Kimberly's Research Proposal

Websites such as TextsFromLastNight.com, FMyLife.com and BeforeIDieIWantTo.org are a huge collaboration between the person who came up with the idea for the project and the actual contributors who bring this project to life. There are the posts that make up the entirety of the project but there is also the person who came up with the idea of gathering all these posts up in one place so that they create a bigger impact. Without having a central place in which all those related posts, be it funny events that happened, things you want to do before you hit the bucket or anything else - they would just be a story between you and your friends or maybe even just an idea in your head. Yet having a website that is devoted solely to displaying those floating thoughts and putting them out there for everyone else to see creates a relationship between the person who posted something and anyone who can relate to that post on some level or other. There are thousands upon thousands of people who go online and check on these websites daily to see what is new; they can just get a chuckle out of them, have a deep impression made on them, or use whatever they read to start a conversation with someone. This brings up a good question: who do those posts end up belonging to then, though? For the most part they are anonymous and only you know that you posted something up. A good example of how you can quickly lose authorship over the thought you posted is Texts From Last Night. I know plenty of people who just use the quotes on that website and have even claimed them as their own! Also, once you post something up on the website then does it become property of the website owner? Not all of these websites have easy to find Rules & Regulations so that you know exactly what you're signing on to by posting something up. It's neat to be able to have tons of people see your thoughts but once they are up on the internet, anyone can claim them as their own and it won't be so unique anymore.

The bookmarks I plan on using include:

Texts From Last Night
LL&BB "Texts From Last Night" http://textsfromlastnight.com/. 9/12/09

F My Life
"F My Life" http://www.fmylife.com/faq. 9/12/09

Before I Die I Want To
Kenney, Nicole. "Before I Die I Want To" http://beforeidieiwantto.org/index.html. 9/12/09

Article about TFLN
Boog, Jason. "Read your "Texts From Last Night" in a book" http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/deals/read_your_texts_from_last_night_in_a_book__120239.asp. 9/12/09