Broadcast Yourself

As our attention moves from photo sharing to video sharing, I thought I should try to get a handle on what exactly YouTube was offering.

I started off with the 4 main areas of the site:

Home - Includes videos being watched, promoted videos and featured videos. Video rankings and view hits seem to have no correlation to the quality of the video.

Videos - Acts a bit like a directory with various categories. These categories can really help you find your way around.

Channels - The non-profit channel has some interesting content. You Choose ’08 is focusing on the U.S. Primary race. Many of the so-called Musicians, Comedians, Directors and Gurus are hosting channels that are a bit weak.

Communities - Contains Groups and Contests. I think that you kind of have to jump into a group to understand what it's about.

My overall thoughts on the service are difficult to summarize. It's hard to get a feel for YouTube, since evaluating a video requires you to actually watch the video. As Jess mentioned in her Before I Begin... post, video is a strange beast. It can be very powerful, but the viewer has to agree to buy into the time and energy needed to watch a clip. Otherwise, it can be frustrating.

The quality of YouTube content is very uneven, with lots of self-indulgent pieces. LOTS. While searching, I tried including the words not crap, but it seemed to make things worse. Still, I am glad that the service exists. I have to take it for what it is. When people are invited to broadcast themselves, that’s exactly what they will do.

There is much more to think about. How do searches at sites like TeacherTube compare against YouTube for their educational value? Can I get more useful material from the Media Services in my school district? How exactly is YouTube managing the copyright infringement issues (great discussion for secondary students)?

I look forward to finding out the impressions of all of my classmates.

posted by John Lobe @ 1:50 PM