3 must-see videos on the Web 2.0 world

Here’s three Must-See YouTube videos. They each present concepts in a fascinating way. Worth seeing just to get ideas on how to present concepts. But then if you want to get a grip on what’s happening with Web 2.0 and how the world is changing, these are brilliant. You could use these, too, to show to people who “just don’t get” what is happening in the web world and how internet technology is changing how the world does things.

First, “Web 2.0… The web is Us/ing Us”:

And then, “Information R/evolution”:

And this one provides plenty of thought about students today (e.g., what impact does this have on what education methods will work? what impact does this have on what assignments given?):

Free Burma!

Walk On, Burma

I awake this morning to news of shots being fired out in Burma against the demonstrators against the military regime.

In the words of U2’s song “Walk On”:

Oh, oh
Walk on, walk on
What you got, they can’t steal it
No, they can’t even feel it
Walk on, walk on
Stay safe tonight

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Burma, including the monks and Aung San Suu Kyi.

Relational revolution

In playing around with Twitter and Jaiku, I can’t help but think that there’s a relational revolution going on.  People are craving relationship and finding new ways of connecting with people, even building community with people they’ve never met. 

There are so many ways of doing that: on MySpace connecting with people, on Twitter keeping in touch with what people we know are up to, and likewise on Jaiku and Groovr.  Then there’s blogs like WordPress and LiveJournal and Tumblr where we can put out ideas and stimulate dicussion and connection.  And then there’s so many comunity building tools, from connecting with people about books at LibraryThing, or comparing notes on restaurants at Menuism or comparing travel notes at TravelPod or TripAdvisor.

That’s the technology world, impacting relationships and developing communities around the world.

And then there’s relational impacts in the art world.  There’s a whole area of art called "relational aesthetics" where art (sculpture, drama, music, and anything else artistic) is developing to involve participation by people who would be considered observers in traditional art.

It’s all about connecting with people, a relational revolution.

Happy New Year

I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas time, and fun celebrations for the New Year!  May the year bring good things for you, full of special times with family and friends.