Weekly Blog Post 2

After viewing this video, there are many things that come to one's mind. Personally, although I use the internet on a daily basis, I had never before thought about many of the things that were mentioned. The title of the video, "Web 2.0 - The Machine is us," gets at the heart of what the film is about. Essentially, the idea is that the internet has become accessible to everyone, as the XML format allows anyone with a computer to edit and post information on the web. Along with the revolution resulting from the printing press, the invention of the world wide web has vastly changed the ways in which the world communicates. It is an entirely different medium, with a different audience as well as different purposes and strategies than other forms of communication.

In order to clearly relay a message to someone else, an important thing to do is to understand one's purpose behind the information. As discussed before, the theme behind "Web 2.0" is how people interact with the internet, as well as the vast amount of information that is organized and displayed on web pages everyday. In looking at this, the purpose of the video is to then inform people about this internet, and inspire critical thinking about how it is used. Furthermore, the pace in which the video is presented talks about just how fast and easily things can change on the web. Whereas when writing on paper one has to erase a mistake and start over, on the internet, one simply has to press a few buttons to change what they have created. This ability to easily test and revise the product is one of the reasons why the web is so useful.

Another theme that is complimentary to the purpose of the video is the type of audience that the message is intended for. The author needs to think about who might be watching the video, where this potential audience could be, how they might be feeling, and what their initial and final reactions could be. Understanding this will help the producer, as he or she can better tailor the film to be of interest to the audience. In looking at "Web 2.0," it seems as though the author carefully considered this concept of audience because the fast-paced approach of the film maintains the intensity level required to attract internet attention. Although the viewer might not retain all of the information presented, that is not the purpose of the film. Thus, in this case, the purpose directly interacts with the audience (to tell about the vast amount of information delivered to people on the internet). Overall, I believe that the film presents an interesting topic and does an excellent job of adjusting to meet the needs of the audience.