Social Media in Motion

Posted At: January 1, 2008 3:44 PM
by Alexandra Weaver and Christine Palma

Assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, Dr. Michael Wesch is a cultural anthropologist and media ecologist exploring impacts of new media on human interaction, more broadly digital media.

So, on January 31, 2007, Wesch launched a short video “Web 2.0…The Machine is Us/ing Us” on YouTube. Now viewed more than 3 million times, the video has become one of the most popular videos in the blogosphere.

In addition to this short video, Wesch launched the Digital Ethnography Working Group, a team of undergraduates exploring human uses of digital technology. This group has produced videos such as “A Vision of Students Today” and “Information R/evolution.”

These videos emphasize the magnitude of media in our world today. Feel free to check out each video below and tell us what you think!

“Web 2.0…The Machine is Us/ing Us” was created solely by Dr. Wesch and it explores the dynamic that is Web 2.0.

“Information R/evolution” explores the changes in the way we find, store, create, critique and share information.

“A Vision of Students Today” offers some of the most important characteristics of students today: how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime.

Videos provided with the permission of Dr. Michael Wesch, assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University.

Check out the Digital Ethnography Project blog

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