YouTube and the Meaning of Identity
Thankfully, after seeing both Sean and Gavin post this video, I finally cleared out the time to watch Michael Wesch's speech at the library of congress entitled An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube. You might remember him as the genius behind Web 2.0...the machine is us/ing us. For a little under an hour, Wesch pulls back the curtain on YouTube, stripping away the mainstream descriptions of the platform, revealing it as the reflection of identity and search for self that it is for so many. For experienced YouTubers, it provides further confirmation of the value of community and for the relative newbies out there, you probably won't ever see it the same way again.
It also gives social media newbies a great primer for why these sites and tools are so popular.
Posted by: Mack Collier | August 17, 2008 at 12:01 PM