An anthropological introduction to YouTube

presented 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).

Category:

Education

Tags:

• YouTube
• anthropology
• presentation
• ethnography
• digital
• ksudigg

[Elinious]

I wonder what this presentation would look like today? So much has changed in only a couple of years. The internet moves so quickly! LisaNova and lonelygirl15 are replaced by other people. What did they bring to the table and who's going to eventually replace them?

[biasamenjadi]

nice video

[NLDVideos]

moving, engaging account of what youtube is all about

[PandasAreEatingMe]

tl;dw

[topem97]

11:42 wow that facebook logo is REALLY old i remember that when i was trying to get people to move to facebook from myspace

[MichaelScarn23]

had to watch this for a class in preparation for a test....i thoroughly enjoyed it & now actually look forward to studying this superbowl weekend. thanks to everyone who contributed to the video!

[crummy06]

its neat to see the videos fro mthe beginning that we have know for such a long time, and the view count just sky rocket in this thing.

[TheLBW11]

Only had to watch the first 10 min for my english and ended up watching the full video thank you. Some of the best english homework set.

[sullivanva]

It doesn't seem to register how insanely narcissistic this stuff is. 

[dasuberkinchen]

Fantastic presentation. I also had to watch this for a class. test tomorrow haha. so very worth it. I use youtube to reach people all over the world who participate in "tricking" an underground sport where our connection hub is youtube and various forums. Our flips, twists, and kicks along with the other underground movements are seen by countless people worldwide. Our community is one of the thousands or hundreds of thousands or more that call youtube.... home....

[TEHnadistu]

I watched this for a class but towards the end I admit I even had tears in my eyes.

Everything that was said in it was so true and so deep.

[NHBeiserJ]

19:55 425x350 pixels? That is one tiny screen...