Alec posted a link to this a few days ago, and I finally got around to watching the video. It’s Professor Michael Wesch’s presentation to the Library of Congress, where he talked about the anthropological effects he observed after producing his awesome video essay The Machine is Us/ing Us.
The presentation is a fantastic, rich, and deep investigation into the connections and their effects on communication and media. Free up 55 minutes and watch the whole thing.
It is funny how most of the YouTube comments for this video are “I wasn’t intending on watching the whole thing… but couldn’t stop”. That is exactly how I felt when I watched it first. My favorite piece has to be when the student holds the mirror up to the webcam to show “us” what “we” look like to her. Pure brilliance.
Really great stuff – finally watched in the car as the Wife drove home from vacation today – thanks much for the pointer!
@andre – this stuff is pretty subversive 🙂
@paul – it’s completely changed how I’m thinking of approaching my master’s degree. i.e., I’m actually thinking of finishing it now, but not in education (or at least not just in education)…