Learn Web 2.0 with a Vid and a Tune

Via Chris Anderson’s Long Tail blog, I watched a video by Professor Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Kansas State University, for his Digital Ethnography class.

The video tells the story of the new web revolution in practical terms without any spoken words or talking heads, just a beat and the screen. He breaks down the importance of hypertext, the evolution of XML and why it is key that content and form are separate and the purpose of tagging, linking, indexing and archiving. Importantly, he addresses the re-thinking required for “us” to govern this brave new web bringing up ethics, copyright, authorship issues and more.

While watching You Tube videos at work all day is discouraged (I’m talking to you slackers ;-)), this is glorious fast food for thought. Hop on over and watch it at Long Tail post “This is what I’m talking about” and enrich and inspire your mind.