An anthropological introduction to YouTube
Backpresented at the Library of Congress, June 23rd 2008. This was tons of fun to present. I decided to forgo the PowerPoint and instead worked with students to prepare over 40 minutes of video for the 55 minute presentation. This is the result. more info: http://mediatedcultures.net 0:00 Introduction, YouTube's Big Numbers 2:00 Numa Numa and the Celebration of Webcams 5:53 The Machine is Us/ing Us and the New Mediascape 12:16 Introducing our Research Team 12:56 Who is on YouTube? 13:25 What's on Youtube? Charlie Bit My Finger, Soulja Boy, etc. 17:04 5% of vids are personal vlogs addressed to the YouTube community, Why? 17:30 YouTube in context. The loss of community and "networked individualism" (Wellman) 18:41 Cultural Inversion: individualism and community 19:15 Understanding new forms of community through Participant Observation 21:18 YouTube as a medium for community 23:00 Our first vlogs 25:00 The webcam: Everybody is watching where nobody is ("context collapse") 26:05 Re-cognition and new forms of self-awareness (McLuhan) 27:58 The Anonymity of Watching YouTube: Haters and Lovers 29:53 Aesthetic Arrest 30:25 Connection without Constraint 32:35 Free Hugs: A hero for our mediated culture 34:02 YouTube Drama: Striving for popularity 34:55 An early star: emokid21ohio 36:55 YouTube's Anthenticity Crisis: the story of LonelyGirl15 39:50 Reflections on Authenticity 41:54 Gaming the system / Exposing the System 43:37 Seriously Playful Participatory Media Culture (featuring Us by blimvisible: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yxHKgQyGx0) 47:32 Networked Production: The Collab. MadV's "The Message" and the message of YouTube 49:29 Poem: The Little Glass Dot, The Eyes of the World 51:15 Conclusion by bnessel1973 52:50 Dedication and Credits (Our Numa Numa dance) The Numa Numa quote is from *Douglas* Wolk (not Gary Wolk as I mistakenly said in the talk).
Channel: Education
Uploaded: July 26, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Author: mwesch
Length: 0:55:34
Rating: 4.87
Views: 705,689
Tags: YouTube anthropology presentation ethnography digital ksudigg
Video Comments:
itgsweb (Tuesday 2nd of December 2008 07:25:19 AM)
Youtube and the web in general have liberalized our global society; whereas in WW II people where using hidden radio's to contact faint rogue broadcasts, this form of user generated content enables me, you, us, as a global community, to keep expressing opinion. The internet does not just allow freedom of expression, it hosts and promotes it, making sure that it will never fade. It is because you cannot stop it that it is so effective!
An amazing invention.
socoolbob (Monday 1st of December 2008 04:07:26 PM)
Did I miss something or did the embed permissions just change ... and then change again ....
I'm glad you're back.
YouTube Gold
wonkytrolley (Monday 1st of December 2008 04:02:26 PM)
watching this for 55 mins plus has made me feel spaced out, not used to such long vids on here. was entertaining, thanks.
EnelyaOronar (Monday 1st of December 2008 07:01:44 AM)
This is fabulous! I knew that picking YouTube as a focus for my dissertation research was a going to be fun!
SZF123456 (Sunday 30th of November 2008 05:16:26 AM)
let's think about this though; what about the double videos people upload, as in the videos that are on youtube twice because people just feel like posting them again for whatever reason? that's not exactly new content.
hauwerine83 (Saturday 29th of November 2008 07:33:30 AM)
This was absolutely fantastic! I'm an virtual anthropologist myself from Finland and this video gave me lots of inspiration!
shukero (Friday 28th of November 2008 05:46:24 PM)
Very nice. I never thought of this community in that way. It's very interesting to see it through your eyes as well as other peoples eyes. well done.
GuzmanTierno (Friday 28th of November 2008 11:42:59 AM)
Fantastic work !
Navaja1221 (Thursday 27th of November 2008 10:47:33 PM)
This analysis spoke volumes to me. It reinforced my belief behind every video, every scandal, every phenomenon, and even every comment, there's a person longing to be heard.
I should really show this to more people. :O
socoolbob (Friday 28th of November 2008 03:40:52 PM)
True, True ô¿~