An anthropological introduction to YouTube

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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:

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:
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).

Channel: Education
Uploaded: July 27, 2008 at 2:12 am
Author: mwesch

Length: 00:55:34
Rating: 4.86
Views: 583073

Tags: YouTube anthropology presentation ethnography digital ksudigg

Video Comments:
neolusion1 (November 18, 2008 at 8:05 am)
thank you Prof.mwesch, you provided a very good subject matter for research, I'am studying in UK from Malaysia in Film studies. It is very interesting just by this post you voluntarily became my lecture, that plays a part in my education. great insights
Singingbelle27 (November 18, 2008 at 5:45 am)
Wow That was awesome.

I do think an anthropological point can be made regarding people like myself who do not own a video camera of any kind, and are meerly watchers and 'favorite'ers, forced to reply only in the 'text comments' box... A purer YouTube audience?
Just my thoughts :)
levilisko (November 17, 2008 at 2:55 am)
really insightful video
jobortszz (November 16, 2008 at 11:46 pm)
holy shit this is the longest video in youtube awesome
prodigy00073 (November 16, 2008 at 10:52 am)
Im doing an assignment on this video :)
MuggleSam (November 16, 2008 at 4:06 am)
Amazing! I feel like doing the Numa Numa dance now :)
jagaarj (November 15, 2008 at 9:45 pm)
I'm from Mongolia. That was great presentation. I'm gonna prepare presentation like this at my school Mongolian Computer science management school. Thk you very much. Dr.wesch
bienbuon (November 15, 2008 at 9:25 pm)
Excellent Presentation
yellowdot01 (November 15, 2008 at 1:47 am)
There will be a day when history is made faster then we can preceed it! well, that day as came. F. Loyd Wright as predicted a sistems of villages in a great net. WRight on!
But you're completly right, de sistem and amplitude of relations IS changing.
Good luck in your findings!
Melwood89 (November 15, 2008 at 1:43 am)
this was really long