The Machine is Us/ing Us
The same day I circulated the “Shift Happens” video around the office, an employee of mine replied with the video I embedded in this post. It was created by Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University. I don’t know what you would really call it other than a video essay.
It’s a very cool combination of screen capture and video which makes some really salient points about the future of web technology and the effects it will have on how people interact and express themselves.
It really makes a great companion piece to “Shift Happens” as that video talks about global changes happening in the real world. This piece, “The Machine is Us/ing Us,” covers the changes occurring online that are democratizing and socializing the shared online spaces we occupy.
It’s got me thinking not just about what this means for “community” online, but what it can mean for business and commerce. In a lot of ways this kind of interactive development has brought the web full circle. Rather than having global mega-stores that sell everything, we see more and more mom-and-pop corner shops appearing, albeit with a potentially global customer base.
While “Shift Happens” points to an alarming avalanche of new information coming at us in the coming decade, “The Machine” shows that as the web provides us the tools to do so, the people who are creating and consuming this content can more readily organize it according to their own tastes. The Internet only appears vast when considered as a whole, but it tends to segment itself as users cluster around information and topics that matter to them.
This “clustering” phenomenon is what creates the niche markets that many of our businesses occupy, and the phenomenon becomes more widespread as the “cost of entry” drops. Web 2.0 doesn’t just accommodate and empower users. It REQUIRES them to operate.
And as we use these tools we effectively “teach” the internet how we want to use and organize this information, and it makes it more digestible and accessible to all of us.
Plenty of food for thought here. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&eurl=
Posted by 
WOW! That was an very clever video! I heard a comment recently that more information hits us daily than what our great grand parents had to deal with in their lifetimes! (I am probably butchering the quote). It is true that we do not have the individual capacity to handle it. It can only be managed with a network of trusted relationships that allow us to filter what is most important. Those relationships, how they develop, where they develop will lend to significant geo-political and socio-economic debate that will shape this century.
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There are a couple of interesting things about this video.
First, the way he was changing words reflects LSI. The core words were still there, but with a couple of surrounding words changed, the meaning changed and actually became a conversation.
Second, with the intoduction of the term Web 2.0, people think that this concept is new, or the next generation of the Web. I think it is more corporate awareness and attention being placed on what the Internet has always been about. The Machine (Big Business + Goverment) have finally grasped the idea that the internet is a community of communities. They want to meter everything. If you can put a meter on it, you can charge money to have it. If you can charge money for it, taxes soon follow. Is the Web anymore 2.0 than it was 10 years ago? No, there’s just newer technology. The Machine is taming the “last” frontier. Trying to control our interaction so they can attach a meter.
Just a thought.
nicely done video!
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These posts are awesome! Thanks Brad, I would havr never found these videos, (I’m still excited from the ‘Shift Happens’ video), if it weren’t for you.
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I have tried youtube a few tmes for marketing and found ok. Not fabulous and certainly not worth buying an ebook for.
Ed
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Awesome post. Thanks.
Thank you so much for the videos Brad.You have been a lifesaver as always.Heads up!!
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outstanding information as usual..thanks alot brad.From a fellow stomper..
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Wow, thanks for sharing that, that vidow was really nicely done. I agree with what Fred said above, we really dont have the capacity to hande all the information.
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Too much information certainly describes our lives! But what an opportunity it has given us. Thanks for sharing the videos Brad.
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More valuable information to digest!
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Great information Brad, thanks again.
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Hey Brad,
Thanks for doing all the heavy lifting.
I don’t have to serch the net anymore, just log on to Brad Fallon.com and recieve updates almost on automatic. No doubt, the net is becoming more like TV only better.
Great video and fun learning tool all in one.
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Brad, awesome video!
Quite a while back, you may remember that I offered you a trade-out to stay in my very unique cabin(s) in Ellijay in exchange for SEO assistance. You expressed an interest, but I was not really ready for rentals. We have now rented it a few times, and I would like to make the same offer. Please visit my website at http://www.uniquecabins.com or http://www.vrbo.com/99400 (and http://www.vrbo.com/99471) to see more about my rustic, antique log cabins on eight acres, with our two dedicated trout streams that empty into our seventeen acre lake.
The site I would like help with is http://www.georgeruby.jennypruitt.com as I have recently joined them to continue my real estate career. You probably know that Jenny Pruitt & Associates is THE premier real estate brokerage in Atlanta, and that they do not accept just anyone.
At any rate, if you’re still interested, please let me know. Also, if you know anyone looking to buy or sell real estate in North Fulton, South Forsyth, Western Gwinnett, East Cobb or East Cherokee, please let me know.
Thanks,
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Great information
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Brad,
You are correct again. I’ve come accustomed to great content and video.
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thank you for the blog and the video!
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I agree with the “put a meter on it theory”.The last bastion of unfettered interference is counting its days.
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Deja vu George Orwell?????
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Brad,
thanks for drawing our attention to the video. What intrigues me is what may be coming AFTER Web 2.0. Any ideas on that?
Bill
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Thank you for sharing the video with us.
Us humans make the web what it is I believe. I think the internet is one of the greatest inventions of our era.
How did your session tonight with Brad Callen go?
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All I can say is wow!
Brian
http://www.StephensonandCompany.com
I think this was pretty good post about Web 2.0
This is indeed a fascinating video that gives a shortcut visual impression of were communication and information is going.
Dr Steven Covey dwells on this matter in the 8th habit and how you do not want to be left behind.
By the way why are you people putting you links to irrelevant urls in your comments.
That is so lame!
I think that Web 2.0 is the to go. I already have my programmer working on some new techniques.
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Wonderful info as always. Thanks Brad!
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I saw that video a couple weeks ago and immediately added it to my favorites. Maybe it was the catchy music, or just another one of those feelings that everyone should experience the thoughts that i’m having right now.
I’m puzzled by the comment review process for this blog. Yesterday I added a comment about Squidoo.com and how that is designed to try and help us all make sense out of the huge volume of info out there. The comment was marked as would be reviewed. But it doesn’t look like it made it. Meanwhile there are some people with comments containing a ton of self-serving links and no value where they got posted.
Please explain.
Okay, I think I figured it out. A post with no hyperlinks in the text goes up automatically and one with hyperlinks seems to need review. Only maybe no one reviews posts on the weekend? or you are just way behind?
At the risk of repeating myself, I’ll say the same thing with no hyperlinks in the text.
I find the diluge of information overwhelming. While this video talks about how we all help each other make sense of it, it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes it just feels like a million people talking at once.
I recently learned about Squidoo.com and it’s concept about each of us helping others make sense out of a particular topic or topics. I decided to play around and created my first Squidoo lens, at http://www.squidoo.com/DogTips
The Squidoo interface is VERY easy to learn and quite powerful, if anyone is interested in trying it out.
Interesting and clever commentary. Computers, the internet and technology will not erase or replace human ingenuity and intelligence, though
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good post brad,
The idea of “clustering” has been around for quite awhile and NOW here it is! Maybe we can shake a few apples with this one.
Been on Digg lately? Spend way too much time there myself.
Thanks again brad for the great blog,
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Machines have now been a significant part of our lives. Everyday we use it – as vehicles, equipments, entertainment, etc. But we do not need to be controlled by machines.
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The video was right on the money. This explanation and point of view is one that I have been trying to get perspective on for 2 yrs now. With the online community being so vast it is important to be able to narrow down your focus in order to be successful!
The video was right on the money. This explanation and point of view is one that I have been trying to get perspective on for 2 yrs now. With the online community being so vast it is important to be able to narrow down your focus in order to be successful!
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The video was right on the money. This explanation and point of view is one that I have been trying to get perspective on for 2 yrs now. With the online community being so vast it is important to be able to narrow down your focus in order to be successful!
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The video was right on the money. This explanation and point of view is one that I have been trying to get perspective on for 2 yrs now. With the online community being so vast it is important to be able to narrow down your focus in order to be successful!
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Great video Brad.
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Thanks Brad from a fellow Stomper…..
Computations may rule…
But the master is still free will.
Thoughts become things…use them wisely!
The video was awesome, I will also do some more research with web 2.0
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Dude “an employee of mine”? Sounds like slave days.
Everything here is so very true. Thanks Brad!
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Uh-oh, more than 2 weeks since your last post. Are you caught in the StomperNet net? That’s too bad.
Good food for thought. Thanks Brad!
Hi Brad,
We are definitely bombarded with more information these days. However, I’m not entirely sure for the people who say we get information in one NYJ than others in a lifetime. I say that because now we filter out so much information as well. We have access to it but we still specialize. In our specialty how much more do we know about internet marketing then say my great granddad knew about cattle? Its just that now we have a broader choice of the information we want to specialize in. I think in the information age eventually the money or business will flow to those who can help us find the relevant info we need. Kind of like Google. The better there algorithm is for getting me the right information I’m looking for the more I use them.
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A fantastic video showing us what the near future holds. Keep ‘em coming!
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What are we teaching the machines of tomorrow, today? Only time will tell.
Brad, thanks for the inspiration to take on the big G.
From a fellow Stomper.
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This may sound silly but can anyone explain to me what Web 2.0 is? I keep hearing it but honestly have no idea. Anything will help.
Thanks!
Brian
http://www.StephensonandCompany.com/aigauto1
Here’s an off topic question. Is it better to have your blog incorporated into your actual website hosted on the same server or should the blog have it’s own url with posts that have links back to your store site?
That was an awesome video! I think some take the machine for granted. Its funny how everyones paradiagm may be so different. Thanks again for the post!
You’re correct Brad. That was cool.
How do people find the time to do these. I barely have time to respond to my emails.
Thanks!
It used to be this website is frequently updated with more topics. What’s happening Brad?
God bless!
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Brad-
Thanks for directing us to this video. More than anything, it excites me about the vast opportunity that the new speed of communication provides for small companies. The playing field is so much flatter for the hopeful entrepreneur, and that is exciting.
Best,
Jeff
http://www.northstarthinktank.typepad.com
What a great post! I am gonna make this a daily stop along with my daily stomper stop.
Now I just need to find some time to sleep
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Now that was a thought provoking video. This definately is a world changing time that I am sure will be looked back upon in 100 years as the biggest change to the world in hundreds of years.
Technology is only getting warmed up and I think we will see things we never thought possible in the next 20 years.
I like how were all speaking new languages.