Youtube has served a limited purpose in my life. I got there typically to look up songs I hear about, parts of speaches I miss, or to watch a video a friend has posted. I never realised how limited my use of Youtube is until watching Michael Wesch’s video. It was incredibly enlightening on many levels.
I learned many new things on in this video. I found it interesting to see how a video can become internationally viral and is then reinterpreted in the different countries it reaches. The example of the Numa Numa video illustrated this idea very well. Before seeing this video, I didn’t realize the capacity for Youtube to connect people, even on an international level. It is interesting to see how the video responses create a dialog between users. Users are creating relationships though this dialogue and video interaction. They are able to have a conversation via webcam.
Throughout the course of the semester, I have been looking at the tools we learn about on an individual level, interacting with them accordingly. I appreciate how Welsh shows the audience how all the tools really connect as a user-generated machine. A video is created in Youtube and tagged through user-generated aggregation sites like Digg and Delicious. RSS feeds then serve as user-generated distribution. Content can ultimately get more and more views depending on what users like and find interest in. It is truely a massive user-dependent media machine. This knowledge makes me feel like my interaction makes me a part of the process. I feel more now, after watching the video, then ever before that in interacting with these tools I can can become a part of this internet community. I have never really wanted to post a Youtube video and interact with the videos more than I do now. The next step is just figuring out what I want to talk about.
October 22, 2008 at 11:53 am |
Enjoyed reading your post here…very thoughtful. I’m wondering what kinds of questions and concerns you might have about participating in the YouTube community. While I too am fascinated by Wesch’s analysis and commentary, there also seem to be practices within the community that are less than friendly and supportive. One thing for sure, YT is a vast storehouse of user-generated content that at this time is not all that well organized. Be curious about your thoughts on curation of collections in YT vids.
October 22, 2008 at 3:43 pm |
You are right that not all within the Youtube community is supportive. This is one of my hesitations. People have the freedom to openly critique any content I post. With the reputation Youtubers have for nasty comments, that could be scary. I would probably create some kind of disguise so that people could not link me personally to the content. It could remain exclusivley as part of my online persona. This allows for more freedom. Regardless, it’s tricky
October 23, 2008 at 4:37 am |
Its funny that me and you have the same use of youtube…i only used it for songs and tv shows as well not realizing there is a large community going on.
October 23, 2008 at 8:17 pm |
[...] about the video in his class sandbox. I particularly liked how one of Jeff’s students, Frances, stated [...]
October 28, 2008 at 8:51 pm |
YouTube played a very small part in my life as well! I would only go to for a specific purpose and if anyone ever asked me how to upload a video or anything else about the site, I would be clueless. Since exploring YouTube in class, I have found myself using more in the past couple of weeks than I have my whole life. I’ve actually been using it as a “How To” resource to become familiar on “how to” drive a stick shift. It’s actually been somewhat helpful to have a little bit of knowledge before actually getting in the car! Anyway, I just wanted to say that YouTube has played a very small, limited role in my life as well until now!
October 29, 2008 at 7:53 pm |
yeah I don’t know how much more I will be using it. If I have some free time or need to know how do to do something randomly I know where to go but who has time to keep up regular usage? Although I know now that advantages of Youtube, it has always seemed like the ultimate tool of procrastination.