Mike Wesch starts off his TED Talk with anecdotes of his experiences in Papua New Guinea, which I thought was smart because it created an interesting transition to his thoughts about media. He makes a good point when stating that media uses us and we can't simply opt out of it when a new form of media is introduced. The media changes our society whether we engage in it or not, altering the way people around us live and share ideas. "We're on a razors edge between hopeful possibilities and more ominous futures -- more possibilities for surveillance, control, deception, and distraction" is a statement of Wesch's that I liked. It is easy to get excited about new media and the way it will enhance our lives, but it's important to think about the drawbacks of what the new media could be contributing to, like a more digitally connected but personally, emotionally disconnected society. His exercise with his students to create the documentary video shows the benefits of media to actually spread knowledge and creative ideas, resulting in an actual lasting product vs. simple test results.
Wesch's other video, "Digital Ethnography," highlights more on the positive hopes of new media. Outlining the evolution of the song to the eventual viral video of the boy lip syncing is a great and easy way to show the global interconnectedness that Youtube allowed.
Linda Hill makes engaging points about the concept of innovation being a result of collective genius. Describing the process of Pixar is a great way to do this, especially with the fact that the short sequence from the film Up took the animator 6 months to complete. Innovations are a collaborative process, much like working on projects in creative courses, and it's important to harness everyone's ideas and talents to create an innovative outcome. These thoughts are extremely relevant when it comes to crowdsourcing projects that are compiled of different ideas from many individuals.
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