YouTube Assigments Galore!

Part one: React to this quote:
YouTube proves that in practice the economic and cultural rearrangements that “participatory culture” stands for are as disruptive and uncomfortable as they might be potentially liberating. The debates and struggles around YouTube as a site of participatory culture…are less about technology and more about cultural and political questions: who gets to speak, and who gets the attention; what compensations or rewards there are for creativity and work; and the uncertainties around various forms of expertise and authority.

This quote is drawing on the idea that there is a thing called “YouTube-ness” that the site has created. The types of videos that become popular on YouTube aren’t like anything that could be seen in traditional media. I think the question of who gets to speak is quite simple: everyone. However, who gets the attention is much more difficult to answer. I think the one’s who get the attention are the ones who understands the “YouTube-ness,” meaning they know the types of people who watch YouTube videos and have a good idea of what they might find interesting. As far as compensation goes, I agree with Burgess and Green that most YouTube video creators are looking for attention and that is probably award enough for most of them.

Part two: What do you make of the viral videos “Hey, Clip” and LonelyGirl15 and the stories and mythologies behind them?

I really liked the Hey, Clip. For one, I had never heard the song before and thought it was good. Secondly, it seemed well-planned out and the editing was impressive. I have tried matching up music to videos before and it’s not easy. (Especially when you have so many different shots in one video).
The LonelyGirl clip I had seen before. I was on YouTube one day a few years back and stumbled across it (I think because I was watching Brookers videos and she made mention of it). Anyway, I ended up reading an article not long after that said the whole thing was a hoax and that some guys had hired an actress to play the girl in order to take advantage of the YouTube craze that was going on. I never really looked at it again after that. It would have been interesting listening to the life of a teenage girl (because I was a teen at the time), but once I found out it was fake it lost its intrigue. If I wanted to watch some made-up series about a teen’s life, I could just watch T.V.

Part three: Comment on the design of YouTube. What are the merits and limitations of its design? How does its design make it different from other prominent social networking sites?

I hate YouTube’s new format!! Before I could type in a song title and I wouldn’t just find “the official video” but I’d find tons of re-makes. Now, the official videos come up first and it’s a lot harder (in my opinion) to find the quirky videos that everybody loves.
One good thing about YouTube is its home page helps you sort through all the videos that are posted. There are different sections: “Videos Being Watched Now,” “Featured Videos,” and “Most Popular.” This helps users keep up with what everyone else is looking at and also a way to help them discover other things they might like. The “tag” option when people post a video is also really helpful as a social networking device. This enables viewers who are interested in the subject of the video to find it (and others like it) more easily.
The downside of YouTube as a social networking site is that it’s not as intimate as sites such as Facebook, Myspace, or even Twitter. On YouTube, the information you get about people are limited unless the video makers make it appoint to share things on their pages. For instance, I was trying to find out more about “Tasha” the creator of the “hey clip.” And her YouTube site didn’t give as much information as say a Facebook page would.

While I was looking up things on google, I stumbled upon this video.  It’s really long but I think it’s funny/interesting.

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