INTERVIEW STEPHEN MANN - Zeitgeist

When did you start using the Internet and what was your initialmotivation or what was the main reason for it?I started using the internet in the mid 90s. I have always been intrigued about it as itgave me access to the outside world - coming from a quite village all I was everinterested in was city life - the internet meant I could pursue my interests and findthings out and generally the most interesting to me was communicating with otherpeople who were in to the same stuff as me. When you live in a small place it's oftenunlikely you know many people who are into the same things.When did you set up your own site and what was the motivationfor this move?I set it up when I graduated university (the less we mention that, the better) at itsinception it was going to be a place where I could profile things I was into - designersetc. - and I guess that’s what it has become. The only real change is that it becamepersonal rather than commercial. I found I didn’t want to report or write about things Ididn’t physically own or experience, so over time it really just became a visual diary ofthe things I buy/do I like it that way as it stays true to me.2/8

PROJECTWhat is the main idea of your project, what is your "MissionStatement"?As a project it created itself and became what it is now naturally not particularly bydesign. I knew how I wanted to present the information one thing at a time but pastthat at conception I had many plans/dreams that I since found better avenues for. Theproject grew naturally and found its feet as a diary of my things.How do you decide what to put up on your site and what not?How do you research your stories?Its quite simply the things I buy and use, and occasionally things I experience, I oftenwrite very little just some basic information and maybe a few words on how it cameabout, my words are very much as I would tell a friend and not planned or edited I like itthat way as it is just an extension of me anyway.5/8

Why do you think do people visit your website? Is there anythingthat you know or feel that people like most?I think people are just interested in stuff, or at least the people who look at my site are,and that’s all I’m interested in good gear, I would love to have 20 versions of my site inmy bookmarks of all different people to skim through what they buy and use, I’m reallyintrigued by it, I guess its something that makes me tick.In what ways did your venture develop outside the realm of theInternet?I think in a funny way it opened a few doors when I started out at magazines, people inthe office would see it and click through they liked the way it looked and liked thecontent and I think it played a part in them taking my opinion seriously as they couldsee I was really in to what I was talking about, I guess its also a good instant insight into me.7/8

FINALEWhat should we be looking out for on your site in the next 2weeks?My most recent purchase, maybe a recent cup of coffee or a new bookWhat sites do you like (URL?), what's on your daily list of 'hotsites'?That would be telling ha-haI really liked http://jblyth.com/blog.html before it got took down, I enjoy inventory as aquick read I also enjoy honeyee.com/blog as a daily look, I enjoy thisisnaive.com andused to enjoy journal-inc.com before Andrew stopped updating it, I spend a lot of timeon eBay and yahoo.jp and the forums on superfuture/fuk/stylezeitgiest I also enjoy bbcIplayer and channel4 on demand, I also check fantasticman.com now that they have anonline presence. Twitter for reporting my daily gripes (not for plugging my website)…Thanks, Stephen, for taking the time for our interview!8/8