October 5, 2007
A 'Dearth of Cultural Content' on YouTube?
Sure, you can see skateboarding dogs on YouTube, and teenagers ranting on Webcams from their bedrooms. But what about video with a little bit more intellectual heft?
Over at OpenCulture, Dan Colman has complained about what he sees as a “sheer dearth of cultural content” on YouTube, the Web’s most popular video service. He sees some hope that that might soon change, though, thanks to the announcement this week that YouTube is now working with universities, including the University of California at Berkeley, to create education “channels” on the site (as we have noted on the Wired Campus blog).
Is YouTube smart enough? Should more professors be posting videos?
Jeff Young | Posted on Friday October 5, 2007 | PermalinkComments
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Nothing spoils authentic culture like those who imagine its failures.
— marci Oct 5, 03:57 PM #
I don’t think Dan Colman watches much on Youtube. I have seen some of the best short films, travelogues, and Op-Ed type editorials on there. Skateboarding dogs and teen rants make up very little of Youtube. I can’t imagine anything that would make Youtube worse than “educational” content.
— Matt Zimmerman Oct 7, 10:14 AM #
I’ll admit to using YouTube. While teaching a work of African-American literature that involved allusion to Father Divine I was surprised to find a brief newsreel on Divine on YouTube. Also teaching a poem on Basquiat I used YouTube to show a music video featuring Basquiat. YouTube can be educational if you look for the right things, but when I’m looking for web-based pedagogical material I tend to start with UPenn’s UbuWeb.
— youngprof Oct 7, 10:35 PM #
YouYube does have lots of dreck, but that just provides good cover for the real content! I play a traditional music form, but have no teachers for the music or the instrument in my local area. Lots of us worldwide use YouTube to post/watch videos which are often short and targeted to a specific musical technique or idea. Many of these videos are created by non-professional, but enthusiastic, musicians, yet are still excellent teaching tools and help relieve the sense of isolation. I don’t think professors need to post videos on YouTube specifically, but watching videos and learning about content and presentation (and not from those interminable faculty orientation sessions) might help profs post more approachable and usable videos on their own web sites.
— zeta Oct 8, 05:57 AM #