- Michael Wesch is known for Smile Because It Happened (2013), To Live in This World (2014) and No. 2: Story of the Pencil (2015).
- We live in an age of almost infinite information and learning opportunity, and so the key here is that we have to inspire people to have a sense of wonder and curiosity. And if we do that, they have what is essentially the world's largest knowledge machine at their fingertips. If we fail at that, they have the world's largest distraction device.
- I believe very strongly in students being able to read and write very well, but I think we need to expand what we mean by reading and writing to include these new media forms. And we need a level of media literacy that includes a sophistication about how to use what media form, why, when and also when to shut it all and have a moment to really think through it all properly.
- [on Facebook and YouTube] These are the largest public spaces possibly ever created and they are controlled by companies. There are some elements to be concerned about, especially given that there's got to be a profit motive somewhere in there as well. I'm not a raving Marxist or anything, but I do think it's important to be aware of how these things shape our conversations.
- You can post things on Facebook and the moment you post, a very complex algorithm starts kicking in to decide exactly who is going to see what you just posted. In the real world I can control who hears me, based on how loud I shout, or that type of thing. There's no algorithm controlling who's going to hear what I say. That algorithm is biased in different ways and ultimately shapes our conversations and will in some ways shape our culture.
- Technologies become like frozen intentions. The way these things are used and how they become part of our lives is at least partially out of our control, and in that sense it's not totally irrational to think of them as something other than just a tool.
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