I was introduced to this video piece via Steve Rosenbaum. If you have not seen it, or even if you have- read before watching.

Since viewing the piece and mapping the various social chain reactions just from ‘viewing the piece’ and ’sharing’ I can get a better grip on the potency of the message- Each time we forge a link we teach it an idea.. Intrigued I went hunting to see what else turned up in the ‘machine’ and I was not disappointed. I give you a version of the video sort of like Metallica’s Garage Days Re-Revisited cut. This would put it into a Master of Puppets era if you are into heavy metal trivia, if not- no matter…(Frankly I am a KMFDM fan myself…)

I discover there exists a poetic transcript of the video text at mediatedcultures.net…perhaps someone will put it into a formal song (Lars? Wait this is creative commons- scratch that)… Until then we can settle for some cadence and deconstruction courtesy of Tanya Witherspoon from Wichita State University or if you prefer another version courtesy of Jesper Rønn-Jensen, front-end web developer, usability specialist at Capgemini Denmark. Actually I’ll quote his version and add my refrain.

Pay attention to how the transcription of the text in a video can change the tenor of the message…and why do it anyway? I am sure scholars of media theory have this down…I was sort of surprised…(Bonus move- Mess around with the capitals and meter and you can have your very own E.E. Cummings, avant-garde, Web 2.0 is using you version.)

Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us

[time codes in square brackets]
[0:00]
Text is linear
Text is unilinear
Text is often said to be unilinear

Text is unilinear
when written on paper

Digital text is is different
Digital text is is more flexible
Digital text is is moveable
Digital text is is above all … hyper.

Digital hypertext is above all ….
hypertext is above all ….

hypertext can link
here
here
or here …

virtually anywhere
anywhere virtually
anywhere virtual

http://yahoo.com
Take me Back

Oct 17, 1996

View source

Most early websites were written in HTML

HTML was designed to define the structure of a web document

is a structural element referring to “paragraph”

[1:00]
< LI > is also a structural element referring to “List Item”

As HTML expanded, more elements were added.

Including sylistic elements like < b > for bold and < i > for italics

Such elements definded how content would be formatted.

In other words, form and content became inseparable in HTML

Digital Text can do better.

Form and content can be separated.

RSS

View source

XML was designed to do just that.

< title > does not define the form. It defines the content.

Same with < link >

and < description >

and virtually all other elements in this document.

They describe the content, not the form.

So the data can be exported,

free of formatting constraints.

[2:00]

With form seperated from content, users did not need to know complicated code to upload content to the web
(I’m feeling Lucky)

Create a blog
Blog title: Beyond etext
URL: beyondetext.blogspot.com

Hello World!
Posted by Professor Wesch at 8:14

There’s a blog born every half second

and it’s not just text …

YouTube
Flickr

Anthropology Club
Created by you

XML facilitates automated data exchange
two sites can “mash” data together

flickr maps

Who will organize all of this data?

We will.
You will.
[3:00]

XML + U & Me create a database-backed web
a database-backed web is different
the web is different

the web
we are the web (I’m Feeling Lucky)

We are the web

When we post and then tag pictures

we are teaching the Machine

Each time we forge a link
we teach it an idea.

Think of the 100 billion times per day humans click on a web page

teaching the Machine

the Machine

The machine is us

Digital text is no longer just linking information …
Hypertext is no longer just linking information …

The Web is no longer just linking information …

The Web is linking people …

Web 2.0 is linking people …

… people sharing, trading, and collaborating…

Web 2.0

Edit this page…

You can edit this page

[4:00]
We’ll need to rethink a few things …
We’ll need to rethink copyright
We’ll need to rethink authorship
We’ll need to rethink identity
We’ll need to rethink ethics
We’ll need to rethink aesthetics
We’ll need to rethink rhetorics
We’ll need to rethink governance
We’ll need to rethink privacy
We’ll need to rethink commerce
We’ll need to rethink love
We’ll need to rethink family
We’ll need to rethink ourselves.

by
Michael Wesch
Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology
Kansas State University

Music by D E U S
There’s Nothing impossible
[4:31]

I could chime in with a refrain!

We’ll need to rethink a few things …
We’ll need to rethink copyright
We’ll need to rethink authorship
We’ll need to rethink identity
We’ll need to rethink ethics
We’ll need to rethink aesthetics
We’ll need to rethink rhetorics
We’ll need to rethink governance
We’ll need to rethink privacy
We’ll need to rethink commerce
We’ll need to rethink love
We’ll need to rethink family
We’ll need to rethink ourselves.

Probably more than a few things…and rethinking is just the starting point…we may not get a do-over.

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