Moving pictures
Like the term “Google”, YouTube has become so popular that it is no longer ‘explained’ to people; it is expected that most people know what it is. I may sound like my Grandma here, but that blows my mind – I think we forget just how quickly these tools infiltrate our lives. And infiltrate it has! For many people it has become a staple – or an addiction ..
The now widespread availability of broadband internet is a huge factor – even just five years ago, it wasn’t a given that people had high-speed internet at home. Now, people watch YouTube videos on trams and at picnics, on their iPhones.
There used to be a feature on YouTube that allowed you to see how many videos you had viewed on the site (providing you had an account with them). Last time I checked, I had hit well over 4000. Perusing the site, I realised this was a pitiful number by comparison to most regular users. For whatever reason, the ‘counter’ is currently not available. According to one member:
I’m hoping it’s just a glitch and YouTube will restore it soon. I was proud to have that there because I had watched almost 30,000 videos.
30,000?? And why is he ‘proud’? This says something to me – like the race to have more ‘friends’ on Facebook than anyone else; or ‘friends’ on Myspace; or books on LibraryThing; or ‘tweets’ on Twitter .. there is an element of competition in Web 2.0 circles that I find somewhat disturbing. It reflects just how important they have become to so many (particularly Gen Y), to the extent that the lives people live online almost surpass their real-life ones. Is this necessarily an improvement?
But I digress. Whilst I was familiar with YouTube, I can’t say as I was aware of the many other video sites mentioned in the Adventure. So I have been experimenting with a few, particularly TeacherTube. It’s brilliant! I have always just searched YouTube for ‘how to’ type videos, but now I have a whole site I can mine for those .. whee!
Here is a video I nabbed from YouTube in attempt to ‘embed’ one in my blog .. it too is educational – how to set up a WordPress blog! I wish I had of thought to look this up earlier .. you’ll need a spare 45 minutes to check it out, though 
Libraries and other information organisations are already taking advantage of this technology. The RMIT Library, for example, has numerous ‘vodcasts’ available that visitors can view to ‘get to know’ the library and its various features. This acknowledges that different people learn in different ways, and that for many, watching/listening to a video would be much more helpful than trying to read instructional text.
I can see huge potential for other information organisations to exploit video technology also – particularly those involving complex processes, which could be explained visually. A ‘how to’ guide to many of the complex catalogues we have to use would be a good start!
Wyl said,
April 17, 2010 at 03:26
Vodcasts are certainly a handy development for teaching and learning environments, particularly for those people who don’t learn best by reading but rather hearing and seeing. I’m not one of them, but I’m glad they have something to help them.
Your point about the competative nature of some people in the new internet is an interesting one. Whilst I have to disapprove of your reference to GenY as being responsible for it- in my experience it’s been the quaint alpha-geeks of generation X who are the most egregious offenders- the emergence of internet addiction (let alone even sadder things like World of Warcraft addictions) is a troubling phenomenon.