RESPONSE TO WESCH'S YOUTUBE ANALYSIS VIDEO

First of all, I like this guy. He's human. After all, he's an anthropologist, but he never seems to forget that he, too, and his students are human. The only reason they can also "participate" is because they are human.

LOVE

I've also noticed that he sneaks the word "love" into his lectures each time. I wonder if he believes that ultimately love is what makes us human? (As I do.)

http://www.boredpanda.org/vanishing-tribes-before-they-pass-away-jimmy-nelson/

Even though the video of the lecture that we watched, and the early YouTubers he showed us clips of were not elegantly shot or edited together, the elegance comes in the human. He zeroed in on very human, vulnerable moments for people reaching out to share their grief, express themselves or just be silly to share joy or break the loneliness. It just have taken a long time to find and stitch all of this together! There was also just a touch of music pulling everything along. In the end, his history of YouTube is extremely moving.

YOUTUBE: FROM 2008 TO 2015

Of course, the early history (or analysis) of YouTube could have been put together a different way, focusing on the worst of YouTube, but he didn't. I'm glad, because I am always trying to focus on the positives about new media use so that we can take advantage of it and model good use of it, rather than always complaining about it and drawing attention to its dark side.

When YouTube first came out, I thought: no one is going to tolerate the poor, poor grainy quality! But nobody cared. They were creating this "new form of community" that Wesch speaks of.

It was a good review to go over the history of YouTube phenomena (e.g., paraodys) and where they began. (I did NOT know where "FREE HUGS" came from, nor that one of the first webcam "stories" was a love story--with a fake emo boy.) We forget that some new technologies aren't THAT new and are able to have a bonafide "history" now. From "Numa Numa" to Lady Gaga's "Telephone" and Psy's "Gangnam Style" being done by our troops overseas and football teams.

Wesch's video is from 2008 which seems like a century ago. Now there are YouTube stars with their own channels, with whole entourages that produce their videos, sponsors, and ad revenue that have made the stars millionaires. Some of these "stars" started on Twitter or Vine even, so YouTube is very cross-platform now.

TERMS

It was almost difficult to notice "terms" that Wesch was using because they are everyday speak now (even though they were new in 2008). But I caught "Creative Commons," "thread," "technorati," "refresh," "mediascape," "Rave Awards," etc.

"ALONE TOGETHER"

Wesch takes note that what YouTube feeds is what's deepest in us: our longing for intimacy (in-to-me-see). As a friend of mine says, we are hard-wired for intimacy and communication, that's why we're so addicted to our little hand-held devices. 

Of course, YouTube is not being used for unprofessional, confessional type heart-to-hearts any more. It's way more slick, as even a 10-year-old knows how to shoot and edit a decent-looking video. I also had a chuckle at the big deal made of the "webcam" when now they are built into computers and no big deal.

LOOKING GLASS SELF

It seems odd now, how uncomfortable most of Wesch's students were recording themselves in their webcams for the first time. They were shy, they were suspicious of this new, invasive technology and talked about masks (something about it felt like artifice to them)! And now we don't even seem to question that this is "reality."

It was a strange new way of being human that felt so odd at the time, but now so comfortable. "Most private and most public." "Every is there in the room with you, and no one is there."

MARSHALL MCLUHAN

I love that the clip of Marchall McLuhan has no subtitle on it and Wesch never names him. We're just suppposed to know. :)  It's truly amazing that McLuhan's insights and principles apply now more than ever to media he never saw. So many new concepts and modes of being: "seriously playful," "context collapse," and the fact that most of us our breaking laws every day in our use of media. 

I recently watched "The Fault in Our Stars," (a 2014 teen romance). The guy wanted to be famous in life. The girl did not. She didn't want to be widely loved by many, she wanted to be deeply loved by one.