Us Now
Encyclopedia
Us Now is a documentary film project "about the power of mass collaboration
, the government and the Internet" The New York Times describes it as a film which "paints a future in which every citizen is connected to the state as easily as to Facebook, choosing policies, questioning politicians, collaborating with neighbours."
The documentary weaves together the perceptions of leading thinkers on the power of the web, with the overriding suggestion that people gain a sense of satisfaction from active participation rather than symbolic representation in decision-making processes. (Rebecca Frankel, editor of Channel 4
's FourDocs)
The project claims the founding principles of mass collaborative projects, including transparency, self-selection
and open-participation are nearing mainstream social and political lives. Us Now describes this transition and confronts politicians George Osborne
and Ed Milliband
with the possibilities for collaborative government as described by Don Tapscott
and Clay Shirky
amongst others.
in facilitating direct public governance without the need for politicians. The film tells the stories of the online mass collaboration projects such as Mumsnet
, CouchSurfing
, Slice the Pie and My Football Club whose self-organising
structures may "threaten to change the fabric of government."
in December 2008 and was released in spring '09 for free online viewing.
All of the material generated during the project is available to view and download on a Creative Commons license "and also encourages others to remix the core content with the 20 hours of footage available on the Us Now website (and presumably their own material) to draw other conclusions."
Following release online the film was screened on Channel 4's More4 on 11 July 2009. In late 2009 Us Now was the first film to be distributed on VODO
, a legal torrent distribution website, and received 100,000 downloads in its first five days of being available. The film has been translated and subtitled into 29 languages on the dotSUB platform and has been screened in many locations across the world.
Mass collaboration
Mass collaboration is a form of collective action that occurs when large numbers of people work independently on a single project, often modular in its nature...
, the government and the Internet" The New York Times describes it as a film which "paints a future in which every citizen is connected to the state as easily as to Facebook, choosing policies, questioning politicians, collaborating with neighbours."
The documentary weaves together the perceptions of leading thinkers on the power of the web, with the overriding suggestion that people gain a sense of satisfaction from active participation rather than symbolic representation in decision-making processes. (Rebecca Frankel, editor of Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's FourDocs)
The project claims the founding principles of mass collaborative projects, including transparency, self-selection
Self-selection
In statistics, self-selection bias arises in any situation in which individuals select themselves into a group, causing a biased sample with nonprobability sampling...
and open-participation are nearing mainstream social and political lives. Us Now describes this transition and confronts politicians George Osborne
George Osborne
George Gideon Oliver Osborne, MP is a British Conservative politician. He is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, a role to which he was appointed in May 2010, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001.Osborne is part of the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy, known in...
and Ed Milliband
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel Miliband is a British Labour Party politician, currently the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition...
with the possibilities for collaborative government as described by Don Tapscott
Don Tapscott
Don Tapscott is a Canadian business executive, author, consultant and speaker, specializing in business strategy, organizational transformation and the role of technology in business and society. Tapscott is chairman of business strategy think tank New Paradigm , which he founded in 1993...
and Clay Shirky
Clay Shirky
Clay Shirky is an American writer, consultant and teacher on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. He has a joint appointment at New York University as a Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and Assistant Arts Professor in the New...
amongst others.
Synopsis
The Us Now website describes the project as an examination of the role of the internet, and more specifically Web 2.0Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
in facilitating direct public governance without the need for politicians. The film tells the stories of the online mass collaboration projects such as Mumsnet
Mumsnet
- Content and traffic :Mumsnet is Britain's busiest website for parents, hosting discussion forums where parents give and receive peer-to-peer parenting support, as well as discussing a wide range of other topics...
, CouchSurfing
CouchSurfing
CouchSurfing International Inc. is a corporation based in San Francisco that offer its users hospitality exchange and social networking services. It is a for-profit private corporation, planning to go public. With more than 3 million profiles in 246 countries and territories, CouchSurfing has an...
, Slice the Pie and My Football Club whose self-organising
Self-organization
Self-organization is the process where a structure or pattern appears in a system without a central authority or external element imposing it through planning...
structures may "threaten to change the fabric of government."
Release and distribution
Us Now premiered at the Prince Charles CinemaPrince Charles Cinema
The Prince Charles Cinema is a repertory cinema located in Leicester Place, 40 metres north of Leicester Square in the West End of London. It shows a rotating program of cult, arthouse, and classic films alongside recent Hollywood releases - typically more than ten different films a week on two...
in December 2008 and was released in spring '09 for free online viewing.
All of the material generated during the project is available to view and download on a Creative Commons license "and also encourages others to remix the core content with the 20 hours of footage available on the Us Now website (and presumably their own material) to draw other conclusions."
Following release online the film was screened on Channel 4's More4 on 11 July 2009. In late 2009 Us Now was the first film to be distributed on VODO
VODO
VODO is an online media distributor releasing films under a Creative Commons license using the BitTorrent protocol. Filmmakers can upload films on the site and selected works are also promoted on third-party sites and services such as uTorrent or The Pirate Bay, Mininova and OneDDL.Past releases...
, a legal torrent distribution website, and received 100,000 downloads in its first five days of being available. The film has been translated and subtitled into 29 languages on the dotSUB platform and has been screened in many locations across the world.
See also
- Electronic direct democracy
- Open source governanceOpen source governanceOpen-source governance is a political philosophy which advocates the application of the philosophies of the open-source and open-content movements to democratic principles in order to enable any interested citizen to add to the creation of policy, as with a wiki document. Legislation is...
- Participatory democracyParticipatory democracyParticipatory Democracy, also known as Deliberative Democracy, Direct Democracy and Real Democracy , is a process where political decisions are made directly by regular people...
External links
- Official Website
- Usnow Film. The film itself
- Metagovernment. International group of projects instantiating a vision similar to the one in this film
- Us Now and social networks: interview with director Ivo Gormley on Telegraph.co.uk
- Ação colaborativa pode mudar forma de gerir o mundo. Estadao newspaper (Brazil)