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Las Vegas Review-Journal The Online Guy column
(Las Vegas Review-Journal (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) May 30--HISTORY, HOOPS AND HIP-HOP -- SEE IT ALL AT THE WEBBYS: Innovators, entrepreneurs and personalities help make the Web what it is. This week we'll look at some of the people and sites to be honored next month with Webby and People's Voice awards at the 10th annual Webby Awards gala (www.webbyawards.com) in New York.
The Webby Person of the Year award goes to Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist and author of "The World is Flat, A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century" (www.thomaslfriedman.com). The book was updated in 2005 with 100 pages of new content.
Anyone with an interest in global economics and the role played by technology and the Internet should consider this required reading. You'll understand why China and India are levelling the business world's playing field and how U.S. businesses have changed their game.
The Dallas Mavericks are still in the chase for the National Basketball Association title this season, but their flamboyant owner Marc Cuban knows he's already won the Entrepreneur of the Year Webby award.
Cuban's blog (www.blogmaverick.com) is following his take of the title run and delves into his thoughts on media, blogging and newspaper reporting. It's a good read, giving people a peek at what makes him tick.
The Webby Lifetime Achievement winner is Dr. Robert Kahn (http://www.cnri.reston.va.us/bios/kahn.html). You may not recognize the name, but if you surf the Web you benefit from his work.
Kahn can safely claim he helped invent the Internet. His biography includes a laundry list of computing, engineering and innovator achievements and awards. While working as an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology he took a leave of absence to join the high-tech company Bolt, Baranek and Newman, where he was responsible for system design of the Arpanet, the first packet-switched network, an Internet predecessor.
The Breakout of the Year Webby award goes to MySpace (www.myspace.com), the site used mostly by teens, although membership is open to anyone. What is MySpace? Consider it the ultimate meeting place for friends and friends of friends.
It isn't an online personals service, but it does make it easy for people to connect and reconnect with people sharing their interests. If your kids have a MySpace page, you should, too. Signing up is easy and the amount of personal information shared with other surfers is controlled by the page owner. This is where adult monitoring may help youngsters protect their privacy.
I plan to write more about MySpace in the near future.
The pop and hip-hop band Gorillaz (www.gorillaz.com) take home the Webby Artist of the Year award. Their site shows their talent and fun goes beyond the music.
Share your Internet story with me at agibes@reviewjournal.com
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