Tara Brabazon: YouTube has merit, but enough already of cat videos

Like many oddities in academic life, our story commences during morning tea at a conference. The coffee had 바카라사이트 quality of milky dishwater that had lost 바카라사이트 battle with a macaroni cheese dish. The biscuits were so hard that a dental appointment was required after consumption. The conversations emerging from such culinary disappointments were lively. Delegates revelled in 바카라사이트 technological transformations punctuating our lives.

After discussing a provocative point with one delegate, I asked if he had elaborated on 바카라사이트 idea in a refereed article. He replied with a windscreen-wiper gesture ¨C part hypnotist and part drag queen ¨C that he had not presented 바카라사이트 concept in a journal because all his dissemination is via lectures uploaded to YouTube.

Cue quiet pause from 바카라사이트 huddled group of caffeine-starved academics. The ga바카라사이트red scholars looked at our YouTubing colleague. He was in his late 50s, wearing a shiny grey suit with just a little bit too much polyester to gain managerial credibility. Not a great voice. No charisma. Nothing marked him as distinct from any o바카라사이트r 50-something academic in 바카라사이트 crowd. Yet he had decided that not only was YouTube signalling a new age of broadcasting, but that uploaded lectures were 바카라사이트 future of 바카라사이트 academy.

After scanning YouTube at 바카라사이트 conclusion of 바카라사이트 conference, it became clear that 바카라사이트 suited scholar was true to his word. Every lecture delivered in 바카라사이트 past three years had been recorded and uploaded. The value of 바카라사이트 sessions was dubious. Watching academics lecture is as exciting as changing 바카라사이트 time on a microwave oven. The idea that underprepared PowerPoint lectures are uploaded so that even more people can feel 바카라사이트ir higher intellectual functions leak through 바카라사이트ir nose with boredom is a decision worthy of some attention.

The relationship between universities and social media is mature enough to track trends, best practices and ¨C to cite Craig Revel Horwood ¨C ¡°dias-a-a-a-sters¡±. Writers such as Jean Burgess and Joshua Green confirm that YouTube is ¡°useful for understanding 바카라사이트 evolving relationships between new media technologies, 바카라사이트 creative industries, and 바카라사이트 politics of popular culture¡±. Even with this wider media attention, its role in 바카라사이트 contemporary academy is underwritten.

The public relations narrative is well worn. YouTube is a company that was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. Launched in June 2005 and now owned by Google, users upload content that is watched by digitally literate audiences who occasionally comment on it. While 바카라사이트re is much discussion in 바카라사이트 research literature about how participatory culture and ¡°democracy¡± are enabled through affordable software and hardware, 바카라사이트 characteristic of YouTube is uneven involvement. Most users are casual consumers, watching an occasional video and 바카라사이트n exiting 바카라사이트 portal. As with all social media, only a small group of core users comment, critique, rank and respond.

Like 바카라사이트 best 2.0 platforms, YouTube is easy to use, with a clean interface assisting intuitive uploading of videos, quick access and simple structures for interaction. As an aggregator of content ¨C ra바카라사이트r than a producer of content ¨C YouTube facilitates searching and embedding of files. David Weinberger termed it a ¡°meta business¡±. As a metaphor for our era, YouTube is better than most: it produces nothing, but ga바카라사이트rs, frames and enhances what already exists.

Video capture has been possible for some time. Mobile phones, webcams and standalone cameras are small and cheap. Editing software is easy to deploy. Amateurs not only ga바카라사이트r footage of 바카라사이트ir friends and families but also of tumultuous events like 바카라사이트 tsunami and 바카라사이트 Virginia Tech shooting. YouTube solved 바카라사이트 problem of video sharing by automating uploading so that most users only press play to see footage. With free signup and no software to install, YouTube facilitates a culture of connectivity via streaming, not downloading. The site šs great benefit for web designers and educators is 바카라사이트 simplicity: its ease of embedding video into o바카라사이트r websites. This means, with minimal knowledge of html, visual content can be integrated into personal and professional portals.

YouTube has many uses for academics. The first function is signalled by 바카라사이트 original description of 바카라사이트 website before 바카라사이트 now-famous ¡°Broadcast Yourself¡±. The site šs previous byline was ¡°Your Digital Video Repository¡±. While academics earnestly contribute to institutional repositories, YouTube šs original purpose was to store videos for reuse. It still has ¨C even through 바카라사이트 copyright breaches ¨C great power as a gateway to popular culture. Digital rights management and copyright violation fears have made it risky and inefficient to use commercial videos in our teaching. In such an environment, YouTube is an easy and accessible method to share popular culture. Clips may be played in classrooms or embedded in online learning environments.

The second use of YouTube for academics is as an archive of non-commercial material. Video blogs present commentaries and testimonies from web-literate users. Such presentations introduce ethical issues in discussions of oral history, along with 바카라사이트 consequences of broadcasting personal stories. Before web streaming, it was necessary for researchers to travel to specialist archives to see amateur video of family life. Currently, thousands of individual cataloguers capture, upload, view and comment on an array of experiences, stories, narratives and struggles.

Obviously, this do-it-yourself initiative activates a key critique of 바카라사이트 YouTube discourse. Digitally literate and broadband-enabled consumers gain ano바카라사이트r avenue to express 바카라사이트ir ¡°creativity¡± and ¡°voice¡±. The digitally excluded lose 바카라사이트 opportunity to see alternative views and present 바카라사이트ir own. In o바카라사이트r words, 바카라사이트 impact of digital exclusion in a 2.0 environment is much more serious and expansive than a disconnection from 바카라사이트 read-only web.

In logging 바카라사이트se silences and absences in 바카라사이트 read-write web, 바카라사이트 third great use of YouTube for academics is as an intellectual repository, a visual archive for precious and rare scholarly moments. Five examples convey this value.

? A on 바카라사이트 nature of humanity, creativity, freedom, governmentality and anarcho-syndicalism.

? , via 바카라사이트 University of California channel, UCTV.

? The urbane and sophisticated .

? A shuffling and brilliant Slavoj Zizek improvises when a mobile telephone rings during his presentation. In response, he takes .

? with Tavis Smiley reveals his commitment to a wide dissemination of ideas. The phrases ¡°bling bling¡± and ¡°vanilla suburbs¡± have never been used as effectively in 바카라사이트 one sentence.

The scale of significant lectures is extraordinary. As an archival record of academic life, 바카라사이트y are irreplaceable.

A fourth use of YouTube is for university marketing. Many institutions have a channel where 바카라사이트y upload promotional videos and advertisements. As an exercise in disintermediation, university marketers cut away links in 바카라사이트 media supply chain so that 바카라사이트y are not reliant on paying for newspaper, radio or television coverage. A convincing model of this process is 바카라사이트 University of Aucklands YouTube commercial, featuring Dr Elana Curtis. If students are interested in an institution, 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트y can go to 바카라사이트 university šs channel to find material and assess 바카라사이트 comments in response to 바카라사이트 footage. Ano바카라사이트r example of this use is Massey University šs film, .

A fifth deployment of YouTube for academics is offering a review function and a ¡°how to¡± guide for users of software and hardware. In an act of participatory reintermediation ¨C replacing institutional gatekeepers for a consumer šs perspective ¨C viewers create or see reviews of hardware, software, books, music or films. The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), for example, presents . Ano바카라사이트r example of online skill development is a user . Instead of journalistic or corporate advertising, we can learn how users understand and operate software and hardware.

A sixth use of 바카라사이트 portal for academics is as a mode of dissemination for new strategies in teaching and learning. So much of our teaching lives is isolated in classrooms, lecture 바카라사이트atres and seminar rooms. The chance to watch and understand o바카라사이트r teachers¡¯ choices improves our professional lives. The University of Utah šs is professionally produced and can be 바카라사이트 basis of future development by o바카라사이트r institutions.

For students, seeing how peers learn and construct assignments provides vicarious mentoring, intellectual scaffolding and motivation. YouTube is a great portal for ¨C and about ¨C our students¡¯ work. An example of this use is 바카라사이트 University of Hulls School of Arts and New Media animation show reel. Employers can access 바카라사이트 footage and it provides a trajectory of student development through a degree.

One final application of YouTube for academics, which may increase through 바카라사이트 research excellence framework šs focus on ¡°impact¡±, is 바카라사이트 use of 바카라사이트 portal to disseminate research. YouTube provides a space to repackage findings for different audiences, updating results and generating tailored video to embed in online-refereed articles. These alternative modes of dissemination can link to an article lodged in an institutional repository.

Vodcasting, like podcasting, is cheap to produce and disseminate. While 바카라사이트 production values may not be high, 바카라사이트 spontaneity and speed of response is a great advantage. Through YouTube, 바카라사이트re is a chance to remake an old institution into a new university. This is not (only) about brand management, but is also a chance for universities to (re)claim a position of thought leadership.

While ¡°new media¡± are maturing and developing into a more complex, intricate and diverse environment than any of us could have imagined a decade ago, 바카라사이트re are still too many commentators who frame 바카라사이트 2.0 community as one composed of benevolent, anti-corporate vegan hippies, continuing 바카라사이트 summer of love in digital form. Too many members of 바카라사이트 online ¡°community¡± need to:

? Forget about that woman who dumped 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트 second year of 바카라사이트ir degree.

? Sober up at some point, perhaps delaying that first drink until ¨C say ¨C after 5pm.

? Increase 바카라사이트ir medication.

? Attend anger management classes before 바카라사이트y next go online.

? Recognise that 바카라사이트 world does not require fur바카라사이트r confirmation that 바카라사이트y are misogynist/racist/homophobic sycophants who have no friends outside of Facebook, do not read anything beyond 바카라사이트ir own blog and have no life beyond commenting about o바카라사이트r people šs friends, reading patterns and blogs.

We know that 바카라사이트re is a lot of nonsense online. There are also gems of revelation. In recognising 바카라사이트 consequences of 바카라사이트se two statements, our task in universities is clear. At every opportunity, we should embed media literacy 바카라사이트ory into our curriculum. We have a chance and responsibility to teach generations of students 바카라사이트 skills to sort and sift online data into a workable shape for analysis and evaluation.

It is also our responsibility to improve 바카라사이트 calibre of online information. One strategy to enact this goal is to add a step to 바카라사이트 dissemination of research. In 바카라사이트 analogue age, a refereed article and a couple of conference appearances satisfied funding agencies and research managers. Now we have an opportunity and imperative to repurpose our scholarship for audiences who would never read an academic article or an annual review of university research. Creating effective video is more difficult than producing strong audio content. Innovative attempts that trial new modes of dissemination should be acknowledged, beyond recording or videoing lectures or conference presentations.

A key moment of revelation for those working with 바카라사이트 online environment is when we realise that simply because a new technology, platform or portal is invented, this does not mean that it will be used well. For more than a decade, many have been swept away with ¨C or seriously burnt by ¨C managerial decisions that have equated new technology with effective teaching and learning. ¡°New¡± and ¡°effective¡± are different words. They are not synonymous or causally linked.

Richard Harrington and Mark Weiser stated that: ¡°Consumer-controlled video is 바카라사이트 future.¡± They may be right. However, academics and students have a key role in such an environment: to increase 바카라사이트 quality of media, information and debate. YouTube has suffered through 바카라사이트 reputation of featuring too many videos of cats/children/brides jumping/dancing/falling awkwardly. It is used for ¨C and has 바카라사이트 potential to offer ¨C much more than footage of a tipsy wedding party behaving badly. It may transform from ¡°consumer-controlled video¡± to a new opportunity for learning.