What can I say? I am becoming a Michael Wesch fan. With this video on the anthropology of YouTube, Wesch has made me a believer in the website. I have always thought of YouTube as a tool to get information, therefore YouTube and I have had a relationship that you might call one sided. I take what I need, I embed the video in my lesson and I leave. I don't subscribe; I don't watch channels, or leave comments on the videos. It wasn't until after seeing this video that I began to understand the human aspect and the culture of YouTube. I believe that is exactly Wesch's message here that it is a community. Just when people started saying that all we do is isolate ourselves in our houses and play video games or surf the web is when we started to see a way that the entire world could come together as a community. This YouTube culture emerged at a time when people were starting to feel like they wanted to connect with people even further then in text. With webcams, people can connect with an endless amount of people from the privacy of their own bedrooms. Wesch describes a couple of the phenomenon that come up with essentially speaking to yourself and at the same time potentially everyone in the world with internet access at the same time. In terms of learning and teaching, I think YouTube is a great way to see another's perspective or another way of explaining a concept. Students can see multiple viewpoints on a particular subject; suddenly the student goes from one teacher to theoretically millions of teachers. There is a lot of junk and drama on YouTube as well though. I would just say that there is a life lesson there that can be taught. Drama and junk can be found anywhere and students should learn the value of being a critical thinker and choosing their sources wisely. I was inspired by the ways that Wesch shows human connections and human movements in this video. It was very interesting to see the evolution of YouTube from a cultural perspective and Michael Wesch is such an unassuming and eloquent organizer of information that this video was a joy to watch and learn from. When thinking about application in my own classroom I would love to do a project where students raise awareness on a hot topic and put the video on YouTube. They could learn about digital citizenship while learning to take a stand and make a statement about important issues in the world today. I guess I will have to strengthen my relationship with YouTube myself so that I can practice what I teach. Maybe I will be staring into that tiny glass dot sooner that I had thought.
Megan BallacheyClassical educator of Anatomy & Physiology, Biology, and AP Biology for Temecula Preparatory School. Archives
May 2015
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