Teacher’s Social Media YouTube Video Goes Viral
Created by Michael Wesch of Kansas State University, the following video (which has been viewed several million times) is both art and idea mixed in one. Titled The Machine is Us/ing Us, the video not only demonstrates how the Internet and Web 2.0 has evolved over the years, but how we are continuing to use these new tools and technologies to create, share and collaboate with people around the world.
As is common with much of Michael Wesch’s work, the video does not attempt to provide an answer, but instead, to ask some really good questions.
After the incredible success of this YouTube video, which spread virally via social media and the blogoshpere, Michael Wesch wrote the following on his blog:
“On January 31st I released the 2nd draft of The Machine is Us/ing Us hoping to receive feedback from my colleagues. (The first draft was only seen by my Digital Ethnography class 2 days before the 2nd draft was released on YouTube.) I sent it to 10 people. Four days later it was the most blogged about video in the blogosphere and the wild ride had begun. It has been fun and amazing for the most part – sometimes overwhelming – but always exciting. It is hard to believe that a little video I created in my basement in St. George, Kansas could be seen by over 1.7 million people, be translated into (at least) 5 languages, and be shown to large audiences at major conferences on 6 continents within just one month of its creation. In some ways, the journey of the video speaks volumes that the content of the video could only hint at. I know I could not have done this with the technology available 3 years ago – certainly not 13 years ago – so the world really is different and I’m just happy to be part of the mass of people trying to rethink how we can best live in this quickly changing environment.”
