Unemployed at the Mountain View Public Library, 2001
My name is Danny and I took a job at a technology startup in Mountain View, CA after finishing my bachelor’s degree in 1999. I arrived to experience the insane euphoria at the very tip of the technology boom at the dawn of the third millennium, and I also experienced the rough ride down when the bubble burst in 2001.
I have long been thinking there is an interesting story in there, and it is a story that ought to be told. I have no flair for fiction, so I am thinking to interview folks who were around then, and compile a collection of stories about what people experienced.
I would say this project is still in the concept stage. I would appreciate advice and assistance in the following areas:
- Photography: portraits of interview subjects, and an appropriate “banner” image for this web site.
- Interviewing: mentoring or advice on how to interview well. (I am a newbie.)
- Interview subjects: no shortage of these, but if you think someone has an expecially good story . . . and I’d like to interview some people who aren’t male engineers.
- Good questions: what would you ask someone who made it through the boom and bust?
Once the project starts to move, I am thinking to interview a new subject every week or two, for about an hour, somewhere they feel comfortable talking. Afterward I would like to transcribe the interview and edit it down to what I hope would be a reasonably interesting small piece of our collective history. I would prefer to have a few interviews done before I get too seriously in to editing and publishing. That way I might better identify the more unique and interesting parts of people’s stories.
If this project interests you, please drop me a line. My e-mail is: dannyman@toldme.com.
