viral media : what, why, how, and can it work in edu

In contemplating blogging by authors like Neil Gaiman, and Warren Ellis, Cory Doctorow, on BoingBoing suggests a model for understanding the changes wrought by media convergence that perhaps goes beyond the traditions of political economy and audience research. In cory's theory, successive regimes of media bias different economic models . In the days of vaudeville, for example, he states that what mattered most was your charisma:

"If you gave a great show, it didn't matter much how technically accomplished you were... that was the age of the charismatic artist... (while) in the era of radios and recordings... your stage presence isn't really perceptible anymore... (so, your) technical skill (shined) through (and) that was the age of the virtuoso artist... Today there's the explosion of choice brought on by the Internet... thanks to recommendation systems... your virtuosity is matched by someone else's... you need something more than charisma and virtuosity... you need conversation. (Thus) In practically every field of artistic endeavor, we see success stories grounded in artists who engage in some form of conversation with their audience."