
Dutch Girl Fakes a Trip to South East Asia - theoutlander
http://www.gapyear.com/news/230749/dutch-girl-fakes-a-trip-to-se-asia
======
qopp
Another interesting take on this in my opinion is that no one recognized the
places that she went to. Perhaps people don't realize that interesting
destinations exist in their home towns.

~~~
dopamean
This is the first thing I thought. Given a sufficiently large city and a
sufficiently disinterested friend group I think it's possible to pull this off
in many places. I have friends who have grown up in New York and never been to
the Met. I'm fairly certain I could convince them I was at the Louvre.

~~~
tripzilch
People could possibly pull that off with me even for museums I have been to a
few years ago. I won't remember all the paintings, I won't really remember all
the interior room styles (even when they are pretty unique, a few single
photos usually don't capture that, unless you do it on purpose). Even if I saw
a painting that I'm sure I've seen somewhere else, they do move/loan them to
different expositions over time, I've seen that happen in reality too (I'd
remark on that, hey I think I've seen that one at museum X--ok, maybe that's
when I would start to get a clue).

Add to that the fact that you simply don't _expect_ to be lied to in such a
straightforward manner, I see no shame in being able to be fooled in this way.

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jonknee
What an amazing plot twist it would be if she actually had gone to Asia and
ended up faking that she faked the trip.

~~~
golergka
She would loose the credit for the project if the school found out though.

~~~
bvaldivielso
But the project could actually be how easy it is to manipulate the media

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jonknee
She's actually attending the M. Night Shyamalan school of art.

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clay_to_n
Love this. Very cool project, even if, as pointed out already in this thread,
it was emulated from the Leeds 13's own fake trip.

Also fascinating how hostile some of the commenters are here. The project
explores the illusion social media sites create. I think it's pretty cool.

~~~
chrismcb
What "illusions" do social media sites create? I don't see what this has to do
with social media. Other than it makes it a bit more difficult to pull off.
Because you need to make posts over the time period.

~~~
dllthomas
I think it's more accurately "the illusions we create within social media
sites" \- if someone can do this, what subtle misrepresentations are we
creating (with or without thinking about it)? Certainly, it is _not_ unique to
"social media sites", but an attribute of social interaction in general.
Social sites just reify and persist that interaction in a form suitable for
this kind of a project.

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bruceb
I am actually surprised the travel industry isn't on facebook more. How many
more travel pics do we see now then before fb?

~~~
jsolson
The thought occurred during a recent vacation I took: if I tried to show my
friends and family my vacation photos after the trip it would be a classic
sitcom groan moment, but by posting during the trip I get past their defenses.
Their need to compulsively 'like' things kicks in, and they unwittingly view
the whole trip anyway.

~~~
px1999
The medium is the message - it's the context that changes the meaning.

Sitting everyone down for pictures is almost gloating; but when you remove the
obligations, people's desires to be nice, helpful and curious kick in so they
take a look and click like.

But yeah, I'm surprised that companies involved in travel aren't all over
social media. My only guess is that it might be difficult to change the
messaging from "travel is exciting" to "travel with Xyz travels pty ltd is
exciting" because of the industry's commoditization.

~~~
toyg
Some travel-related companies are "all over social media". Tripadvisor had
some success with their FB apps showing "cities I've visited" etc.

To be honest, it's just that social media already does most of the job for
them, for free (travelers post pictures on their own, nowadays even tagging
the location or establishment), so why push it?

~~~
omouse
Because you want people to link directly to the trip or vacation or hotel or
airline that they used. People usually don't mention it, they mention the
destination.

~~~
MattHeard
I've found that a lot of people are using Facebook to share airline deals with
each other.

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dllthomas
[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cheapassgames/stuff-
and...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cheapassgames/stuff-and-nonsense)

~~~
KnightHawk3
How does this relate to the topic?

~~~
kaonashi
The first paragraph:

You and your friends are globetrotting explorers. Or so you say. Actually, you
are all liars and cowards, and despite your claims to the contrary, you've
never left London.

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asifjamil
Cool experiment, but not letting your family in on it? Not sure how this will
affect future trust issues...

~~~
gdubs
It was for research. If it were my daughter, I'd be both impressed and proud.
Besides, most college students represent a different reality to their parents
than the one they actually live.

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swartkrans
I don't know, I'd be pretty worried about my daughter if she were in another
continent. I'd want the hotel information, I'd send her extra money. I'd be
reading up on news in that area.

I doubt I would be angry to find out it was a university project and she never
went anywhere, but whatever I would feel probably wouldn't end up being
pleasant. Maybe it wouldn't be bad, but the stress put on the parents doesn't
seem right. I don't think children know how much parents care about them
sometimes.

~~~
coldtea
> _I don 't know, I'd be pretty worried about my daughter if she were in
> another continent. I'd want the hotel information, I'd send her extra money.
> I'd be reading up on news in that area._

She was in university, not 14 years old.

~~~
hueving
You're right. Traveling alone in several foreign countries for more than a
month as someone just out of high school is completely safe. There is no
reason a parent would have to worry about their kid doing that.

~~~
coldtea
> _You 're right. Traveling alone in several foreign countries for more than a
> month as someone just out of high school is completely safe._

First strawman. I never said it's "completely safe". Staying in your parents
house is not "completely safe" either. You can fall of the stairs for example,
or get an electric shock. Or they can bore you to death by overprotection.

However such travelling is perfectly common. Tons of young people go
backpacking in several foreign countries (you say it as "foreign country"
means danger. In actuallity going to places like e.g Paris, Denmark or
Singapore is a heck of a lot safer than staying home in Baltimore, Atlanta or
Los Angeles).

Besides "just out of high school" translates eighteen, so it's not a "kid"
anymore (heck, in most countries, it also legally an adult). Heck, eighteen
year olds were conscribed in most major wars, including Vietnam.

> _There is no reason a parent would have to worry about their kid doing
> that._

Of course there's a reason: being over-protective. A little worrying is OK.
The BS "I'll be reading the news for that part of the world" (for what? In
case there was some avalance or earthquake or armed robbery and a news story
mentions their child?) is not.

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Sami_Lehtinen
I wonder what measures she took to simulate network latency. That's one of the
things, that's going to immediately rat you out, if you're not where you're
supposed to be.

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Kartificial
For what its worth, she mentioned in a television show that she got a 7 (out
of 10) mark for the project, which was people thought was rather low. The fact
is that she does a kind of art study and that the teacher was not all to
impressed with the 'art' she created for the project.

~~~
zwischenzug
Reminds me of this:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_13](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeds_13)

Some Leeds art students faked a trip to Malaga on student grant money. Caused
great outrage. I was friends with one of the 13. He dined out on it for a
while, had a whale of a time.

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J0415
Here's a post with more pictures: [http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/this-
woman-used-photos...](http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/this-woman-used-
photoshop-to-convince-her-family-that-she-we)

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coppolaemilio
As seen on: Random people fakes a great weekend posting pictures of smiling
people holding drinks on nightclubs.

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malkia
Reminds of this -
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University's_histo...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason_University's_historical_hoaxes)

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gargalatas
Nope, sea water cannot mirror like this on a photo. It's obvious that it is in
a [probably indoors] pool.

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notahacker
She'd have probably enjoyed the real South East Asia more

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KhalilK
In the spirit of the increasing Facebook dependency,
[http://99daysoffreedom.com/](http://99daysoffreedom.com/)

~~~
igl
I am already off Facebook since a few months. The first 2 weeks I caught
myself opening a new tab typing 'face' and then realizing I deactivated my
account. I just moved to a new city which breaks my old ties even faster. But
my really good friends call me now and that feels really good!

Next up: 99 days without hackernews :)

~~~
jacquesm
> Next up: 99 days without hackernews :)

I'll bet you that will be a _lot_ harder to do than breaking with facebook. So
far I haven't managed.

~~~
KhalilK
noprocrast would help ;)

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garysvpa
Interesting!

She is so cool and smart.

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frozenport
I don't see the modernity of the project because she used traditional methods
like setting up a complete scene and photographing herself. Perhaps a more
modern variant is to make lots of posts from a south Asian chat room to
convince people your are from South Asia?

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skepcie9279
LOVE the experience and HER for most TRAVEL is over-rated. LONG time New York
City, NY, USA. Seen the tunnel doors under the Columbia University campus ....
but then, i was a student.

Go to the factory parties in Brooklyn and ride my bicycle through the POLISH
Greenpoint section with the Catholic statues and shrines in the house or
apartment yard or garden.

SHAME ON YOU for only thinking the experiment or sociology review or comment
on Facebook is ABOUT FOOLING YOUR FRIENDS.

In general, most of your FRIENDS are DUMBER than you are and even test lower
on the IQ scale.

ITS ALL ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE. Can you get a real Chinatown street food - yummy
bizarre food high? Without going to Bangkok? Without jet lag? without high
amount of expense?

Sure scuba diving in the Caribbean is a high point of life. But I spent most
time looking behind me for there were sharks / barracuda etc. So, experience
and MILEAGE WILL VARY GREATLY.

CONCLUSION: no suprise, you ignoramousses. Read the book on globalization. In
Florida you can hear the NATIVE INDIAN from Mexico who has NO PAPERS who is
working construction IN FLORIDA.

Many friends have never been to the Metropolitan MUSEUM of NYC, NY, USA - post
link. HUNGARIAN movies and cheap student films were shot at the Hungarian
Coffee Shop right near St. John the Divine Church. Location is close to 116th
street. Columbia University.

Here's proof. Simply come up with ONE HUNDRED QUESTIONS for a reality movie
/documentary / March of the Penguins in Antartica etc.

MOST OF THE COLLEGE GRADUATES are clueless! Are they living in a Matrix? Are
MOST OF THE PENGUINS EXACTLY the same and 95% or ninety five percent of all
penguins seen are MALE?

Something is wrong, because "the illusion social media" or rather the
DEPENDENCE UPON VIRTUAL or almost reality.

PS. look carefully at the MONK PICTURES. DO you see Waldo? that is a joke. Do
YOU SEE FIVE THINGS WRONG? are the light spectrum color variation appropriate?

Does water swirl down the drain in a counter-clockwise direction?

SHAVING HEAD USING A MODERN DAY RAZOR? some teeth filled with gold by dentist
while in the US they use verneers and coverings and 'silver amalgam'?

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QuantumChaos
_> The reasons behind her actions, however, are noble: it was all part of a
university project, in which she wanted to show how Facebook activity is not
necessarily reflective of real life._

I don't think doing academic research is a carte-blanch to lie to people. One
girl might do this sort of thing for the ego boost of appearing cool. But what
about the ego boost academics get from pulling this kind of trick on other
people.

~~~
hashbazz
Every time someone posts to Facebook, it's a lie. All of Facebook is a lie. No
ones posts all of the details of their lives, especially the ugly details, or
the uncomfortable details, or the embarrassing ones. This student set out to
underscore that fact, and I am tickled that she did so quite effectively.

~~~
QuantumChaos
Selectively providing information is not equivalent to lying.

~~~
jacquesm
That's the second time in a week that I come across that statement on HN.
You'd be surprised how the rest of the world views lies of omission, hint: not
kindly.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
Lying by omission is not the same thing as not mentioning irrelevancies.

