#michael wesch

[kenyatta]

Michael Wesch – Unboxing Stories

A pioneer in digital ethnography, Dr. Michael Wesch studies how our changing media is altering human interaction. As an anthropologist in Papua New Guinea, Wesch saw firsthand how oral storytelling worked for much of human civilization: It was a group activity that rewarded participation, transformed our perceptions, and created a changing flow of stories across generations. Reading and writing replaced oral storytelling with linear, fixed stories. Upon returning from Papua New Guinea, Wesch created the 2007 viral video hit Web 2.0...The Machine Is Us/ing Us, about the Internet's effects on our culture. At FoST, he’ll explore how our evolution from a literate culture to a digital one can return us to collaborative storytelling, resulting in a more engaged, participatory, and connected society.

[thingsbehindourhouse]

What I discovered in New Guinea was that who we are is also reflected back to us by the people around us. George Cooley called this “the looking glass self.” As he says, “I am not what I think I am and I am not what you think I am; I am what I think that you think I am.” When I think that the people around me don’t think I am smart, funny, or kind, I start to internalize those judgments. And when I thought the people around me in New Guinea did not know who I was or what I was doing there, I found myself asking those same questions. I didn’t know who I was or what I was doing there.

Michael Wesch | The Art of Being Human

[doesitantimatter]

[appychewystar-blog]

Here is my response to Digital Content Prompt 9 where i discuss Michael Wesch’s ideas on YouTube from an anthropological perspective!

[yoko--ohno]

Everybody check out this video of my Initiation to Anthropology “final” created by Emily Meyer. Our professor Dr. Michael Wesch used our readings to make a code we had to decipher for GPS coordinates which brought us to a bonfire where we shared our final reflections. 

Part of my final reflection was playing the song “What If” by Five for Fighting with my friend Julia Chestnut which we thought reflected the concepts of Martin Buber’s I and Thou. 

This class was incredible. The people were incredible. Dr. Wesch is an incredible teacher and person. To any of my followers in school - take an anthropology class! It is such a wonderful way to see the world.

[itineris7-blog]

Why I love the internet (and not in a good way)

I began using the internet in earnest in 6th grade. Not surprisingly, this coincides with the beginning of my middle school years, fraught as they were with bullies and my first signs of social anxiety and fear. Reflecting on my relationship with the internet, I am realizing now that it has been a coping mechanism for me; it has been a way for me to forge deep connections easily, and I say "easily" in the sense that these connections require no responsibility to maintain. People on the internet never ask you for a ride to work, never invite you to parties, never need to borrow your stuff, and they reserve the right to, on a whim, never log in and talk to you again. I met people on internet forums, on games, on social media, online dating, all I think to fill my real-world social/emotional deficiencies and fears.

For many people there is a tension between independence and the constraint brought on by the connections we forge. I can't even count how many times my friends have told me, I want to be free and have fun while I'm young. I'm suggesting that I am not only supplanting my real world friends for internet friends, but I am also attempting to bridge the gap between being an individual and having connections. I see myself flaking, noticing that I'd rather check my texts than relish in conversation in the moment, constrain myself to the confines of my room to chat with people online.. I try to both be independent and connected out of desire for belonging and fear of being hurt in some way. If I can distance myself from the other person, then if they hurt me, it won't be so bad. Right?

What I learned in my experience in online dating, something I think can apply to most if not all of my online interactions, is that online interactions feel real, but lack the authenticity of real world relationships. I felt the real pain of loss when online interactions went sour, even though I never felt the benefits of a real friendship. It might be obvious to most, but for me, realizing this took a lot of effort. For a person who spent his formative years alone, having mainly internet strangers to chat with, this was a difficult thing to accept.

And so, if I cannot rely on internet relationships for satisfaction, I need to step up my irl game. I need to reach out to more people, come up with fun things to do, stop interacting with boring people, especially if I'd rather ignore them at the dinner table, and find people worth hanging out with- and when I do hang out with them, realize when they are worth ignoring the text message for.

I am seeing my use of the internet for what it really is, a crutch more symptomatic of my own problems than a solution to those problems, and I want to graduate from this to something bigger.

[macs166-blog]

From Justin: 

"Watching part 2 of Michael Wesch's video what stuck with me is when he says "If we want to move our students from knowledgeable to knowlege-able,... it must be something they practiced which means that we have to bring the practice into the classrooms,...we must recognize what knowledgeably is all about."

This reminded me of in my general studies class last semester how we learned how to do mind maps. This helped us to learn how to communicate better and learn about not only others but learning about ourselves as well."

[samantha-anthro]

Smile Because it Happened. Michael Wesch; Kansas State, introduction to field study. 10 undergraduate students move into a continuing care retirement community for the semester. This is their story.