assignment1 soc109 02
Mai Le
Professor Aurora Belina Bautista
SOC 109-02
2/7/14
An anthropological introduction to Youtube An anthropological introduction to Youtube is one of the presentations by Michael Wesch of Kansas State University. He teaches a class called Digital Ethnography, and “ethnography is the study of a culture.” Nowadays, there are many kinds of mass media appearing to connect people around the world. Thus, on Michael Wesch’s website, he writes, “Our work explores how humans use media, how media uses us, and how we can use new media to reveal our insights in new ways.” That a reason why he and his team studied the culture in Youtube. The presentation discuss about how different our world is now because of media websites that are now available. The Internet has increasingly developed and become part of our everyday life. The video focuses on YouTube, a place where people can share their voice and will be vocal because of the anonymity that is provided. Moreover, Youtube also gives people the new way to create “new forms of expression and new forms of community and new forms of identity.” Wesch and his team started getting on Youtube, and participating in this community to give these consequences. In anthropology, we call participant observation, “is a research method for learning about culture that involves living in a culture for an extended period while gathering data.” (Miller. Page 30) In the study culture, there have some ideas interesting presented by Michael Wesch. First of all, people are the center of mediascape. “Media mediate human relationships”. Media change and these affect human relationships. People address YouTube as being a community because their own communities are less connected through people to people communication, and there more individualized networks “from place-to-place to person-to-person connectivity” (Barry Wellman). Next, a webcam can give you a new voice and a new form of identity and community to create global connections. It is
Professor Aurora Belina Bautista
SOC 109-02
2/7/14
An anthropological introduction to Youtube An anthropological introduction to Youtube is one of the presentations by Michael Wesch of Kansas State University. He teaches a class called Digital Ethnography, and “ethnography is the study of a culture.” Nowadays, there are many kinds of mass media appearing to connect people around the world. Thus, on Michael Wesch’s website, he writes, “Our work explores how humans use media, how media uses us, and how we can use new media to reveal our insights in new ways.” That a reason why he and his team studied the culture in Youtube. The presentation discuss about how different our world is now because of media websites that are now available. The Internet has increasingly developed and become part of our everyday life. The video focuses on YouTube, a place where people can share their voice and will be vocal because of the anonymity that is provided. Moreover, Youtube also gives people the new way to create “new forms of expression and new forms of community and new forms of identity.” Wesch and his team started getting on Youtube, and participating in this community to give these consequences. In anthropology, we call participant observation, “is a research method for learning about culture that involves living in a culture for an extended period while gathering data.” (Miller. Page 30) In the study culture, there have some ideas interesting presented by Michael Wesch. First of all, people are the center of mediascape. “Media mediate human relationships”. Media change and these affect human relationships. People address YouTube as being a community because their own communities are less connected through people to people communication, and there more individualized networks “from place-to-place to person-to-person connectivity” (Barry Wellman). Next, a webcam can give you a new voice and a new form of identity and community to create global connections. It is