Under the deep Blu sea

TheBlu is an initiative launched September 2011 by Wemo Media to create a living, breathing, growing Ocean… on the internet.

A project of this scope, breadth and depth has never been undertaken by a group because the project was too large to tackle without effective collaboration strategies and tools. That is, until now.

The proliferation of the internet, Web 2.0 and social media facilitate collaboration on projects from all over the world and allow people to “cowork” in the words of Tara Hunt.

Why?

The creators of theBlu are testing the effectiveness of collaboration over the internet. They are undertaking a global project that was never possible until now and using the concepts “maker media” and “the medium is the message” to create a shared media experience on the World Wide Web.

It’s a form of digital storytelling where the users can also be the makers. How users interact with theBlu affects and changes it. Users can connect to each other simply by interacting with the habitat on their computer.

TheBlu operates on a completely open platform where anyone who signs up as a maker can create parts of the environment.

Digital artists can:

• Get direct feedback from leaders in the field such as Joichi Ito, Director, MIT Media Lab, and Andy Jones, Avatar‘s Animation Director
• Showcase, market and sell their designs and talents on a global scale
• Connect with a community of like-minded peers

Why the Ocean?

• The makers wanted to see if the internet could be beautiful
• Using the Ocean as a muse encompasses activism into the project
• It’s a way of seeing life under the water
• The Ocean is the biggest thing on Earth, making it a good test for global collaboration capabilities over the internet

Proceeds from online sales go directly to the makers and to Ocean-conservation initiatives.

The project is keeping its membership small in the initial stages. If you would like to see it for yourself, there are a few ways to get around the private settings. You can request an invitation on their website and cite the reason you want to join or you can enter a promo code and be granted access immediately. Near the end of October, Mashable provided its readers with the code MASHABLE. Only the first 500 people will be able to use the code.

How do you think theBlu will evolve?