I have to admit that whilst as a student I occasionally used to stop by a local internet cafe every once in a while to check my emails, it’s been a long time since I visited one in more recent years. That said, there has been the odd occasional instance when my home broadband crashes and I’m forced to visit Cafe Da Mario across the road from where I live and pay £1.50 an hour to access his pretty fast broadband connection. Sometime’s I’m even tempted by the bacon butties on offer… but only occasionally…

If like me, you ever spent more than half an hour in an Internet cafe, you’ll realise immediately that these places are social environments, where the virtual world meets the real world: a representation of the real world wide web.

Nick Baker

UK journalist Nick Baker embarked on a global journey on behalf of the BBC’s World Service – an ambitious multi-media project to draw a map round the world, using internet cafes and the stories of the people he finds in them to guide him to his next destination.  Nick explains his mission in the video below:

“Internet cafes are like human truckstops for the world’s online traffic – serving those a long way from home.”

The project is fascinating and makes for amazing radio which examines real human stories which are both thought provoking and uplifting.

Part One

In the first programme, Nick travels to New York where internet cafes are the preserve of students. From there he travels to Yunming in southern China to find online gamers and novelists.

But in Accra in Ghana, internet cafes are less social places. It’s where people do serious business.

Depending on where you are in the world, how does the purpose and character of internet cafes change? The above podcast examines this very question.

Part Two

Nick travels to Kenya where internet cafes are informal community centres in the “informal settlements” – or slums – of Nairobi.

From there Nick travels to meet a young man called Bart in Benin – for whom a single search on the internet changed his life – he started an educational charity to help orphaned children – like him. Bart’s story is testament to the true potential of self belief and faith in humanity. Please take time out to listen – I guarantee a Sunday full of smiles if you do.

This visit provides Nick with a link to France, but with connectivity of each social hub is the journey really at an end?

For more information about the Internet Cafe Hobo, visit the BBC website here where you can also view an interactive map of Nick Baker’s travels.

The Internet Cafe Hobo is also on Twitter [@InternetCafeMan], albeit with a very modest following.

The documentary was first broadcast on BBC World Service on 23 December, 2009.

When was the last time that you dropped by your local internet cafe and what stories do you have to share with readers of this blog?

Comments (as always) below please…