Dr M Wesch - Anthropology of You Tube
This is a brilliant video and one well worth watching. Dr Wesch is a captivating speaker and his presentation method is great. if you haven’t watch it, get some pop corn, pull up a comfortable chair and click here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU
However, good as he is and nice as it is to watch and listen to, there are a number of lessons to be learnt from this.
I had both my Year 13 and year 12 ITGS classes watch this and I asked them two questions.
1. What was most memorable about this video?
2. What are the keypoints you have learnt from this video?
I then asked them to comment on these two questions on this post
August 11th, 2008 at 9:57 am
I think that the most memorable thing in the video was the fact that when people get behind a webcam and talk to the world through the internet, their true feelings, emotions and personality are revealed. The phenomenon of talking to a small webcam connected to your computer really changes people, and this is very interesting to observe through sites such as YouTube.
August 11th, 2008 at 9:57 am
what is most memorable about this video?
The potential that a video can have to influence video responses. E.g. Numa video and MadV
What are the key points you have learned from this video?
The most private spaces can become the worlds biggest stages.
You are no more real or fake than what you present yourself through the camera as.
Unlawful use of materials is inevitable, so only causes people to live against the law.
August 11th, 2008 at 9:59 am
What is most memorable about this Video?
The strong statement that what the video makers are looking at is the webcam, and what that webcam represents in terms of a truly global audience available in our own homes.
What are the key points you have learnt from this video?
- That media sharing like youtube is a quickly growing medium
- That entire social phases can be influenced by such action
- That youtube can still be manipulated (e.g. faking, viral marketing, attention seeking etc.)
- That it provides a very large audience for a very low cost
- That it makes it a lot easier to try and get your message across to the world
- That electronic communication is breaking down the walls and barriers between people (the world is flat)
August 11th, 2008 at 9:59 am
What is most memorable about this video?
That it all started with a guy sitting in his bedroom dancing to Numa Numa.
What are the key points that you have learnt from this video?
That YouTube is giving the freedom to so many people around the world to come out and talk/dance etc. on the web – express their thoughts, emotions, views, values, and the majority of people are accepting and supportive.
Anything can happen when people use YouTube – soulja boy was found etc.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:00 am
MOST MEMORABLE:
the size of participation or amount of people using youtube and how fast user-generated content can spread
KEY POINTS:
1. Anyone is invited to share their feelings/values/laughs with other people
2. Youtube can be used to connect people and as a form of communication
3. Feedback can be made through comments of posting videos back 4. 9232 hours uploaded everyday
5. Youtube is a window of opportunity for people wanting to share their work
August 11th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Most Memorable part of the video - the amount of connection within youTube. The extent to which simple messages - one world, free hugs etc - spread and became known is astounding. When you consider that without this degree of connectivity and community all you would have is someone with writing on their hand and a sign reading “free hugs”, the importance of that community skyrockets.
Keypoints - identity. How you present yourself to the world, and how the world sees you. What comes out through the webcam is a reflection of your real self?
How do you know who you are talking to? Is what you present to youTube really yourself?
The connectivity and belonging - such as bnessel1973, one world - of the community there.
Just how far videos can spread - Numa Numa etc - becoming worldwide very quickly.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Some keypoints I have learned from this video include the fact that it can be so incredibly easy to publicise yourself through video sharing sites like YouTube, for example, “Soulja Boy” became a massive global sensation after posting his music that he made himself on myspace and thencreating his own dance to it and putting it on YouTube - he reached No.1 on the Billboard Top 100 charts in the U.S. within weeks! Also, another
key point is that it is not just young people like Soulja Boy uploading these videos to YouTube, it also involves much older people. Although over 50% of videos on YouTube have an 18-24 year old in them, much older people share videos with the world too.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:08 am
The thing i found most memorable is one of the quotes from Michael Wesch when he was discussing the “Numa Numa” phenomenon, Michael described it as “A celebration of new and unimaginable possibility.” Wesch then goes on to talk about the “little glass dot” in his web cam. He says “Consider again that dot, that’s there, that’s somewhere else, that’s everybody…”
Key points i have picked up would have to be identity. On Youtube it is possible to be anyone and yourself at the same time. But also this seems to give someone a real sense of community. “I’ve just dropped by… Wait i haven’t just dropped buy i am in my living room.” A quote from the LonleyGirl producers shows this identity some would call fake “ LonleyGirl is no more fake than the sections of your personality you deicide to show or hide”.
This video just displays the opportunity avalable to us. “A celebration of new and unimaginable possibility.” (Dr M Wesch)
August 11th, 2008 at 10:08 am
What is most memorable about this video?
How a home-made song and dance (by soulja boy) became top of the U.S music charts, to which principals and even the prisoners in a Thailand prison danced to.
What are the KEYPOINTS you have learnt from this video?
-How videos and user-created content posted on youTube can rapidly spread to become a worldwide phenomenon.
-How individuals crave a deeper connection with others, but one without constraints, which technology such as youtube allows.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:10 am
What i found most memorable about the video was how people are using youtube to connect and express themselves completely with others in such a public way.
Keypoints:
- the growth of youtube
- how it can bring worldwide fame - Solja boy
- the different reasons people are youtubing
- that it creates a whole new way for people to ‘be heard’
August 11th, 2008 at 10:10 am
The most memorable aspect of this video for me, is looking at just how much of a psychological scenario/situation youtube provides. People become themselves and hold nothing back when by themselves. Youtube allows the people to express themselves in their own, personal ways, people can define themselves as they wish to.
Firstly, the lack of identity:
the fact that when one is not confronted with a physical situation, people can become scalding and offensive, more so than they would be in the physical presence of others. Also how one can be easily misled by someone on youtube, without the physical connection, and a human’s innate ability to generally notice when they are being lied to, putting a large distance between and computers between two people can open them up to being decieved.
Secondly, the fact that youtube serves as a community, offering support and encouragement to others. a place where people can be free to express themselves, in whatever way they see fit.
Thirdly, how youtube is offering the inverse of what many people are seeking, Individualism, when a person is seeking community etc.
Fourthly, children are being brought up in a world of laws that cannot be enforced effectively, by making dvd and music ripping etc. we a essentially teaching them to live against the law and, at a stretch, giving the impression that being unlawful is alright.
Finally, the fact that humans are looking for community, and youtube offers this makes it very appealing to the masses.
August 12th, 2008 at 8:43 am
The most memorable aspect in this video was the idea of identity. How can we determine or know what is shown in the video is real or not real. We, as audience, cannot tell someone is acting being truthful about themselves.
In my opinion, the keypoints of this video was
- how rapid the growth of youtube is and therefore the power that it holds on the world: so powerful that a wannabe rapper became famous popstar by posting a video on youtube.
- that it creates a whole new way for people to ‘be heard’
August 12th, 2008 at 8:43 am
What was most memorable about this video?
——————————————————–
For me, it was that Youtube is a whole new worldwide community of people who help each other out through video sharing, and that the webcam makes creating videos feel like you are in the most private of places, yet you are potentially in one of the most public.
What are the keypoints you have learnt from this video?
——————————————————–
-That anyone can upload videos of whatever they want, leading to phenomenons such as Numa Numa
-Youtube is just a part of the mediascape: Facebook, myspace, google etc, of which we are at the center
-Media mediates human relationships
-10,000 videos are addresed to youtubers each day
-aesthetic arrest
-We are all producers
August 12th, 2008 at 8:44 am
The most memorable thing about this video is how amazing how youtube put together anonymity + physical distance + rare & ephermeral dialogue = freedom to experience humanity without fear or anxiety.
The keypoints that I have learnt from this video is how many other different aspects of the world have already followed the same path as video editing/making, making it easier for people to create and communicate with each other. For example, decades ago if you wanted to make music you had to have a studio in order to record in, but nowadays you can do it in your own room with the right software and distribute it freely and easily over the internet. Same goes with videos.
August 12th, 2008 at 8:44 am
1. What was most memorable about this video?
The most memorable part of this video to me was seeing how much YouTube connects people. From all over the world, content streams in and can be watched, shared around the globe. With this, things are shared and spread more quickly. eg Numa Numa Dance and the Free Hugs movement.
2. What are the keypoints you have learnt from this video?
- How personal talking in your room to a camera can be. People come out with the most thought provoking ideas and comments when sitting by themselves and discussing ideas with no one.
- How something seemingly basic that started as you having a good time can spread and become known and repeated world wide. Like the Numa Numa dance and Soulja Boy
- YouTube gives people the freedom to express themselves on camera and entertain people they have never, and probably will never, meet.
- Identity can be questioned throughout the web, as shown with LonelyGirl15. Anyone can pretend to be someone else and people take offense to that.
August 12th, 2008 at 9:00 am
The most emmorable things from this video in my opinion are the revelation of being on a webcam as one of the most public places for viewing, but still being in a very private place, allowing people to express themselves freely.
But the integrity of videos is also an issue as shown with the emokid saga where he is exchanging many videos in an extended internet love story only to eventually reveal he is not the person he was parading as, which could be potentially devastating to the person who had been communicating with him.
The portion of the video that explains copyrights and modern use of the internet and how we have to change the way the law works in relation to these issues because we cannot simply halt the advancement of technology so adaption is necessary.
August 12th, 2008 at 9:03 am
1. What was most memorable about this video?
There are two really, the first is when you hear Lawrence Lessig discussing the effect that current copyright laws are having on society and especially on the youth of today, the second is the point at the end where we were shown effect that you tube had on one of its users (bnessel1973) lives “this web sight, this community helped bring me life again”.
2. What are the keypoints you have learnt from this video?
The first question leads directly to the second, the most notable point that i picked up from the video was the fact that you tube can have an extremely profound effect on some people. This is shown in the monologue at the end from ‘bnessel1973′, and even in the fame of Gary Brolsma.
August 12th, 2008 at 9:13 am
1. What was most memorable about this video?
———————————————
The fact that while Youtube can act simply as a worldwide market square for hawkers and entertainers, apparently most people see it as an excuse to ramble at each other in vlogs and the fact that some of them aren’t real hurts and confuses people.
I found it interesting though that people are essentially talking to themselves when they vlog off the cuff, as they basically only have themselves to talk to. Youtube allows people to share these intimate moments which is neat in theory.
I found it a little sad however that basically a worldwide connectivity allows people to share their own stupidity but that’s another story.
I might add that I found it a little peculiar that the presenter neglected to mention that many of the videos on youtube are designed particularly by companies to be viral which negates many of the things he says, as companies can simply pay money for more popularity which ruins the concept of true viral video.
2. What are the key points you have learned from this video?
———————————————————-
Talking to a camera allows people to be more personal and sharing with their true personalities
It is surprising to some people that silly things can spread like wildfire if a few people take an interest and share it (Numa Numa dance). It is arguable that perhaps this is not a good thing by the eternally grumpy (such as myself).
The majority of Youtube users are scary people who will threaten bodily harm if they find vlogs are dramatised.
Youtube caters to a much larger audience, and provides many more hours of entertainment than a single television company ever could.
Youtube is part of a bunch of places such as Facebook, Myspace, and Digg where people are all connected.
August 12th, 2008 at 11:42 am
1. What was most memorable about this video?
The comment upon how everything is done inside the safety of your own home and the consequences this has upon what you have to say. As there are virtually no consequences in response to what people have to say, they can say virtually whatever they want. this becomes a problem as people can discuss what ever they want in whatever tone or fashion. Because of this people put down whoever they want for whatever reason they can think of.
On the other hand, this does allow people to comment upon what ever they want in what ever fashion meaning for people in oppressive cultures they can actually say what they think without people knowing it’s them therefore without consequence.
2. What are the key points you have learned from this video?
Firstly about what i said before, but in a different aspect which is the protection of privacy. Basically the people on youtube are not always real. Many of them are just characters made by the presenter to suit a purpose. This becomes a problem such in the case of lonleygirl15 where a fictional reality was created. People do not like being duped, and therefore when found out a negative response arose.
secondly on a different hand is the effect that youtube can have upon people. as illustrated in the last clip youtube can help people. in this case it helped someone get through the hard times in his life. from this you can see that youtube, for many people, is an outlet, a way out from there lives, giving them a new life in which they can feel better about themselves.
August 12th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Most Memorable:
The mirror and the webcam, as she explains that she is only talking to the webcam and no-one else
Key Points:
- Healthy sceptisicm is important when watching youtube
- Youtube is very powerful for connecting people
- If used incorrectly it can be very dangerous