the reason why

My original idea, yesterday, before I get swept into the current project I am working on, was to discuss Don Hazen's review of Jeffrey Chester's new book 'Digital Destiny: New Media and the Future of Democracy' on alternet.org.

One of his best paragraphs gets to the core of things:
But to really stay up-to-speed, you might also need a bunch of RSS feeds, social network updates; hourly checks of Technorati top blogs; Google alerts for breaking headlines; an instant messenger that logs into AOL, Yahoo, GoogleTalk and MSN simultaneously; and some widgets for your friends' Web sites to spread the word about what you think is important. And, of course, you will need a Crackberry so you don't miss any of it while you're driving to work in the morning.

I was checking in on Mindy McAdams page after coming up for air today and I read her entry on 'Getting (and keeping) a job in journalism. She writes about the general shift of news to the internet and how some newspapers and organization are and aren’t dealing with the paradigm shift. Amen sister.

Both Mindy and Don highlight some of the major currents in today’s society. But I come back, after working for a few days in Flash, to remembering why I became a journalist in the first place: people. We might be able to surf the web, but if we are not out in the 'biomass' telling stories and listening then something is missing. If there is a danger of some becoming iPod People™ while others have no access to the internet and news, then what have we accomplished?

So, get up to speed, but don’t forget to get your feet wet with humanity.