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The need to interact and have an opinion

So I was reading and interesting article on blogging today in an old may issue of Business Week magazine. The authors Stephen Baker and Heather Breen discussed how the blog universe is like one big coffee house of intellectual discussion. I think blogging. pod casters and sending video and still photos over are phones are a clear indicator of our need to interact and comment rather than passively listen to and read data.
As a former college instructor and as a speaker trainer for over 20 years I know that audiences have changed dramatically. My Auburn college audience in the early 80’s would listen quietly and politely and dutifully write down every word of my lecture verbatim. My FSU students were not as quiet, but I still had to work got them to ask questions and debate with me. My corporate audiences were equally as passive. But now audiences become what I love best, filled with the desire for lively interaction and sharing. Speaking can not longer be a data dump of PowerPoint slides. It must reflect the publics growing desire to interact and have an opinion.