I just watched an amazing presentation on the anthropology of YouTube delivered by Dr Michael Wesch. At nearly an hour in length, it is a bit of a time commitment, but is worth every minute.
Michael Welsch (who you may also remember from The Machine is Us/ing Us) from earlier this year) is a professor of digital ethnography at Kansas State University, and he and his students have been conducting an anthropological study of YouTube and it’s users. The presentation covers a history of YouTube through its users – from the Numa Numa song and it’s replicators as a celebration of the webcam, through to the endless mashups of Soulja Boy, to the Free Hugs guy. He also discusses the ways in which YouTube, in particular personal vlogs, allow for a form of expression and community that is unique to the internet, allowing people to make connections and express themselves in ways that they have not been able to do before.
Exploring ideas of authenticity, personality, self expression, participation and collaboration, this is a fantastic piece that really highlights the ways in which new media and new technologies are not only changing the ways people communicate, but are changing the communities we have, and for the better.
It’s not often that I find myself coming away from a piece of media feeling positive about the future, but this presentation made me hope that there is a future for our global community beyond lots of individuals sitting in front of boxes.
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