually thinks he is Peter Pan. The site comes complete with theme music from the Disney movie, somewhat scandalous pictures of Constan dressed in a wide array of costumes (many of them pink and frilly), and a lengthy opening text in which the author explores his own life philosophy.

The motivation for Constan’s page is stated loud and clear, “(this page) is intended to reach out to other like-minded souls, potential new friends and others who believe in diversity, while having some fun.”

Well, that’s innocuous enough. He goes on to admit that when he began his Web site, he was looking for something else as well. That’s right, you guessed it, Tinkerbell!

And then there’s Super Greg (www.supergreg.com). Accompanied by little to no explanatory text and few welcoming words, Super Greg, a disc jockey, announces himself to the world photographically. His page consists of an array of pictures of himself and what we can assume to be friends of his, and includes a 30-second clip of a “classic performance” by the man himself, entitled “Da Number One.”

Super Greg is a little less clear on the motivation behind his Web site, although he does announce his belief in the Super Greg concept, and his page is just his way of sharing it with “all home boys and home chicks.”

But it seems that there’s no end in sight to this journey, mainly because there’s no end to the number of sites. Who is Tommy (www.dpf.com/boyslife.html)? And why is he online dressed as a baby and lying in a crib, when he appears to be at least 35 years old? “To say ‘I love diapers’ is certainly true,” he advises visitors, “but that tells you very little about the ‘real’ me who lives inside those diapers.”

Pages like these are a reminder that many of these sites have little to do with the person behind them, and rather tend to be collections of rants, raves, photographs and other oddities. Their sites are provocative and sometimes disturbing in their views, which implies a desire to generate attention and response, whether positive or negative.

It appears that people’s specific motivations for putting their lives online are just as diverse as the pages and the people themselves. For these people, the World Wide Web has provided an outlet for their self-expression. They all have something to say, and the Internet has given them a golden opportunity. Of course, the crucial question remains: is anyone listening?

Clare McIntyre is a columnist for the McGill Tribune at McGill University. This column was distributed by U-Wire.