The Machine is Us/Using Us

The title of the video that you were asked to view this week is "Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/Using Us." Referencing what you have learned about Web 2.0 through the readings in the Courtney text and through watching the video, why do you think that Professor Wesch gave this title to the video?


Web 2.0 is something I had never heard of until I began my master's courses. You would think being a technology teacher for three years while in school I would have heard the term in various trainings but it wasn't something that ever came up. Learning about it these past few weeks in both of my courses has shown me that it was something I knew about all along but just didn't know what the title was. Web 2.0 is really about people, the people who use the web. There really isn't an easier way to put it. Without the users on the web it would be nothing, there wouldn't be a purpose for it. Over the years and especially recently the web has begun to evolve in amazing ways. No longer it is just something to send an email over for communication. Virtually anything can be created on the web and it will continue to evolve more and more. I think Professor Wesch titled his video correctly. "The Machine is Us/Using Us" describes Web 2.0 perfectly. The Machine, or the web, was created and continues to be added to by users on a daily basis. Every single day huge amounts of information are added to the web by the people who created it and use it. The machine is also using us, the users, to learn and evolve itself. Like the video showed, every time we type something into a search engine or click on a link the web uses that information to learn and store information for future use. The users and the web combined are working together to create something amazing. The machine may be using us but we are using it as well.