1. Sum up Michael Wesch's main point about the web (or Youtube in particular) in one paragraph.
Michael Wesch holds a utopian view of web 2.0 and YouTube. He believes it has revolutionised the way he can socialise and connect with each other, and praises the way that YouTube can create online communities and bring people together. He describes the web as an ‘integrated mediascape’ of social media and networking sites, with us in the middle of the sphere. Wesch also notes the speed at which videos can spread over the web and become viral in a matter of days or even hours.
2. Write down your understanding of the following terms used by Wesch: "networked individualism", "the invisible audience phenomenon", "context collapse", and "connection without constraint".
networked individualism - This refers to how an individual can be alone yet connect socially with a network of other people through the internet.
the invisible audience phenomenon - This refers to the idea that one does not know who their audience will be when they are filming a video, and in the case of webcam videos are talking to no one, yet their video will later be viewed by an uncontrolled audience; ergo the invisible audience.
context collapse -This refers to the idea that videos can be taken out of their original context and put into new contexts online.
connection without constraint - This refers to how people can connect via the web and there is no restriction to who can view their material, who they can connect with, and how they can behave.
3. On the whole, do you agree or disagree with Wesch's ideas? Why?
I agree with Wesch because I believe the internet and web 2.0 can be a superb outlet for people to socialise, create communities, make friends, and share their views and ideas with like-minded people. YouTube is a great forum for this communication in my opinion.
4. How might Wesch's ideas be applied to the music industry (or, at least, the production of music)?
Wesch's idea that one can perform to an online audience comes into play when talking about the music industry, as YouTube has allowed many artists who would not get exposure or audiences to perform their music on camera, to be uploaded and viewed by audiences on the web. YouTube was the start for many artists including Justin Bieber and more recently the Bajan band; Cover Drive.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Matthew I'm fascinating too from Wesch theory, you are not alone. I leaved antropology to work in web communication but i never stop to love it. And I was thinking something like networked individualism about youtube and the possibility of choice before to discover Wesch, but he uses a lot of smart and well organized exemples and his theory is quite easy and in the same time complex to convince me. He has the ability to express a big energy and positivity when he explains his theory and I think this it'is one of the most important thing an anthropologist should have. Video streaming gave me a shake and now is one of my big passion. I believe in this power. :-)
ReplyDelete