David Gauntlett: Making is Connecting, January 2010

Presentation by David Gauntlett, Professor of Media at University of Westminster, about his forthcoming book 'Making is Connecting', which connects Web 2.0 with craft, activism, happiness and social capital studies, William Morris, and Ivan Illich.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• David Gauntlett
• making
• connecting
• craft
• activism
• William Morris
• Ivan Illich
• Web 2.0
• digital media

[substanti8]

Good video. I have one small correction. These web sites ...

morris-william. com

victorianweb. org/authors/morris/wmbio.html

... state that William Morris was born in 1834, which means he would have been 13 in 1847, not 9 years old.

[davidgauntlett01]

You're quite right, I know that William Morris was born in 1834, so I must have temporarily got my maths wrong, sorry!

[winterveg]

Interesting. It would be good to understand more about the reasons why people *don't* get involved in making + connecting - despite the web making it easier now to do so - and what might encourage them to do so. Apart from practical reasons of course, like not having access to the internet.

I guess there's probably more than one answer to that.

[davidgauntlett01]

I think the solution would lie within the broader cultural shift I mention towards the end - from a 'sit back and be told' culture towards more of a 'making and doing' culture. At present our education system frequently fails to encourage exploration and creativity, and instead rewards the remembering of a given set of 'facts'. Workplaces are often similar in terms of discouraging tinkering and change. We've only started to see the beginnings of a shift towards a DIY culture at the moment...

[Cwinski12]

@Cwinski12 which is craftscommunity (dot) tk

[Cwinski12]

Great video and book for that matter. I posted your video on our blog.

[sophiecollom1]

These ideas are kind of what Im basing my dissertation on but mine is more based on design within fashion and textiles. However I might mention that when you talk about children's games and the design and creativity within them at 6:18 it reminded me of a game that my brother has started playing called Minecraft. Its essentially a world where you can create what you like (similar to lego) on your own but also on multi player, becoming part of a community.

[ImBoyCryWolf]

@ghostfeather ...Shut up.

[rosem20]

Just working on a presentation around the idea of Convivial Media, seeing if I could find some Illich footage and came upon this. Thanks. There are some interesting overlaps between what we are preocuppied with - see my blog - CollabDocs - Wordpress - & note the happiness project I'm doing.

I'll subscribe to your blog right now. Maybe we might have a coffee at some point. Mandy

[lshasha90]

Great Video. Looking forward to reading the book. I picked up the book 'Tools for Conviviality' by Ivan illich, straight after your lecture on Monday 13th April as i was inspired.

[ghostfeather]

Good argument, but underplays extent to which digital culture itself conforms + prescribes creativity, which is circumscribed by the logic of the technology itself (even the "good stuff" you cite).

Call me luddite (please, call me luddite) but I think that the multimodal FEEDBACK provided by corporeal connections with complex analog materia is what stimulates genuine creativity, and algorythms just don't cut it. That said, frustrated sexual impulses of real bodies in cyberland are fun to watch!

[xgeorgeyxboyx]

great video, helps me extremely with my media coursework