This insightful simile was rapper JuiceBoxxx's response to Dirt Party, which eloquently and succinctly sums up the interesting reality that makes the project possible. Take just about any 12 to 26 year old in the devloped world who can operate a computer, and with just a little clever Googling, you're bound to dig up bits of personal and potentially embarassing information that would make anyone not of the Internet generation blush.
Dirt Party both celebrates and questions the openness and generosity of the Internet generation by taking their personal information and spinning it into a presentation for their own entertainment in real time. Using both automated and human-powered searching, we assemble photos and gossip, and try to make people confront their online persona, which is often quite different from their real-world persona.
The first Dirt Party took place at the Eyebeam 10th Anniversary benefit in May of 2007 and the theme was "Celebrity Mashup". Party goers found the installation to be a fun ice breaker, and soon began giving their own gossip reports at the event.
The second Dirt Party took place in May of 2008 at the Futuresonic festival in Manchester, UK. The goal was to simplify the operation and the output. The workforce (or "diggers") consisted almost entirely of workers from the online labor marketplace, Mechanical Turk. The results were shown on 3 large displays throughout the conference headquarters.