Fifty People, One Question, Zero Study

Been a bit under the weather today so my study has taken a hit, which isn't exactly great the week before my first HSC exam. Anyway, I can't particularly find the time, energy or brainpower to write anything too substantial (which should please Shuang and the like who prefer things short and sweet, haha) so instead I thought I'd just link to this video.

There's actually a number of videos, a few of which get linked to at the end of this one, and even more if you google. Essentially, the premise is simply that this guy goes to a town somewhere in the world and pulls over 50 strangers on their daily walk to ask them a basic question with no limitations on the answer - for example, "Where would you like to wake up tomorrow?" or "What do you wish would happen by the end of the day?" - and then collages the video responses together to contrast all the different characters of the city, as well as their vastly differing and interesting answers. The videos just had a great atmosphere to them, so I'll say no more and let anyone who's interested to judge for themselves.

Really just makes you think. When a question is so simple it's amazing how easy it is to go blank, unless you adopt a stock standard response. Honestly, myself, I have no idea.

Adios.

Hello World, Welcome To The Conversation...

Figured I haven't updated in awhile, though I don't know how substantial this post will be. More of a sharing experience. That and Shirley requested a blog post since I hadn't in awhile, heh.

Anyway, got linked to this quite interesting video regarding the evolution of media and how it's shaping conversation and culture. It helped me realise one thing in particular that I'd never really taken note of until now in the writing of this blog - namely, who exactly am I writing to?

I mean, I know people read it, as evidenced by the comments, and I know even more just flick through it occasionally and lurk (because they've essentially told me so), but the video raised the interesting point of the fact that... well.. I never quite know who I'm writing to, let alone when or in what context. Here's the video for those interested:

Wesch raised this point that, with the evolution of the media and its inclusion of blogs and vlogs, etc, we're essentially having conversations that, well, aren't conversations. They're face-to-face in the case of vlogs especially, except we have no eye contact or awareness of the context, time, or whom we're conversing to in the first place. The same goes for blogs to an extent; people are reading this, and yet there's no recognition necessarily between myself (the author) and the other person (the reader), to the point where it's a complete 'conversation' that simultaneously excludes one of the participants from any interaction (myself, unless you leave a comment, heh).

It's just a very intriguing notion, that all these conversational barriers collapse when I'm typing to simultaneously someone and no-one, and the same for those with a web cam doing vlogs - talking to someone who isn't even there are the time but is still forever part of the conversation.

Still, there are those who try and reconnect through this odd form of conversation, like he shows toward the end of the video. Particularly, there was that guy.... I forget the name, but I can't be bothered re-watching the video again, heh, anyway... He basically works anonymously under a mask and uses this lopsided conversation as a call for action. He even takes advantage of the fact that the conversation is debatably eternal, until the video is removed, allowing for an endless stream of replies for a conversation that is technically-speaking long finished. Ironically, all these responses in the disconnected conversation, where he asked everyone to write something on their hand, essentially spoke of calls to action for a reconnection of the world, despite this cultural and media shift.

Just found it an interesting thought that I hadn't really considered since beginning this blog. Still, there's plenty more than just that within the video. Seriously, watch it - very intriguing.

Adios.