1. There is an ancient belief in many cultures that photographs steal part of your soul. I personally hate having my picture taken, so I often will quote this belief. If a picture steals part of your soul, what does a video clip do? This is the question that kept popping into my head as I researched, joined, played with, and uploaded to YouTube.
For these blogs I always enjoy looking at the history of these technologies. The founders of YouTube were three young men working out of a garage in San Mateo, California. Depending on which article you read, the initial idea behind YouTube was an online dating site with videos attached, or it started because two of three founders were disgusted with how long it took them to share videos. Either way a year or so later they sold the company to Google for over a billion dollars, not too shabby.
Davies and Merchant mention fifteen different video sharing sites, they also mention that there are over 50 listed in Wikipedia, and at www.lifehacker.com they have listed the five best video sharing sites. So why is YouTube so popular? Part of the reason could be that it is great for general use, and for everyday joes/josies, which is the majority of us out there. Other sites can be more specific (ie. production of web shows), some have more restrictions (ie. must be original content, smaller GB's allowed), and many people have just not heard of (ie. Bliptv, and Viddler). YouTube is globally known and has proven itself considering it has been on top for five years.
I knew nothing of YouTube, besides the few clips that have been emailed to me over the last couple of years. I had never entered the site on my own. I signed up for a YouTube account very easily, found a user name, Mrtgb6, gave a couple of simple descriptors and boom there I was. Organizing my YouTube site has been somewhat of a hassle, it isn't as smooth as the rest of the process thus far, the finished product when you see my site from the outside is nice, but when you are signed in as the user it is a bit confusing, that could just be me and my inabilities! Now I started feeling some fear and anxiety, not because of the site but because I knew that eventually I would put myself on there as part of my learning experience. Unlike a lot of the clips I've observed over the week, I am not an egomaniac who has a false perception of my greatness, and that others will want, no need to hear and see me!!! (sorry that may have been a bit sarcastic) One question or concern I kept coming back to was security and potential legal concerns. I was very leary on what I could do, or what I may come across in my searches. Davies and Merchant mention how it is the "community" who dictate what is appropriate. This is somewhat concerning considering in the world of the web 100,000 people or even more could have viewed the inappropriate material before it is taken down. In the ABA Journal from February of 2009 there was a lawsuit involving a YouTube patron and a major music company around the issue of fair use. I won't go into detail, but it is an interesting article.
(http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/copyright_in_the_age_of_youtube ) So with my fear and anxiety put aside I dove in, feet first of course, I still don't know how deep it is!
2. At first I thought I could just say "ditto" to my flickr blog, just replace photo with video clip. I figured that would not go over well, I do feel that they are similar in many aspects and applications. I loved looking up video clips of topics that are of interest to me. There is a plethora of material out there, and to be honest most are quite good. I came across one clip this week that had a warning that it could be offensive to some people. I didn't view the clip, I figured if it could be offensive I won't watch it. The point is I had the choice of whether to view or not, so that warning served it's purpose. Personally from my lens as myself and learning YouTube is great, from my role of parent I'm not sold yet. I'm more hesitant and guarded around its use when I look at it as Dad, I would need more then a week of searching key terms in order to child test this site. The community aspect of YouTube is quite evident, as it was with flickr. You can join YouTube under different accounts, Sid Yadav mentions this in an article from 2006. There is a directors account, a comedian account, a musician account, etc. These specific accounts allow more freedom of length, editting, and so on of your "channel". I didn't grasp the channel concept at first, until I watched one of the trailfire clips which explained it. Then it seemed really obvious and I was a little bit embarrassed.
So now it was time to upload some shows onto my channel, my very first ever attempt, well was very lame, but I did it! I put my face and voice on the internet. There was some extremely nervous moments over the uploading of that clip, not just because I was in it, more about what was in the background? Was there anything in that clip that a.) I didn't want in it?, or b.) that someone else didn't want in it? So now that fear had passed I went one step further to help complete the graying of my scalp and put a clip of my kids on my channel. In flickr we tried to start a theme of emotion shown in photos, so I recruited my daughters to demonstrate emotions in a video clip. It was fun, nerve racking putting them "out there" to the world, but fun. My five year old may become a star some day with her acting ability. ( http://www.youtube.com/user/Mrtgb6 )
3. Again I thought I could almost mimic the flickr post here as well, don't worry I won't. Sonography is a digital medium these days, all the images are digital as well as all the video clips.(no more vhs tapes) During certain exams we will store clips. In obstetrics, venous/carotid, and mostly echocardiographic exams.(ultrasound of the heart) So it would be beneficial as an instructor to put up clips for the students to go and view and discuss what is happening, and again this could work for the profession as well throught he national society. To go one step further, you could gather several clips of similar pathologies or views and group them together as a study tool. This aspect is very exciting to me, so after a lecture, or module, or lab I could direct the students to a channel that I have set up as an extra study guide, if they wish. Then I could put a couple of questions on the exam to reward those who went that extra mile. I am definitely going to look into this further when I have some more time....looks like 2012 should be open.
Overall I enjoyed my time with YouTube, of couse more time is needed to fully grasp all of its potential. Only downsides are the security adn legal issues that could arise. YouTube was easy to start up, it just wasn't easy for me to put "I" in YouTube.
Notes:
1. Webb, P. YouTube and Librairies: It could be a beautiful relationship. http://trailfire.com/joannedegroot/marks/295598
2. Fitzpatrick, J. Lifehacker - five best video-sharing sits. http://lifehacker.com/5343601/fivebestvideo+sharing-sites.
3. The origin of youtube - http://www.worldhistorysite.com/youtube/html
4. Yadav, S. YouTube - The complete profile. http://www.rev2.org/2006/10/02/youtube-the-complete-profile
5. Seidenberg, S. Copyright in the age of youtube. http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/copyright_in_the_age_of_youtube/
6. Davies, J & Merchant, G. Web 2.0 for schools. 2009.
Back in the air
14 years ago
Tom, I loved watching your girls respond to your request to show emotion. That was fun.
ReplyDeleteI, like you was very hesitant to the put the "I" in YouTube. You however were much braver than me as I chose not to go that route. Good for you.
Pauline
Thanks Pauline, it wasn't easy, but fun!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tom. I enjoyed your videos (and thanks for taking the time to create and upload your own videos to youtube). You raise a good point about your own kids and whether you would let them use youtube without further exploration. It's true that there may be some stuff on there that is not kid friendly, but overall my family's experience has been very positive using youtube. My kids use it (with supervision, of course) to watch clips from tv shows and movies, music videos (they particularly liked the songs about Barack Obama by will.i.am last year during the presidential election in the U.S.--we watched those many many times!). We have found it a good source for videos for our family and I will continue to encourage them to use it and to teach them how to find appropriate material as they get older.
ReplyDeleteThat said, there are a couple of kid friendly video sharing sites that might be more appropriate for young viewers--TeacherTube has educational videos and http://www.kidvideos.com/ which I haven't spent a lot of time on but looks promising for kids.
Thanks Joanne, I will check those out. It was fun making the videos with the girls, I can see me making more in the future. I hope you are enjoying your "vacation".
ReplyDeleteHi Tom,
ReplyDeleteI put my cat on YouTube for the very reasons you mentioned. I am still scarred, that I not so good friend, posted a pick of me from a class presentation directly on facebook without permission. Like who does that? There are real issues with photo and video sharing. Posting without permission? Yikes. There is so much that our students need to be schooled in, in regards to ethics etc.
@Tom:
ReplyDeleteReflecting on your post, I think there must be some ethnographic study being done about the types of videosharing, photosharing, and social utility sites that persons choose to access over others that are available.
I like the point you highlight about whether or not to raise children to depend on accessing social networking sites for recreational use. I'm not a parent, but it must be difficult to teach kids to tell the truth, but then to encourage them not to share their personal lives with others to a greater degree than normal. With no real checks in place, I'm sure there are youth who have no limits or boundaries on what they post, and that is probably the greater pressure on kids today to follow the lead of their peers.
Thanks for your great insight.
-rob