There’s a rumor going around saying that the Internet has been shortlisted for the Nobel Peace Prize. Yes, the Internet. Not a particular online community or user, but the entire Internet. That’s like saying you’re Time’s Person of the Year, except you actually were Time’s Person of the Year in 2007.

The Internet probably won’t get the prize even if this is true, but what if the prize committee is feeling lazy, doesn’t feel like debating the merits of the other nominees, and decides to actually give the prize to the Internet? The prize committee gets to answer some interesting questions. Some answers are more amusing than others.

1. Who gets to take the trip to Oslo to accept the prize? Al Gore, so-call inventor of the Internet (even though he didn’t, and even though he already has a Nobel Peace Prize)? The people who actually invented the Internet? Anonymous? Or will the ceremonies turn into a huge convention like ComicCon or DragonCon, with people cosplaying past recipients? It’ll be called NobelCon, a place where despite being on a new continent, Americans are shocked to discover a world outside their country. Even better (or at least almost as good so we can be spared the terrible costumes) this ceremony can be streamed live so everyone can be there in some way.

If NobelCon did happen, there will be people on the outside trying to raise awareness about the Ig Nobel Prizes and telling the con-goers that the Ig Nobel winners do legitimate research too. Just because it sounds funny doesn’t mean it’s not research!

2. What would the acceptance speech be like? Clearly it would have to embrace every aspect of Internet culture: short, chatspeak, and–thanks to the wonders of Twitter–140 or fewer character.

“All your peace are belong to us. kthxbye.”

The acceptor or acceptors would then dance off the stage while Rickrolling everyone.

3. Where would the prize money go? Giving it to the US military would cause a riot, even given their role in creating the Internet, so we need alternate sources. Most of the Internet’s memes come from 4chan, so hosting 4chan, as ridiculous as that sounds, actually makes sense. Google is also a choice that isn’t completely farfetched, given their role in indexing the Web, as is the Wayback Machine. All that kronor for the Wayback Machine would mean that we’d be way more careful about what we post online.

Or they can throw the money toward a smoother transition to IPv6 to make sure we don’t run out of Internet. What an appropriate time.

Focus has released an infographic on the State of the Internet. Most of the data isn’t surprising, such as:

* more affluent people are more likely to have broadband access
* Japan has the fastest average broadband speed
* the 65+ age group is least likely to use the Internet

The surprising part for me is that only 7% of bloggers are in the 18-24 age range, with no mention of bloggers under 18. This struck me as interesting because I started blogging in 2001. I was 14 at the time, and as most young teenagers do, I wrote about my everyday life with the more-than-occasional whinge about how the world was against me. Young bloggers were the exception, not the norm, back then. I mostly read the journals of adults because journals of teens my age weren’t that common, and I was very jealous of the rare person my age who had their own domain, mostly because my parents wouldn’t let me buy anything online, much less my own webspace.

This has changed, though. I feel old in chats and forums, and I’m only in my early twenties. People are doing more sooner and younger. Kids are growing up with technology, and next thing you know, they’ll be pounding away at the keyboard from birth. A recent blogging award site included a teen category, which was nonexistent in my early days of blogging.

Young people do blog. We just don’t see them as much.