A student spending a month by himself in a glass cube wants to change the world.
John Fitzsimons (22) from Newry, Co Down, aims to organise charity events or a street art exhibition from within the confines of his shopfront at the Great Northern Mall in Belfast.
His only outside contact from today will be via a phone line, broadband and BT Vision entertainment centre. “It is about making tangible things happen, can I affect the outside world?” he said.
He added: “If you enclose someone away can he still communicate and interact with them through the use of these technologies?
“At the start I was worried about how I was going to keep sane but with Bebo and Facebook and Skype it will be handy to interact with people.”
This is the first time something like this has been organised 24/7 for a month.
The film studies student from Queen’s University was accepted for the BT challenge after applying online. He has been undergoing a series of training and testing programmes to ensure he can withstand the physical isolation. The converted shop has been whitewashed. There will be a public area and a private place for Mr Fitzsimons to sleep and wash.
Peter Morris, consumer director of BT in Northern Ireland, said: “The BT experiment is an innovative and playful concept that has never been tried before and we are really excited about finding out how much impact the successful candidate makes in this once in a lifetime opportunity.”
People interact with Mr Fitzsimons through Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. There will also be a live webcam where followers can view the participant.
Diane Murphy from AV Browne Advertising said Mr Fitzsimons would be trying to influence world events. “It is something instigated by John but it happens outside so it could be something as simple as a band coming to play somewhere in Botanic Gardens but he organises it.
“It is a bit like six degrees of separation.”
PA