Us Now

Us Now is a documentary film project "about the power of mass collaboration, the government and the Internet"

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 principals 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.

Synopsis
The Us Now website describes the project as an examination of the role of the internet, and more specifically Web 2.0 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."

Release and Distribution
Us Now premiered at the Prince Charles Cinema in December '08 and will be released in spring '09 for free online viewing. All of the material generated during the project will be 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."