YouTube a good resource

Gone are the days where you have to be on the silver screen or a sitcom to be considered a celebrity. Nowadays, it is not uncommon for average, run-of-the-mill folks to be heralded as famous with venues like reality television and video sharing Web site.
Now all it takes is a camera, creativity, maybe some friends or a family pet and a computer, and your on your way to being famous.
Daily, millions of viewers watch over 77 million videos about everything from funny cats to the elderly playing Nintendo Wii on the immensely popular Web site, YouTube. It’s a place where people share, comment on and view videos by anyone.
YouTube is one of the sites referred to as Web 2.0, the new generation of Internet. According to whatis.techtarget.com, Web 2.0 is the popular term for advanced Internet technology that includes blogs, wikis (server program that allows users to collaborate in forming the content of a Web site), RSS (an XML-based vocabulary that specifies a means of relating news or other Web content that is available for “feeding” (distribution or syndication) from an online publisher to Web users) and social bookmarking (which is unlike storing bookmarks in a folder on your computer, tagged pages are stored on the Web and can be accessed from any computer.) The differentiation between Web 2.0 and Web 1.0 technologies is mainly subjective. Other characteristics include free Web services, interactive encyclopedias and dictionaries and ease of data creation, modification or deletion by individual users.
An amateur filmmaker and junior creative writing major, Paul Grigsby uses YouTube for inspiration for new film ideas.
“I use it to discover what other people are doing with video,” Grigsby said. “If I find an idea that I like I could either alter the idea or it could inspire me to do it a totally different way.”
One video he found useful for his films is a popular matrix-esque pingpong video.
“There was a pingpong video where guys were playing pingpong, and there were men dressed in black suits that aided in a movement that was humanly impossible like a guy flying in the air slowly, and the ball moving in slow motion,” Grigsby said.
And just like millions of others, Grigsby uses YouTube as a source of entertainment.
“Some of the time, I watch older cartoons for entertainment and old television shows that aren’t on anymore,” Grigsby said. “I value the ability to sit down and watch a program when I feel like it rather than be controlled by a schedule.”
Emmanuel Little, a senior mass communication major, said he mainly uses the site to watch interesting videos.
“I like to look at music videos and spoken word,” Little said.
Senior mass communication major and amateur filmmaker, Hetty White, also enjoys watching videos on YouTube.
“One of the main reasons I watch YouTube videos is to see if the most popular videos are better than the ones I create (what’s the competition out there),” White said. “There is some funny and some really cool stuff on there. I like being able to find people who can dance, play instruments, etc. like I have never seen. Anything that makes me laugh is worth the download.”
White said she has seen some really bizarre things on the website.
“The craziest thing I have seen would probably be a supposed real video of a bride-to-be shaving all her hair off in a mad fit the hour before her wedding,” White said. “She freaked out.”
Grigsby and Odinaka Ezeokoli, a senior chemistry and English major, also use YouTube to promote organizations they are a part of. Ezeokoli has posted a few clips of his WGUR radio show, MOB Squad.
“(I want to give) a taste of what we talk about because people use it, and I want the people that use it to listen to my show,” Ezeokoli said.
Grigsby posts clips of performances by his organization, Art as an Agent for Change. He said he puts them up as a message for people.
“I have a message that I believe needs to be heard,” Grigsby said. “What better place to put it where it can be beard and seen.”
Last summer, Grigsby, White and other fellow students traveled to the Czech Republic. In addition to other Web sites, they used YouTube as a way to document and share their experiences.
“We made videos of certain parts of the trip like the 300 Czech steps, Adrspack National park and various churches and cathedrals,” Grigsby said. “YouTube enabled us to put our (documentation) on different sites and share it.”
While many consumers view YouTube as a positive phenomenon, several companies and individuals have sued for copy right infringement on videos. According to businessweek.com, YouTube’s policy is to remove copyrighted clips once they are notified to their existence; content providers, however, say they should be more proactive. YouTube was sued last July by independent photographer, Robert Tur because his work was distributed without permission, and Universal Music Group was considering suing them, too. Now, YouTube has acquired content deals with CBS, Universal Music Group, and Sony BMG. It also has similar deals with General Electric’s NBC and Warner Music Group. These companies allow YouTube to distribute approved copyrighted content from its partners in return for a share of advertising revenue.
While many of those in previous generations say that our generation is apathetic to politics and the government, YouTube tells a different story. You can see many young people creating and sharing videos with a political message. For example, YouTube subscriber Keith Petrower humorously made use of Beyonce’s hit single, ‘Irreplaceable’ to discuss the shift of control to the Democrats. According to the Albuquerque Tribune, YouTube has become another Internet tool to rouse political activists and political junkies; strategists say it’s an entertaining new way to contact voters directly. Others use it to spread awareness about things they consider important such as breast cancer, child abuse and Islamic awareness.
Many think that YouTube is an important outlet for personal expression. Grigsby said it is a great place to share social expression, but it can be both positive and negative.
“Offensive material as well as non-offensive material can be on YouTube,” Grigsby said. “It enables people to share their thoughts with millions of other people. Martin Luther King can share his idea as well as the KKK can.”
White said she thinks the site is important because individuals have made it that way.
“People start ‘walking it out’ at dances because they have seen the little girl do it on a YouTube video,” White said. “Millions of people are watching and being affected by what they are watching. The viewers are showing what they deem important by voting on the videos they like and then others noting what others are deeming important.”
Grigsby said sites like YouTube are important because they are easy to use and anyone can use them.
“Now that it’s simple to broadcast what I have to say to the world, that goes a step beyond.” Grigsby said. “It gives everyone a chance to stand up and be heard, from the biggest voice, to the smallest voice.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 16 2007. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry