I believe Wesch’s video, "Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/Using Us," has a simple and fitting title. The machine, computer, Internet, web, or anything else it could be called, is first and foremost being utilized by the “users” of the machine. It is the people at home, in offices, and on mobile devices who gain benefit from using computers. This is the simple part. People do “use” machines.
But on the flip side, you have to realize that the machines use us as well. Without a person to create a link, one does not exist. I remember having to learn to write a website in HTML for a journalism class in college in the late 90’s. (Of course, now I would have no idea where to start with HTML, and really it is unnecessary now for most everyday people because of the advances in Web 2.0.) The computer and Internet have to use its humans in order for anything to happen online. If the machine does not “use” us, there is no machine.
Another reason "Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/Using Us" is a relevant title is because the Internet is now using its users to organize, label, and most importantly create its content. The Internet is no longer in the hands of a few tech geeks who can write code. It is now in the hands of a lot of tech geeks writing code for millions of other people to use to create information. That information an come in the form of a blog, or posted photographs of a new baby, or even directions to your best friend’s new house. No matter what the information the source is always the same: a person and a computer. So it boils down to, if the machine does not “use” us, there is no machine for us to use.
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