Web 2.0 in just under five minutes

I've only recently become aware of this video, from Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthology at Kansas State University. It is, I think, a brilliant lesson in the nature of the web, not least because it elegantly enacts its own thesis.

Those wishing to find out more can check out Wesch's details here. As the site explains, his research initially focused on social and cultural change in Melanesia and, especially, on "the introduction of print and print-based practices like mapping and census-taking in the Mountain Ok region of Papua New Guinea, where he lived for a total of 18 months from 1999-2003." From this, Wesch was inspired to consider "the impacts of new media more broadly, especially digital media." And what better way to explain new media than via not-quite-so-new media (i.e. video)?

Digital ethnography: the future of academia lies on youtube.