"BIG Surf CyberCafe"

"Online" - The Big Idea - January/February 1996
by Bayard Saunders
(Photographs by Dave Gusho - Screen Captures by Craig Gillikin)

Online has been about creating places - digital, virtual places, with information, shopping or entertainment for people to visit online. What's new is seeing a virtual place online become a real place offline. And just like the fresh coffee, it happens everyday at the new BIG Surf CyberCafe in Birmingham.

The concept of a "CyberCafe" is quite simple: it is a coffeehouse, with computers connected to the Internet, for which the patrons pay a modest fee to "surf" (visit virtual places on the World Wide Web) between sips of coffee or juice, and perhaps a pastry. But like any good coffeehouse, and like the Internet itself, it is not so much the surroundings as the people who make it worthwhile.

The people responsible for this first move in Michigan from the virtual to actual world are from the Birmingham Internet Group (BIG). They have a website (www.bigweb.com), and provide consulting and digital production services, as well as training on the Internet; and now, along with their offices, they have a snack bar and cappuccino machine.

Who hangs-out in the outrageous surroundings of the "beach house" (a wonderful Jimmy Buffet-nightmare-inspired decor, by Roth and Phister of Colorado, complete with heavy rattan furniture and surfboards on the walls)? Mary Clare Pulte, one of the owners along with her husband Robert, says you'd be surprised. "Its a great mixture... businessmen, students, artists, just coffee drinkers, etc. And on an average day, at least half are women. And on weekends, parents with children in the morning, and couples at night finding CyberCafe a great place for an out-of-the-ordinary-date. It is even better when we have events like our art gallery openings and live concerts on the Internet."

You'll also find leaders in the Detroit online community, and curious computer novices, and at least one poet on the premises at all times, a coffeehouse license requirement. But the knowledgeable staff keep the poets at bay, and are very helpful when it comes to explaining and assisting patrons new to the Internet. Pulte compares the hesitancy some people feel about getting online with the public reaction to the first automatic teller machines at banks in the early 1980's. I know that I haven't had to see a human bank clerk in five years.

Dan Barron, another of the owners, who describes himself as "Chief Conceptual Officer," takes the blame for having "the BIG Idea" (thanks, Dan!) to do the cafe, and for writing the business plan. "We looked at a number of existing CyberCafe models: Cyberia in London (www.easynet.co.uk), @Cafe (www.flynet.com) and the InternetCafe (www.bigmagic.com) in New York, and Cybersmith (www.cybersmith.com) in Boston," says Barron. "Our final design incorporates all the best elements, and we're talking now about franchising our concept."

Barron is much too busy these days grappling with the issues facing any new business in the first stages of growing pains, and admits to being behind in his surfing, but likes some of the work being done by other Detroit-area web-creators, like Crain's Detroit Business (bizserve.com/crains) and Orbit (www.orby.com/orbit). But Mike Walsh, also an owner, thinks the Birmingham Internet Group (BIG) clients' web sites are the best of the net. He and Barron agree that you should, "Look at the Detroit Tigers (www.bigweb.com/mall/tig), the Redwings (www.bigweb.com/mall/redwings), The Planet 96.3 FM (www.bigweb.com/mall/planet), For Sale By Owner (www.bigweb.com/mall/buyowner), and the Great Lakes Buffalo Company (www.bigweb.com/mall/buffalo)! "

The art adorning the walls is by world-renown Detroit-area "micropointilist" artists, Lowell Boileau (www.oeonline.com/~lboileau) and Stephen Goodfellow (www.oeonline.com/~sgoodf/sg.html), who also designed some of the web pages for clients of the Birmingham Internet Group (www.bigweb.com/webcon/websample.html), and according to Walsh are incorporating the latest in emerging technology online including RealAudio sound clips, Java animation program "applets," and multimedia Director-based presentations (see "New Tools for Online Carpenters," The BIG Idea, November-December 1995).

Walsh says BIG is looking forward in 1996 to a live concert "netcast" over the Internet, the debut of new VideoTeleconferencing for web sites, new cyber-art gallery opening nights, a radio show on location from the CyberCafe, and the opening of new CyberCafes in other locations/venues.

Barron's advice for creatives who want to develop their online expertise? "Attend BIGWeb seminars, start a creative's user group and have regular meetings, read any of the dozens of new internet magazines and books (and, of course, The BIG Idea). Get online, stay online, live online."

Bayard Saunders is Vice President, Strategic Director of Interactive Technology at Ross Roy Communications, and President of the Michigan Internet Association. Visit him online at bayard@oeonline.com

To get on-line call:

• America Online - (800) 827-6364
• CompuServe - (800) 848-8199
• Prodigy - (800) 776-3449
• Delphi - (800) 695-4005
• Michigan BizServe - (313) 761-8742
• Microsoft - (206) 882-8080
• Netcom - (800) 501-8649
• Greater Detroit Freenet - (810) 691-7077