by James Hervey

I can’t stop watching this video that was created by Mike Wesch, a professor of digital ethnography (there is a mouthful) at Kansas State University. Apparently I am not alone either since it has been viewed more than a million times since Wesch uploaded it to Youtube on January 31. It is the 20th most watched video on all of Youtube for February and the most watched video in the science and technology category. There is a great write-up here about how the video went from being a second draft of a project Wesch emailed to a few friends, to a million-viewed video clip. Before I go any further, I’ll embed it below, just in case you haven’t seen it…

It got me to wondering why this video went viral so fast, and I think I know. When I posted the video on my site I called the post “This is the stuff that gets me out of bed in the morning.” And i am not alone; in posting it on his site, WIRED magazine editor and author of The Long Tail, Chris Anderson, titled his post, “This is what i am talking about“, explaining in the text, ‘this is why I do what I do.’

That is why i think this video went viral so quick. I have never quite seen the features of Web2.0 that make it so appealing and addictive to those of us that live substantial portions of our lives on it addressed so clearly or more powerful. Wesch starts with a look into history about the limitations of text on paper and even the limitations of the original web before launching headlong into the amazement that is Web2.0. He starts with the development of RSS as the first kick-off. The simple idea that a standard XML feed could allow for web sites to export content free of formatting launched the aggregation that fueled the ability to collect so much information in one place.

He moves on to show how tools like Blogger, Flickr and Youtube are allowing people of all abilities to place their information online to share and collaborate.

Of course he shows the power of tagging. He delves into del.icio.us and shows how WE, the users, are becoming the web; teaching the machine and organizing the content organically.

If you have just dipped your toe into the waters of Web2.0, this video will help you understand what it is. Just click on any of the links in the last paragraph, sign up for an account and start exploring.

If you are like me, hopelessly addicted to it, Wesch has captured it; the soul of why we are drawn back time and again, to upload, to post, to tag, to comment. It is the feeling that rather than being spoon-fed information, we are shaping it and putting our spin onto it.

Far from being a box to deliver information, the computer hooked up to Web2.0 is becoming a giant meeting place to connect with people with similar goals and tastes. Far from being a tool that would isolate us in front of our computer screens, the web is becoming a world where we collaborate, share and connect. Gone is the image of the blogger that sits in front of his computer screen 24 hours a day, growing pale from the lack of sunlight. For those of us who live in this space, it is becoming a method by which we achieve greater connection. I think of the people I have met and bonded with who I first found on a computer screen and know that my life is fuller for having them in it.

thanks, mike, for capturing it so elegantly.