CHILE: CHILEAN STUDENT ENRIQUE PIRACES ISOLATES HIMSELF FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD FOR EIGHT MONTHS AND WILL ONLY COMMUNICATE THROUGH THE INTERNET

Record ID: 862958

  • Title: CHILE: CHILEAN STUDENT ENRIQUE PIRACES ISOLATES HIMSELF FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD FOR EIGHT MONTHS AND WILL ONLY COMMUNICATE THROUGH THE INTERNET
  • Date: 4th May 2000
  • Summary: CLOSE UP OF CLOSE CIRCUIT TV VIDEO IMAGES OF HOUSE (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 19th May 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SANTIAGO, CHILE
  • City:
  • Country: Chile
  • Topics: Communications,Quirky,Technology
  • Reuters ID: LVABGJ7MSHPNOECD84WX46N4I9EO
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: As the Internet slowly downloads its way into Latin America, a Chilean student has decided to isolate himself from the outside world using the Internet as his only means of communication.
    Chilean student Enrique Piraces has decided to live in cyberspace for the next eight months, communicating with the "outside" only through the Internet.
    Equipped only with his trusty laptop, the 23-year-old journalism student moved into a posh, unfurnished home in a Santiago neighbourhood.The first thing he ordered was a bed.
    Piraces told Reuters that he and his colleagues came up with the idea to be sequestered in a home with the Internet as the only tool of communication.
    "All this came about during conversations at the office with young people who work for 'Noticias.com'," Piraces said while sitting on the floor of his cyber home."We started to say to ourselves that, in reality, you can do everything (online), you can send e-mails, you can speak on the phone, you can have access to anything."
    Sixteen cameras monitor Piraces' stay in the home, except the bathroom, and will be broadcast daily over the Internet, allowing virtually everyone to follow Piraces' chosen cyber lifestyle.
    "It is very important to finish this project, because it is a process of education and a contribution," Piraces said.
    "We do not intend to greedily educate ourselves, rather, what we intend to do is formulate from this space, this physical space and this virtual space, a community where the integral use of the Internet can be discussed and debated."
    The project is the first of its kind in Latin America.
    However, there are similar projects in the United States, including one that is broadcast as a television commercial depicting four roommates living in a similar situation.
    Piraces' project is being sponsored by several local businesses and is intended to test the country's fledgling Internet trade.
    WEB ADDRESS FOR ENRIQUE PIRACES IS www.vivonline.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Audio restrictions: This clip's Audio includes copyrighted material. User is responsible for obtaining additional clearances before publishing the audio contained in this clip.
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