Information R/evolution.
The Age of Information is in revolution or just evolution? That is the question behind this entrancing, 5’28 film by Michael Wesch (Assistant Professor at Kansas State University), posted on YouTube on October 13th. This is bound to be a film that will circulate well. It presents the explosion of words, links, tags and information and suggests that the principle of categories is outdated. The film starts out a little tentatively, though, saying meekly that “information is a thing“…. without differentiating between data, information and knowledge. Certainly, the concept of information is evolving and our ability to classify and relocate information is having to evolve. Information R/evolution.
Wesch pours out a number of current facts including the existence of 500 billion links and 5 trillion words on the web today. Two statements that caught my attention: “ontology is overrated“. Try digging that! Among the interesting pieces out there on the subject, at the centre is Clay Shirky’s piece. And the other striking phrase in Wesch’s video is “Everything is miscellaneous” (not good for the left brainers out there), reference to the David Weinberger book.
Turned onto this by Luis Suarez’s blog, Wesch produced another video on YouTube earlier in the year with a similar style and theme, this time with a focus more on the separation of content and form via the XML language; a database-backed web. Worth the visit too: Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us.
Others blogging on Wesch:
From NZ, ICT U Can
Sharepoint Holmes from Belgium
Mitch Joel from Montreal Canada (thanks to his Twittering I am HERE!)
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