So this is definitely worth an hour of your time if you haven’t already invested it. (I seem to be about four days late to stuff any more…go figure.) Michael Wesch of Kansas State and the “Machine is Us” fame gave an overview of the cultural significance of You Tube to the LOC, and suffice to say, it’s incredibly interesting stuff.
The really bizarre part for me, at least, is that two of the viral videos that he discusses in the presentation just popped up on my radar thanks to my own kids. Tess, who is turning 11 today, pulled up the “Charlie Bit Me” video on my iPhone the other day and Tucker cranked up the Sponge Bob version of “Crank Dat” just yesterday and started dancing around the house. I felt SO out of it. (“You haven’t seen this, Dad?”) For all that I live and breathe this stuff, I’m such a loser…
Anyway, the best part about this presentation is that it doesn’t try to make any real bold statement other than this is what the YouTube world (and much of the rest of the online world) is like these days: highly networked, highly individualized in terms of content distribution and organization, and incredibly personal. It captures to a large degree the “networked individualism” that Barry Weller talks about and that Wesch refs in the video. (I’ve got some reading to do on that score as well…)
The one concept that really struck me was the idea of “the collapse of context.” I think one of the most difficult things for those who are not familiar with these technologies (and even for some that are) is how different the contexts can be for the content we create. We really don’t know when a video or a blog post or whatever else we create is going to be “read” or how it’s going to be shared or what the response cues might be. And it got me thinking even more about George Siemens’ idea of context and how important it is to be able to identify the immediate circumstances for learning before implementing a tool or a particular pedagogy. My brain is humming…
At any rate, I’d add this to any list of “must views” for this year…
Keeping current is a very relative concept. I’m four days and seventeen minutes late to this video so thanks for the post (and the tweet).
I’m listening to it as I write this but I can already tell that Wesch’s presentation should be a great conversation starter (as are his others), especially when we talk to administrators and teachers about reflexively blocking YouTube instead of finding ways to make use of it.
Thanks for the comment Tim. I think we need to understand YouTube in a larger context, and this video seems to make that clear. Not that we’ll start taking down the filters, but maybe we’ll start thinking about what it means for our culture and our kids.
Will
Glad you are 4 days late…cause I just zeroed out my reader that built up over vacation and I am SO GLAD I didn’t miss it!
I learned a great deal about the YouTube phenomenon from this video. It is definitely worth the time to see it. I would also like to recommend another hour of time – Michael Wesch’s lecture at University of Manitoba on June 17th, 2008, A Portal to Media Literacy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4yApagnr0s
Thanks for this post, Will. I have encouraged everyone I know to follow Mr. Wesch’s work.
Indeed – I’d seen this Wesch video a while back. I love how he manages to put together such clear, cogent, appealing presentations. Loved the spreading video of the participatory culture – great examples of social content phenomena, communities in decline reconnecting themselves with today’s tools.
I agree. This talk is very good – MUCH better than that crappy exploitation video about how schools suck.
Wesch is a smart guy.
PS: While I really admire the work of Wesch here, it is worth pointing out that his still may have offer little wisdom for education 🙂
@Gary I seem to write my posts these days with your avatar on my shoulder. The first line of the third paragraph was written for you… ;0)
Little wisdom for education, maybe, but I think a good bit of wisdom for educators. All of this requires our understanding on some level. Whether or not it requires a systemic rethink is another question…
Right. Understanding the world is always a good idea for educators.
Really off topic, could you tell me who wrote
“The Nature of Change”? “Change more often than not reflects the status quo that stifles progress and stagnates creativity and evolution. New lights will prevail”.
I would really like to have the author’s name.
Thank you.
Margaret King
User-generated education.
Fascinating video – thanks for alerting me to it. Increasingly I feel that there are two worlds there, one online and one offline. Now and then they meet.
Absolutely fantastic approach – very non-judgmental, very positive, very life-promoting. Great concept of “context collapse”, applicable in so many other cases, but simply poignant here. Amazing videos… Dig(g) it! 🙂