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February 11, 2007
Web 2.0, The Movie and the Inevitable Sequels
In my previous post, I mentioned Michael Wesch's ubiquitous Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us, a compelling and beautifully-crafted five-minute video describing the basic concepts of the Web 2.0 concept.
The video has now inspired a number of video responses, including several by people who appear to be Wesch's students. Some of the more interesting responses include CoryTheRaven's response, which addresses some of the limitations of the Web 2.0 emphasis on participatory culture and Research 2.0, which raises a number of interetsing questions about the ways in which the web is reshaping how we do research. Also worth cheking out: Digital Democratic Media, which reads reality TV (and our impatience with it) as a symptom of our desire for a more participatory media culture.
Posted by chuck at February 11, 2007 3:30 PM
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Comments
I taught the first one last week in my editing class; it went over really well. Thanks for the follow-up clips.
Posted by: Nels at February 12, 2007 12:12 PM
Thanks for these links. They raise good questions but don't really come close to the formal brilliance of the original "Machine is Us/ing Us" to which they respond. I think what's so great about it is the way words replace words on the computer screen, a formal analogue for new technologies and practices replacing old ones on the internet.
Posted by: michael newman at February 12, 2007 3:52 PM
Nels, glad to hear the video was well-received. I'm planning to discuss it with my students tomorrow.
Michael, you're absolutely right. Wesch's video is brilliant formally, both the ways in which words replace words and in the movement of text during the descripting of linking ("here...and here..."). One of the reasons I pointed to those videos is not that I think they answer or trump Wesch's original but to show that "Machine" is itself productive in inspiring a variety of interesting and thoughtful responses.
Posted by: Chuck at February 12, 2007 4:55 PM