The anthropological view on YouTube

Michael Wesch talks in: an anthropological introduction to YouTube. It is already a well known lecture but I think it is so good that we can show it again. It is about the impact of new media (especially YouTube) and the new forms people express themselves and the different identities people take online. The presentation takes about 55 minutes. It all starts with a great quote from Stephen Weiswasser from ABC.

You aren't going to turn passive consumers into active strollers on the internet

Well Stephen wasn't right in that. Some interesting facts and figures from the presentation are: - ABC exists for about 60 years and in all those years they produced about 1,5 million our of programs. YouTube reached this amount within half a year. - On YouTube about 9232 hours of clips is uploaded every day. - There are 385 'always-on' TV channels on YouTube. - 88% of the daily new content is new and original. - The age we see the most on YouTube is between 18 - 24 jaar (50 percent) and 25 - 24 years old. - Home video's are the kind of videos which are uploaded the most. For those who do not want to watch the full lecture here is a playlist (via Youtube). 0:00 Introduction, YouTube's Big Numbers 5:53 The Machine is Us/ing Us and the New Mediascape 12:56 Who is on YouTube? 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 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 30:25 Connection without Constraint 32:35 Free Hugs: A hero for our mediated culture 34:02 YouTube Drama: Striving for popularity 36:55 YouTube's Anthenticity Crisis: the story of LonelyGirl15 39:50 Reflections on Authenticity 41:54 Gaming the system / Exposing the System 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 More information: Mediatedcultures">Mediatedcultures