Surfing Safety

As a young single women traveler, I think I have a very different view on the idea of Couchsurfing as a viable means of traveling around the world. Yes, its cheap and you get to meet great people, but what about that one in a million chance that you could stumble into someone's house who has less than innocent friendly motives? We are putting our faith, and even our lives to a certain extent, in the hands of strangers. We allow ourselves to be taken in by somebody we have no connection to apart from a few preliminary emails sent before we arrive. Our choice of 'couch host' is determined on an in-personal rating system that can tell us nothing more than a bunch of numbers as to another surfer's experience at their place. I think we need to take a step back at this culture, and look at the very essence that is couch surfing itself.

The recent jailing of  Abdelali Nachet in Leeds after he was found guilty of raping his women couchsurfer guest, has really got me wondering at how well this website and even the culture can function safely. Nachet, 34, reportedly raped the Hong Kong women two times during her one night stay in his home, threatening to kill her and himself if she resisted. Although this is an isolated incident, it is only a matter of time before more incidences like these are undoubtedly bound to occur. The Couchsurfing organization takes no responsibility for the actions of its users, and as such have no way of communicating potentially dangerous hosts to unsuspecting surfers.

The website in terms of safety, is quite obviously flawed. With no means of one surfer to communicate to another about bad incidences, with no such room for online chat through either blogs or forums, the average surfer has little to no means of protecting themselves beyond common sense.

Diary of a Couchsurfer #3

Hola chicos,

so i've now spent two nights down here on my voyage, and i've gotta say i've definitely learnt a lot about the whole couchsurfing experience that i otherwise wouldn't have if i hadn't actually done this. Little things, like the complete apprehension before meeting your host as well as the dawning realisation that although you're travelling the people whose house you're at actually isn't, and is still trying to live a normal life.

The other thing i've noticed is that the whole vibe of the house changes depending on who is around. The first night i was here was really chilled and low key, but then yesterday this really sociable english guy arrived as well as this other canadian girl and it got a lot rowdier. I ended up leaving to go meet an old mate from high school, but apparently an innocent game of fuck the dealer got out of hand and some alcohol-fuelled lip locking took place in my absence...

The whole place just feels like a really intensified version of a hostel. Because there are only a few people here, you end up getting a lot closer to each other. For example when i got home earlier this afternoon the english bloke and the canadian girl were making plans together about roadtripping across great ocean road and organising flights together to sydney - they've known each other less than 24 hours, and yet they're chatting and planning like old mates.

It's quite incredible really, the idea of opening up your house to travellers the way these guys have. I have absolutely no doubt that their day to day lives are a lot more interesting than mine, and their exposure to global culture is enviable really. I guess in a lot of ways it's the next best thing to travelling - they have their very own hub of backpacker culture and activity and they are always meeting interesting and different people.

But it does come at a cost. I asked one of the house mates - 'Fat Tom' - it was all worth it and his response was at least until the bills come... which they did today. For this quarter, they have to pay almost $900 in combined utilities. Each.

This house is obviously not your regular couchsurfing environment, but in some way every host would feel the cost of putting people up for a few nights. So what do they get in return? The chance to meet new and exciting people? The opportunity try and recapture that thrill of travelling? For some people i'm sure its as simple as the pride of showing people around their city.

anyway, everyone has just returned home and we're getting dinner started
i'm starving,
xx

Diary of a Couchsurfer #2

So it's the first morning of my couchsurfing experience, and i have to say it has been pretty interesting so far. Late on tuesday night i sent an email to the guy who i was supposed to be staying with, he replied the next morning - only hours before i was due to leave - "oh shit, i completely forgot". Yep. That happened.

He said that he wasn't really going to be home much the next few days, so i should just go to his mates' place instead. Right. So, nervously, i took his advice and headed out to Brunswick to stay with these people that i knew nothing about.

I arrived at the house - no one home. Great start. Luckily, i had bought a case of beer so at least i had something to do while i waited; I parked myself down on what appeared to be the back seat of a car and cracked my first beer.

I don't know how long i sat there for (it was only around three beers) before Liam, the organiser of couchsurfing at this house rocked up home. This was how our conversation went.

Me: Hi, I'm alex, did jeff tell you i was coming?
Liam: Oh yeah, i think he mentioned something about that
Me: I brought beer
Liam: Awesome, stay as long as you like

Stepping inside the house is like entering a CouchSurfing Mecca. Since opening their doors in December, the three housemates have not had a single night without a couchsurfer. The longest someone stayed here was three and a half months! The place has the feel of a mini hostel, with a communal computer area as well as a whiteboard detailing who is arriving and where they are from. Sitting on the front bench is a 'comments' book where people write their thanks etc. There is even a fridge with a coin tin selling carlton colds for $1.50!

Also staying here at the moment are Julien (from France), Xavier (Taiwan) and Britany (Canada). The latter two are relatively new to the house but Julien has been here for a couple of weeks now, and is currently trying to find work. This isn't an uncommon occurrence apparently, as Liam tells me that they now have many friends across Melbourne who they originally hosted when they first got to the city.

The three housemates have never tried out couchsurfing themselves, but absolutely love hosting - as Liam says "otherwise we'd just be sitting at home bored". The house has now hosted in excess of 100 travellers and, as they boast, they are now quite well connected for when they head off to europe at the end of the year. Germany, France, Sweden, New Zealand, England and even Madagascar - they have welcomed tourists from all across the world with an attitude of 'if there's room we'll take them'.

It really is like nothing else i have ever seen.

Anyway, I'm off to go do a bit more exploring of Melbourne - i think a couple of English guys are arriving here today as well so that should make things a bit more interesting.

until tomorrow x

Diary of a Couchsurfer #1

Okay! So tomorrow morning i set off on my couchsurfing odyssey, and to be honest i'm pretty excited. It's been a wild ride getting to this point, but i'm fairly sure i will have somewhere to sleep tomorrow night ... hopefully. maybe.

ahhh i'm sure i'll be fine? that's all part of it isn't it? I'm hopefully splitting my time between two different houses - the first one, an american student living and studying in melbourne for two nights, and then i think i'm moving across to his mates' place: a crazy couchsurfing party house. should be interesting.

I'm excited to see melbourne, as well as to maybe see a side of it that people don't usually see, maybe meet a few cool people along the way.

I'm going to try and document the whole thing on my trusty laptop, and turn it into some kind of amazing video diary.

anyway, i have to go pack!
until next time!

alex

International CouchSurfing Day!

It has just come to my attention that there is an International CouchSurfing Day! While perusing my favourite travel blog/website, Gadling (something I often do when I don't want to do my readings) I thought I might as well do a search for CouchSurfing and I stumbled across this article.

Sadly we've already missed it for the year, but what does this say about the extent to which the online couchsurfing world has infiltrated the physical world around us?

Australia Day, International Pirate Day, Christmas Day and now, CouchSurfing Day!?

the constant struggle of finding a host.

So I have now begun my search to find who will house me. its harder than i thought. First realisation: despite the external mantra of 'everyone's a family' i can't help but feel that isn't the case. Requesting a bed is kind of ... awkward - i feel as though the person on the other end is judging every syllable i've written. Also: i think people just 'ignore' the people that they don't want to be involved with, much in the same way that you might awkwardly 'remove from events' an invite on facebook.

Second realisation: beggars can't be choosers! A free bed is a free bed and needs to be viewed as such!

the search continues!

Site Map!

site map is done and ready to go! it's good to actually have a proper template that we can reference and build upon to work through all our ideas! check it out!

Investigating online behaviour and interaction

In this post:

* Presenting yourself online
* Interactive features for our site
* Fun links!

=================================

One aspect of our upcoming site will investigate how online communities - such as CouchSurfing - have responded to and facilitated a change in social interaction.

It is often said that our modern world is less conducive to building relationships with strangers. But online media has fundamentally altered the way we relate to people we don't know. The very premise of CouchSurfing is that you can entrust a stranger from the other side of the world to come and stay in your home - and all arranged via an online relationship.

We'll be examining how to best present yourself in this online community - what your profile says about you, how to construct it to attract a certain Couchsurfer, and what to look for in others' profiles. We'll present this via an interactive visual profile.

We'll also be looking at a fun and interactive way of demonstrating some of the difficulties of this new type of relationship. The website http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/ has garnered a large following, publishing thousands of notes - mostly between aggrieved flatmates - about the trivialities of living with other people.

Our plan is to combine this concept with another online phenomenon - http://www.bureauofcommunication.com/ - which allows you to create your own apologies, invitations, and other forms based on pre-formed templates. We would apply this concept to allow users to create their own passive-aggressive notes, and we would publish the best ones to the website.

It's a simple and entertaining way of illustrating some of the frustrations that can arise when CouchSurfing, or traveling with others.

More to come, stay tuned.

Koziol

thanks fiona!

OK, I just saw the list of links Fiona left us on Alex's post. Definitely looking into that tomorrow, looks like gold.

where's your sense of couchsurfing spirit?

On a completely different topic and possible area of interest, there has a tangible backlash against couchsurfing both as a concept and as a brand in the online travel community. The scandals Pip alludes to in her post are of course the most ostensible examples of bad press, making it all the way to more traditional media reportage, but there is no shortage of more stock criticism in some online fora. For instance, one blog, All that is wrong with the world, contains a lengthy discussion entitled ‘A criticism of Couchsurfing and review of alternatives’ in which the author makes known his disdain for, among other things, continual reference by couchsurfers to “couchsurfing spirit”. This, the author explains, is ”in practice in a close-minded, naïve and unrealistically optimistic outlook on life” espoused by “Super-Hippies”, the kind of crowd couchsurfing allegedly attracts.

It appears, then, that not everyone online who is interested in travel or even specifically interested in this kind of social travel experience is necessarily attracted to the sense of community which at least some elements the couchsurfing community enjoy.

After reading this particular blog (sic) I am starting to see this site becoming not just an analysis of couchsurfing as an online phenomenon but also an examination of the ‘community’ it creates and encourages, as well the rules and norms therein. This includes alleged stigma attached to negatively reviewing a couchsurfing host, although I am yet to research that particular area. Is someone else on that?

couchsurfing and finance.

Everything I’ve written to this point is, of course, only useful if we broaden our concept beyond the couchsurfing phenomenon, which is looking increasingly unlikely. With that in mind, I want to look at some possible feature angles and share some of my own ideas, but I’ve broken them up into two posts so people can give feedback on individual sections.

While it is tempting to look only at the social side of couchsurfing and understanding it as yet another clever use of the internet to bring people together, it’s important to consider the effect it has had on the billion-dollar hostel industry as the traditional port of call for younger/tighter-budget travelers. A recent article from Reportage Online does not see it necessarily as a threat to the hostel’s survival, but certainly envisages a decline in hostels’ share in the backpacker market (ideally to be replaced by the rise of the more lucrative “flashpacker”).

Beyond the obvious financial appeal of a free bed, I think it’s important that we try to understand what the appeal is in organizing travel socially rather than by more traditional commercial models. Also the extent to which hostel and other budget travel organizations (e.g. YHA, Contiki) have attempted to network socially to combat or replicate the success of couchsurfing, why they have done this and whether their success has been comparable.

the gameplan.

During our team meeting today it dawned on us that it was all well and good to do an exposition on couchsurfing and the like, but how could we really do it honestly and properly if none of us had ever actually tried it?

So with that I have courageously volunteered my services for the cause, to help us get a better understanding of the couchsurfing phenomenon! Now, my first preference was Hawaii - Jetstar even has a sale on right now. But, following a bit of research I discovered that we don't actually have a "budget" for this little production, and being the poor struggling university students we are I have downgraded my ambition to Melbourne. Considering I am probably the only Sydney University Arts student that hasn't been to Melbourne and realised that the culture is like, soooooooooo amazing down there, it will for all intents and purposes be a foreign experience.

STEP ONE!

Join the couchsurfing community - CHECK!

STEP TWO!

Edit my profile so that someone might actually want to host me - CHECK... errr, wait hang on

STEP THREE!

Find a willing compatriot in Melbourne ready to host yours truly and (hopefully) talk about their CS experiences - WORKING ON IT!

From this experience, I am hoping to develop a feature on a) what makes a good online 'couchsurfing profile' that would make someone want to host you, as well as b) the experience itself! Does online translate into real life? Can something meaningful really come of nothing?

If nothing else, hopefully i'll get a few free nights accommodation in Melbourne...

food for thought.

One of the most interesting aspects of the couch surfing phenomenon is the way in which it brings together the 'online' world with the physical one. Much has been written about people adopting particular online personas, however CS works - and only works - when people are up front and honest about a) their lives, interests etc and b) their intentions. The online vulnerability of children and the technologically ignorant has been well documented, however CS exposes that even the most thorough and switched on can be taken advantage of. Take for example the story of a chinese tourist who was allegedly raped by a man she had met through the couch surfing website. The couch surfing community is built around the concept of people helping people, yet this case shows that ill-intentioned people can infiltrate even the most well-intentioned of groups.

When a user has been sufficiently 'verified' by the couchsurfing.com they are given a small green tick in the corner of their profile picture, supposedly meaning that they can be trusted. But is it enough? Can we, as rational and sensible social beings, wholeheartedly trust relatively unknown John Citizen to house us and look after us based solely on a small 'about me' and a little green tick?

just couchsurfing?

I am 21 years old and I have travelled to over 30 countries, both on my own funds and with family. I have stayed in hostels, hotels, airport floors and the family homes of total strangers whose language I could not speak. I honestly love travelling and the vast array of experiences and adventures it can offer.

With that in mind, and to speak frankly for a moment, I am a little concerned about the fact that we seem to be focusing exclusively on the budget end of travel and generalizing as a result. Considering the trend in our posting and (sorry folks, unblogged) team meetings, you could be forgiven for thinking that not only is travel agency dead, but also the hotel, the hostel, business class air travel, and luggage weighing over 5kg. They are not; the safety and luxury of other forms of accommodation will always be in demand for those seeking that kind of experience and comfort. That isn’t to say, however, that these types of travel haven’t changed as a result of interface with online services, and this is something I would really like to see explored in our piece as Pip suggests (unless we do decide to restrict it to couchsurfing alone).

Referencing an article from MIT’s Sloan Review (to which I have as yet been unable to gain full access beyond the abstract through the university), Wikipedia’s article on travel agency suggests that the internet has contributed to the downfall of many value-added intermediary services, including travel agency. This disintermediation, it is argued, stems from travel and hospitality businesses increasingly using their websites as primary points of interaction with potential clients and, subsequently, as points of sale. What, then, remains of travel agency as a profession? Has it actually benefited in any way from interaction with the internet, or could it be becoming another redundant profession?

Watch this space for a (potential) video interview with my friend Roz from Jetset, who has agreed in principle to help us out.

Until then, YouTube hasn’t been particularly forthcoming with illustrative videos on this particular subject, so here’s what my mum thought couchsurfing was:

note: how not to couchsurf.

Couchsurfing?

Couchsurfing. Everyone has heard of it... maybe some of us have even done it. Last week one of my best friends played host to a famously attractive Dutch girl he randomly encountered and the airport, and I'm fairly certain that he's hoping she'll return the favour (she turned out to have a 'long term boyfriend', but that's beside the point...). For those unacquainted with the intricated details of this traveller's art, here is a little video to get you up to speed...



Now, Couch surfing in it's most basic format has existed for as long as people have been travelling; where do you think Alexander crashed every time he took over a new city? (well, for those that he didn't burn down at least) The internet and new media has seen the single greatest restructuring of this age old tradition, as scabs and paupers world wide no longer need to struggle with the hassles of trying to organise a bed by snail mail or international telephone calls, or even know the person who's pad they intend to crash.

The online Couchsurfing website has been marvellously successful at linking likeminded travellers out to save a few bucks, boasting over three and a half million positive couchsurfing experiences. Truly, this is a phenomenon worth a few moments of thought.

What leads people to just blindly trust the people they meet online to house them safely and without issue? And for that matter ... just how safe is it to couchsurf? At face value it seems like a fantastic idea but delve a little deeper and cracks start to show - one traveller posted this reflection on the Lonely Planet forums site.

The internet and new media have irrevocably changed this landscape, but for the better? to be continued...

ACME Blog and Travel's Core

Partial to its symbiotic relationship to the evolutionary nature of online media, the face of travel is constantly changing and adapting to meet the needs of a growing digital audience. Where once the average traveler would need to discuss and organize plans through a local agent - conducted through face to face meetings - travelers of today have the tools of the internet readily available at their fingertips, ensuring that anyone in any corner of the world can organize a trip within minutes.

But with this digital travel revolution comes an abundance of websites claiming to provide the best travel advice and accommodation, to such an extent that audiences are inundated with information and agencies that claim no responsibility for traveler's insurance or safety. Indeed, ACME Blog and Travel is an investigation into these very concerns. Understanding that the nature of travel will only continue to evolve parallel to the internet revolution, our website will not only seek to explore the ways that travel has undoubtedly changed but will crucially examine key online sites that claim to aid travelers. ACME Blog and Travel’s main concern is to provide the internet user with detailed and researched information that can supply a traveler with crucial knowledge into the nature of these sites and what they offer.

Perhaps the biggest benefactor of travel’s new online nature is the phenomenon known as ‘Couch Surfing’. Couchsurfing.org is fast becoming a hit with young globetrotters who are looking to share experiences, cultures, and their couch. Since its conception six years ago, this social networking site which makes it possible to stay in a local’s home in just about any country in the world, has attracted over two million members. This free travel website has opened up a world of opportunity for ‘surfers’ and those wanting to travel cheaply, but how has this affected not only the billon dollar backpacking industry but the very nature of a travelers journey and their awareness of travel experiences?

The organizers of ‘Couch Surfing’ claim no responsibility for the experiences of their users – be that experience good or bad. Rather, this site is based upon member and user ratings of specific ‘Couch Surfing’ sites that the user must research by themselves and for themselves before them embark on their journey. This form of ratings has remained un-changed even though claims of rape, sexual abuse and poor quality of sites have been expressed. What ACME Blog and Travel is concerned with is the nature of this site, how it works and how it crucially does not work properly by providing their audience with all the information available. We hope to discuss and examine these issues with members and even organizers of the ‘Couch Surfing’ site that will allow us to investigate the nature of this online travel website.

It is content similar to this exploratory nature of the ‘Couch Surfing’ site that we hope to provide on ACME Blog and Travel. Information that investigates the authority and usefulness of any website claiming to aid you in travel needs must surely be beneficial to members of all ages. In fact, the wide range of generations that will use our website will to some extent determine the layout of our page. Understandable to those with both a broad and small knowledge of the world wide web itself, ACME Blog and Travel will use both simple yet innovative online tools to provide the user with the best possible information and virtual experience. Feature articles and updates into certain internet sites and their travel claims will provide the backdrop for our home page, while tabs will lead users to certain travel investigative pieces – such as ‘Couch Surfing’.

Finally, ACME Blog and Travel understands its own role in the formation and development of travel’s changing online nature. Examining a subject and agencies that allow for our very website even to exist, ACME Blog and Travel does not seek to add to this ever growing pool that will continue to change the face of travel but rather consider and investigate the very nature of online travel now and how current sites add to this experience. 

New! ACME B'n'S!

offering you the best value in both the blog racket and the shovel racket!