Art307 ENTRY: Jaclyn

Chat Roulette is a risk, but quite an entertaining one at that. Chatroulette.com is a website that utilizes your computer camera to connect you to a live video feed of another person on the site. This program offers an interesting and spontaneous form of interaction. When you first give the site permission to use your computer's camera, it immediately begins locating another user. A live video feed is displayed on your screen. You may either verbally communicate to the other person, instant message them, or click the "next" button to disconnect and search for another random user.

The majority of users are between 16-30 years old, as I have witnessed in my travels. I have seen people from all over the world, including Italy, Brazil, Argentina, and Spain. It seems as though most people attend this site just to see what happens, curious about the possibilities of who might show up next on their computer monitor. There is no way for someone else to find out information about you, unless you personally provide them with it. Once your temporary video conference ends, you will most likely never see them again.

Of course it is difficult to monitor the visuals of the spontaneous users, and therefore inappropriate or disturbing incidences can occur. It is best to approach Chat Roulette knowing this fact, and to be ready to click the "next" button if necessary.

This is basically a unique form of entertainment, allowing people to enjoy themselves in addition to the people on the other side of the video feed. Here is an example of a man playing the piano, cleverly improvising his lyrics to match the random people that connected via Chat Roulette: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTwJetox_tU