our place. BLOG #4

The Internet allows us to mash-up, re-edit and collaboration in a way that no other form can. (Dr. Petray, T. 2013 lecturer). What our lecture said about the internet is so true, and what I believe to be the best online sight is YouTube, a sight that allows us to create such narratives about ourselves in a video format. YouTube is a video sharing sight that allows anyone to watch, create and comment on other people’s videos.

YouTube is one of the most well-known and widely discussed sites of participatory media in the contemporary online environment, and it is the first genuinely mass-popular platform for user-created video. (Burgess, J. & Green, J. 2009) You can follow, comment, like, watch and upload videos to YouTube be creating an online account. People can upload anything and everything. You can watch your favourite new music video, laugh at ugly cats, watch a make up tutorial on how to do a smoky eye or even watch your favourite ‘YouTubers’. For example, and my favourite YouTuber, is Marcus Butler (MarcusButlerTV). A British YouTuber that uploads daily vlogs of his life, as well as other funny or conversational based videos. To right is a screen shot of Marcus Butlers YouTube channel.

Not only is YouTube a place to sit back, relax and watch a music video, it is a learning environment, a place where anything from cats doing numerous funny things to parody’s of music videos can go viral. It is a place to share and experience, a place where after a bad day you can sit back and have a giggle at babies trying their first lemons, and trust me; it is impossible not to crack a smile at that!

The language used by regular uses and viewers will most likely baffle a first time user of YouTube. Words such as ‘shipped’ and ‘colab’ sound like they come from a different universe, and in a way they do – the YouTuber universe. The different ways by which language contributes toward the making of place may be shown by exploring a wide range of situations and cultural contexts. (Tuan, Y. 1991. Pg.684.)

YouTube is its own culture with its own language, a place where regulars or first time users can go to spend free time listening to music, to learn new things and catch up on the latest gossip.

Reference List

Burgess, J. & Green, J. (2009). YouTube: online video and participatory culture. Digital Media & Society. Polity Press, Cambridge.

Tuan, Y. (1991). Language and the making of Place: A Narrative-Descriptive Approach. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 81 (4), 684-696.