Hello! Is There Anybody Out There!

I read an article online today. If you care to do the same: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/06/opinion/06mathias.html

It made me think: Do we really communicate when we use Facebook or MySpace? It seems like we do. It would appear that there's a dialogue between people, that it is conversational. On person posts a wall post, then someone else does the same back. But is there real interaction?

Maybe not. Maybe we just post on people's walls so that we'll look cool ourselves. How many birthday greetings can you read, really? Is there any value in reading what somebody ate for dinner last night?

Facebook and MySpace make people stars in their own little worlds. That world is a world of voyeurs. People aren't speaking to each other; they're speaking at one another. I would say that the majority of the time a spend on Facebook, I'm just looking at other people's pages - anonymously - and absorbing what they have posted to their page. It's not interaction. It's entertainment. It's like TV, only the people on the screen you know and have met in your life.

It may be that Facebook is another way to hide from social interaction.

Anyway, there are 6 days left to enter Knight News Challenge. Your idea could be the solution to the problem I've detailed above. And it could be worth a lot of moolah, too. http://www.newschallenge.org

Procrastination... not good for you, I hear.

Hi.

My name is Anthony. I am 21 years old and attend University of Miami.

Over the summer, I was an intern at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Now I consult for them.

So they have this contest that I'm supposed to be promoting for. It's called Knight News Challenge (http://www.newschallenge.org). You can win a lot of money. Ever seen Duck Tales? When Scrooge McDuck dives into the vault of gold coins? That kind of money.

Basically, you write Knight (hey, that rhymes!) a proposal for an idea that 1). improves community news using, 2). digital technology. There's some other rules, but look them up on the site. This is my blog and I do what I want. (On that note, if there are any spelling or gramatical errors, assume that I wanted to make them,)

Problem is, there are only two weeks left to enter this bad boy. The deadline is October 15. Now, if you're young like me, you'll probably wait until 11:15 pm Oct. 14 to write your proposal. Don't do that. That's bad.

I mean, look at me. I could have told you this stuff weeks ago. But here I am, two weeks away, letting you know the score. Procrastination is bad for you. It's like the unofficial national pastime. If procrastination required actually doing something, it could be the official national pastime. But it's not. So stop doing it.

Or, even better, start doing stuff. Like enter Knight News Challenge.

I will update our story daily. In the meantime, visit http://www.newschallenge.org to enter. That is, if there's anyone reading this.

Anthony