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=_yxHKg...
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

[KStateWildcat7]

I'm so honored to be in his classes! He's one of the best instructors I've ever had

[LowryderKid]

WOW! This is so outdated and THAT is specifically what amazed me about this video. How something can become outdated or antique in just 5 years. Show how fast technology and culture is moving.

[GreatSirZachary]

OVER 9000 hours? How convenient. Only on Youtube.

[Volumesofdoom]

The bad side about youtube is that it created a platform for freeloaders, trolls and douchebags. Youtube is a money-making trollfest now, almost on par with 4chan.

[stefanpetrut1]

*Romanian pop song... get it right people.

[Jules vonCramon]

UofT for the win.

[Jason Hops]

Genocide does not have to be violent. The Treaty on Genocide 1948, says that. In fact, Lemkin, who wrote the Genocide laws, said most were non-violent.

It is the program of targeting one group for harm, in whole or part.

Flooding ALL White countries and ONLY White countries for mass non-White immigration combined with forced assimilation IS genocide.

[ihaley13]

I'm not sure what you are referring to exactly? Are you talking about actual genocide where a racial group is pushed to extinction through violence or are you talking about people have interracial relationships that result in mixed raced children and the relative depletion of the number of white people?

[Jason Hops]

No one is flooding Africa with Non Africans and telling them... "there are no races there is no genocide" ...we are going to create a blended humanity in ONLY Africa.

No one is flooding Asia with non-Asians and telling them... "there are no races there is no genocide " ...we are going to create a blended humanity in ONLY Asia.

Only White countries are doing this, only anti-Whites are pushing it. They want White GENOCIDE.

[virusguy5611]

One thing for certain though, the analysis upon Youtube's history was brilliant... kinda makes me wanna post a video.

[virusguy5611]

We're watching this for our Introduction to Sociology at my university LOL... and I'm getting tested upon it... great.

[DarkenIsGod]

'stupid video fads on the internet are important'