A few months into a three-year circumnavigation of the earth, the crew of the Starship is living the paradox of our time: technological advances like the Internet and e-mail may give us the illusion of a small world, but when you're traveling at nine knots, this planet is huge. Part of the 75-foot vessel's mission is to remind us of that vastness. The irony is that the crew is relying on technological, "small-world" advances to bring us its reminder via a Web site that is updated daily, using Windows 98 and FrontPage 98.

Going the distance, yet staying in touch
By being able to connect to someone half a world away using e-mail, we tend to lose perspective on global vastness. Starship project founder Michael Poliza puts it this way: "Distances have been lost with all the communication we have today." E-mail keeps the Starship crew in touch--not only with friends and family, but with customs officers in the next port-of-call, weather services, and people who are following the voyage through the Web site. The ship's Internet connection provides access to scientific and research information, and an additional satellite connection is dedicated solely to monitoring weather conditions.  All this information is vital for the voyage's intent to explore remote corners of the globe and document rare (and possibly undocumented) wildlife species.

Out of the box and onto the boat
The trip is sponsored in part by Microsoft, with major funding from Stern, a large news magazine in Poliza's native Germany. A small team of Microsoft volunteers spent many hours creating a high-tech, satellite-linked network aboard the Starship.  The easy part was installing the software: Windows 98 came right off the shelf, just as you would buy it from a software store.  The workstations used to post journal entries and photos to the Web have no special additions--they run Windows 98 and FrontPage 98 like in a standard office environment. Of Windows 98, Poliza says, "Some of the new features certainly make our life easier." Web integration makes maintaining the site simple, and device support features come in handy for digital imaging and other peripheral tasks. Photos come right from the underwater, digital camera to the Web site in minutes.

Honored guests are wired as well
Along the way, several world-renowned scientists and photographers will join the Starship crew to research and document some of the remote places and rare wildlife they will encounter. No laptops needed on this trip, though. Each stateroom on the Starship has a Windows 98 workstation, and anyone who comes aboard for an extended stay can get an e-mail address right there on the ship. Because all the software is familiar, standard Microsoft products, guests can be as comfortable on board as they are in their offices on land. When ichthyologist Dr. John E. McCosker joined the voyage to study the multitude of fish species around Cocos Island, he even did a guest spot in the daily journal. 

Touching lives through technology
From the Web site's guest book and through e-mail, the crew gets a total of about 80 to 100 messages a day. On some days as many as 300 to 400 messages have arrived, especially after the Starship story has been featured on a major Web site or television show. Poliza says, "The feedback is really encouraging and sometimes very moving." The crew has received e-mail from elderly, sick, and disabled individuals who keep up with the voyage by reading the daily updates on the Web. They often express feelings of living vicariously through Poliza and his shipmates. "They tell us how much it means to them the belong to our virtual family," Poliza says. "We never anticipated this kind of strong identification and bonding."

Opening our window on the world
Without all the high-tech connections, the Starship's story would be a different one. Bill Koszewski, one of the Microsoft volunteers involved with the project says, "Five years ago they would do the voyage and then there would be a magazine article. This is much more interactive, it uses the 'Net to create a new kind of experience."

When asked how he felt the voyage would be without the high-tech angle, Poliza says, "Every coin has two sides. It's become a very public thing and sometimes you think 'Couldn't we just disconnect for a while?' But the positive overwhelms the negative." Thanks to this connection, the Starship is giving those of us stuck on land a closer look at our world.

Photos by Michael Poliza