I thought I'd mention that a new project has just been launched by the MacArthur Foundation that should be of interest to many of us, the Digital Media and Learning Project. The overall goal is to study how new media technologies are changing the way young people "play, socialize, and engage in civic life." I think it's safe to say that we should also be studying how young people change those media technologies themselves (as active agents). We've seen plenty of that happen, and it's the source of much of our innovation (innovation that often matters most).

This morning's Wall Street Journal reports that Google's free software bundle, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, will be pitted against MS Office, and presumably Open Office among those who are not "professional users." Official word from Google should come later today. Google's offering is more limited than both MS Office and Open Office but will likely appeal to folks who simply type, spell check and otherwise make use of the more mundane offerings found in the higher powered software packages. Unlike Open Office and MS Office, Google Docs and Spreadsheets will not be downloaded to personal computers, but will work online. I'm not sure how this will work when folks are off-line and need to work. Notepad anyone?

Although news of these two blogging events have appeared separately, it is quite useful to make note of them again, together, as an important signal of the power of the internet, specifically of bloggers and writing in the cyberworld. There was wonderful news last week about Glenn Greenwald, which also represented yet another sign of the growing, persuasive influence of writers on the internet. On the same day of the announcement that Andrew Sullivan's daily social/political commentaries on his blog, The Daily Dish, had reached over 2,000,000 readers during May, it also was reported that Greenwald's book, How Would a Patriot Act, had just made the New York Times' Best-Seller List. In addition, his book had climbed into the Top-100 of all books then being sold by Amazon.com. Greenwald is a writer who has reached a readership mainly through his blog, Unclaimed Territory.

Are you a female born from 1970-1985? If so, you are invited to participate in a study on the digital histories of females born from 1970 to 1985. This study is an online survey that should take less than 25 minutes to complete. In this study we hope to learn the following:

• What is your digital history like? That is, in what ways in the past did you use computers, the internet, and related technology and media? How do you use them now?
• When did you begin using these technologies?
• When did you begin using these technologies for writing?
•  What differences do things like age, socioeconomic class, access, and location (like urban, suburban, and rural) have on your computer use?
•  What impacts did (if applicable) college, graduate school, and career have on your use?   

If you are a female born from 1970 -1985, we welcome your input in this study. If you are not a female born from 1970 -1985, we would greatly appreciate if you would forward this study invitation to people who are eligible to participate.