I love this. I got an email yesterday from a Harvard student querying bloggers about blogging. She was doing research on a term paper. The paper was due at 6 p.m. The email came in the morning. As a writer who has been pushing deadlines for 40 years, of course I helped her out.

My name is **** *******, and we haven't met yet, but the reason I'm writing is that I'm wrapping up a master's project here at Harvard University that focuses on the future of blogging. The presentation is due at 6pm EST today (May 5), and I was hoping to get just a bit of insight from bloggers who I haven't met yet.

Why should you help out? You have a lot of things on your plate already, but:
• Your insight would contribute to what we know about the motivations of authors, journalists, and bloggers.
• You would be helping me wrap up my master's degree in "Technology, Innovation, & Education".
• It would take just a couple of minutes.
• There is no personal information involved.
• I would be willing to send you a copy of our findings ( a joint E-Labs MIT/Harvard Project), which you may find relevant.