I felt rather anonymous at the Chicago Media Future Conference held today at Columbia College. There's something nice to be walking through a room of people you know and who don't know you. It can be lonely too, of course. But that illusion was shattered when chicagocarless writer Mike Doyle blew my cover.

Of course it has never been much of a cover. It has been and remains more of a convenience that is losing any value. I was reminded about the beginning of this idea of anonymous blogging when I contacted John Kuzcaj, the former owner of Chicago Media Examiner. 

For some time, the content of the CME site had disappeared. John put it back up recently. I'm looking through it now for my old posts, which were also, I believe, anonymous. John is out of the Tribune Co., according to his site, and he explains why he closed CME down and his new gig as a rocker.

Miss ya' John. The water is still chilly, but there's always room for one more person.

The personal interaction at this conference was strange for me. At one point, in the second session, the live Twitter feed (#CMFC) was scrolling on a screen above the presenters. They were unable to read it, while the audience argued what they were saying behind them.

That's a pretty intimidating thing to have happen to the presenters. They handled it well and I personally withheld my snark. It was Mike Doyle who finally slowed it down when he called another Twitter writer a troll on the live Twitter feed.

Okay... Back to the live feed... I mean those five people on stage.

So, I'm wondering, as I'm watching this manifestation of future communication on two levels, and struggling to keep up with both by the way, is this overload the future of media? What are your thoughts?