AROUNDA-what?

AROUNDAWORLD is a fun experiment with a simple objective: "walk" around the world from the comfort of your home. No matter where you are in the world, a simple gesture of the mouse will help move the group forward.

2020 has been a harsh year. One, where faith and respect towards humanity have eroded to their lowest of levels. While I am aware that my little experiment will hardly make a difference, it is a small step towards bringing those values back where they used to be. I hope it to be a lesson in how to work towards a common goal together.

What is the story behind the project?

AROUNDAWORLD originally started out as a technical demo. I needed a use case to demonstrate the capabilties of Phoenix LiveView, and what one could achieve with the minimum amount of code on the frontend. It turned out to be a great technical showcase: with as little as 20 lines of JavaScript code, I managed to achieve what entire dedicated frontend and backend teams spend months getting right. Not every Web site or application needs to turn into a distributed system, just to get some interactivity and realtime capabilities. I hope that the experience demonstrates this point well.

During the work on this project, however, I realized that my motivation to get it done goes beyond the mere demonstration of a framework's technical capabilities. The idea to bring people together to achieve a common goal became more and more empowering. It was this motivation that led to where the project is today.

How can one contribute to the project?

Anyone is free to participate in the experiment and play for as long as they feel like. Participation is free and anonymous.

Those who would like to contribute to the project in other means, or would simply like to get in contact with me, can do so using the form below: