An anthropological introduction to YouTube
30 Sep 2008 (Tue)WHAT IMPACT DO YOUTUBE and other social media have on human behavior today? Check out this 55-min video presentation at the Library of Congress, June 23rd 2008, produced by Dr Michael Wesch and his anthropology students. More info at MediatedCultures.net.
VIDEO NOTES BY DR WESCH:
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)
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Posted by J.K. in Psychology, Social Media, Technology, Video | 3 Comments |

October 6th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Hi,
Nice and interesting blog , I came to know various new aspects of You tube from this blog. Thanks for your interest.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:32 pm
That’s really nice and funny. I shared with all of my friends.
November 27th, 2009 at 12:10 am
I’ve got to tell ya, this really is a good blog. I read it few times a week, and I always find good content. Don’t you dare stop blogging! Haha.
Anyway, don’t let me take your time. All I wanted to say was keep up the good work! I’ve subscribed to your channel on YouTube AND your RSS-feed for the blog.
Big hugs all the way from Sweden!