Peter Sinclair: Netizens reveal dreams, sex lives and habits in world poll

Birthdays, at my age, tend to become something of a guilty secret. You don't so much celebrate them as duck while they whiz by overhead.

Last week, mine fell on the first day of what was described as "the world's largest collaborative exercise using the internet," and somehow it felt almost like a party to join the thousands of netizens taking part in this immense four-day interactive poll in eight languages surveying the habits, thoughts, sex lives and dreams of global villagers from whitest Greenland to darkest Africa.

The Planet Project ("Your voice, your world"), mounted by Santa Clara's 3Com, together with major corporates like Harris Interactive, Sun Microsystems, Akamai and MacroMedia, claims it is a net-specific way of learning what unites people around the world, with the goal of expanding net technology to new and remote frontiers.

While the project will percolate to every corner of the world from its greatest cities to its densest jungles, the poll is not confined to the wired: during the run-up thousands of Planet Pollsters with laptops, handhelds and portable transmitters fanned out across the globe to reach those without net access.

Questions were grouped in eight modules containing 20 questions each: religion, beliefs, and fears; health and well-being; sleep and dreams; self-image; dating and sex; marriage and parenting; education; and law and order.

After completing a module, you could instantly compare your responses with those of other groups of people by sex, age, and location.

Would you switch race if you knew you couldn't change back? How do you and your spouse express affection for each other? Have you ever had a dream, then actually lived that dream in real life? When you die, what do you feel will probably happen to you?

It was fascinating to find that my dreams and my responses to them were remarkably similar to those of aboriginal Peter Howard Jamieson in the red heart of Australia; that Eskimos, too, prefer to sleep on their side and have frequently been known to slip into their best friend's igloo when he is out hunting walrus to borrow a cup of whale oil from his partner.

Students could choose the Student Underground, a parallel poll to the Planet Project. Students answered questions developed by an international youth panel as well as a second set of Planet Project questions.

The operation has been a much-needed PR shot in the arm for 3Com in the wake of the sudden resignation last month of CEO Eric Benhamou in favour of president and chief operating officer Bruce Claflin, who recently announced a major restructuring plan to revitalise the stagnant networking giant.

"It enables us to demonstrate what the company does, who we are, with the goal of bridging the digital divide," said Claflin. "We thought it would be more meaningful than taking out an ad."

The poll will be offered to universities and other researchers, as well as the United Nations. You can check its outlines yourself at the URL below.

Which was the most popular category? Need you ask? Some highlights from 225 countries:

* 60 per cent of women said they were satisfied with their sex lives.

* 50 per cent of men were satisfied.

* 18 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women reported having sex while at work.

* petersinclair@email.com


BOOKMARKS


MOST DETAILED: A True Story

Raymond Ching became a sort of cultural icon during the roaring 80s, when his obsessively detailed bird paintings became both an investment and status symbol for the boomers.

After more than 10 years, he returns with a collection of 23 super-realist portraits. Models include a heavily tattooed Wellingtonian, a young British clown, an ageing ballerina and nudes of varying generations, plus a collection of Ching's friends and relatives.

Nearly all are painted against a blank background inscribed with hand-painted text, "providing an extension to the painting which isn't necessarily connected to the sitter."

Advisory: one of the portraits is Ching's son; another is his plumber.

MOST TRANSPARENT: invest-uk

America and Britain are putting their heads together to combat online trading fraud between the two countries.

A memorandum of understanding will promote cooperation between British enforcement bodies; the Department of Trade and Industry, the Office of Fair Trading and local trading standards departments; and the Federal Trade Commission in the United States.

The UK and US authorities will help each other to tackle bogus schemes such as get-rich-quick scams, misleading credit and price offers, fraudulent prize draws and unfair terms and conditions.

Advisory: where Britain leads, can we be far behind?

Links


Planet Project

Harris Interactive

Sun Microsystems

Akamai

MacroMedia

Ray Ching Paintings

invest-uk

Office of Fair Trading UK

Federal Trade Commission USA