Wake up, social media users, we’re crushing our creation

First we had personal web pages, blogs and forums and now we have advanced to social networking and video-sharing to enhance the global conversation.

The irony is that as more people climb aboard, to tell the world their life stories in a photo gallery or in 140 characters or less, the romance and democracy begins to fade.

With the burden of content, the true cost of this gaggle of free services is becoming more apparent.

If our cherished social media is to survive, it will do so at the cost of our patience and our privacy.

Social networking users are already tolerating a considerable amount of targeted advertising for foolish products aimed at specific age groups, genders and locations. Because I’m 23, I am offered free Ugg boots. (Yes, there’s a catch.)

Change your relationship status to single and within hours the online dating service ads appear. Is this an invasion of privacy? Not quite, you put the info out there yourself, remember. But it still feels a little creepy and underhanded.

At least on Facebook, you can usually discern the ads from the activity of your friends. The latest social networking cash grab involves people getting paid to post Twitter updates (tweets) that endorse specific products to their (supposed) friends.

The consolation is that as advertisers warm up to the web, the ads of the future might be for stuff you could actually see yourself buying.

Ed Killer: Want your own artificial reef? Try eBay

I love eBay.

Despite Craigslist and a soft global economy, the Internet’s wonderful, perpetual yard sale and auction house still is going strong.

Apparently, there always will be a market for used Iphones, slightly worn Ugg boots, a potato chip shaped like Jay Leno’s head or a jar of wind captured during Tropical Storm Fay.

In a move as creative and “outside-the-box” as it comes, the Martin County Artificial Reef Foundation — a 501c(3) organization — is hoping the cyberspace trading post will be an avenue to raise funds for the deployment of another artificial reef project this summer.

If the final details of the bidding contract can be worked out — possibly this week — eBay window shoppers will be able to place bids on having a reef named for their choosing.

The reef builders will need a bid upward of $20,000 to get the job done. That would buy a lot of waffles displaying the shape of the Virgin Mary.

Kim Sterin hosts Research Symposium at University of Maryland

Kim Sterin, a graduate of Archmere Academy, The Independence School and longtime Delaware resident, recently produced the Honors Humanities’ 2nd annual Undergraduate Research Symposium at the University of Maryland, College Park. The daylong conference was centered on the theme of “Re-imagining the Political Sphere: Critical Thought and Social Justice in Everyday Life” which aimed to engage participants in open dialogue about new approaches to politics with an investment in creating a more socially just world. The research presented reached beyond the traditional notion of politics by recognizing the political issues present in all facets of life from identity construction to popular culture. It featured 14 panel discussions and a keynote speaker, Dr. Diana Owen of Georgetown University. Kim also participated as a panelist and presented her two year long Keystone project, a requirement as a President’s scholar in the Honors Humanities program at Maryland. This subset of the Honors program is regarded as the premier program at the University and is limited to talented undergraduates with interests in the humanities and creative arts. The rigorous and specialized curriculum explores the dynamic history of the humanities, practical applications in the arts, and foundational issues in the disciplines of the humanities. Kimberly’s deans list performance in this program culminated with the book she published of original poetry along with critical essays about contemporary American culture. Entitled, “Busting through the Billboards with my UGG Boots” it creatively directs transformational thinking about American consumer culture and its effects on everyday life. She is the daughter of Jay and Maryann Sterin and will earn undergraduate degrees in both English and Spanish in 2011, along with a citation in Honors Humanities and the Jimenez-Porter Writer’s House.