Youtube

Intro*

Youtube is a video sharing website where users can upload and view videos of many different genres that was created early in the year of 2005. Youtube was created by three former employees of "PayPal".These people use Adobe Flash to display a vast number of videos, including movie clips, TV clips and music videos, as well as homemade content such as video blogging and original productions. There are many different categories and "channels" of videos such as entertainment, comedy, music and gadgets and games.

A screen shot of Youtube's current front page as of Sept 10, 07. (click to enlarge)

Issues Regarding Copyright Infringement*

The policy of Youtube states that they do not give permission for anyone to upload content not permitted by US Copyright Laws and the company frequently removes uploaded copyrighted content. However, a large amount of infringing content has been uploaded and is still being posted everyday. Some examples of copyrighted material include TV shows, movie clips, music videos and commercials.

Unless a copyright holder reports their material, Youtube only finds these clips through the Youtube community. The community can report questionable content using the "flag" function. Nonetheless, sneaky users try to find ways around this. Some of these people create alternate tags for their videos in order to make it less obvious for the self-policing community to notice or find their videos. However the "flagging" feature has also been abused by dishonest users. For instance, some users might flag original content out of hate or spite.

Despite dishonest policing from the community, Youtube continues to try its best to remove illegal videos or content that violates Youtube's policy. Unfortunately, there are still many of these videos that remain within the Youtube network. As a turn for the better, few copyright holders have made deals with Youtube allowing them to host these videos as to promote their company, website, or event.

A screen shot of the "Most Viewed" page on Youtube. (click to enlarge)

Social Impact*

All age groups can enjoy Youtube. There is content for anyone and everyone. Also, it allows people to express themselves through the videos they create and post, ranging from video blogs, music videos and picture slide shows. Even the popular media is using Youtube to promote their own products or programming.

During the early years of this site, a Saturday Night Live clip known as "Lazy Sunday" earned Youtube a early surge of popularity. However, NBC requested that their copyright material was to be removed. Although, after seeing how much publicity Youtube earned from this, NBC decided to form a deal with Youtube, allowing NBC to have its own user to host promotional videos of various NBC programming such as clips from "The Office" and "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."

Thanks to the vast number of people who watch videos on Youtube, talent agencies and large entertainment companies have recognized ordinary people posting videos. In 2007, a Dutch vocalist and songwriter named Esmée Denters (username: esmeedenters) was signed to a recording contract by Billy Mann, based on her YouTube performances. On January 31, 2007, Fox announced that Lisa Donovan (username: LisaNova) would appear as a cast member during the 12th season of MadTv.

Even politicians are taking advantage of this popular website. For example, Hilary Clinton has posted a promotional video featuring her campaign. In their videos they voice their candidate statements or make videos supporting or opposing presidential candidates.



Personal Opinion*

I believe that Youtube is the future of video distribution. Anyone with an idea for content and a video camera can produce a short production. Some of the content on Youtube is not very professional but that is what makes Youtube more appealing to all types of people.

Everyone gets a chance to become a director, producer, and all the other credits you see at the end of a movie. It can also allow many unheard of people to become internet celebrities. I, for one, have seen many different individuals on Youtube become extremely popular over a span of a few weeks. For example, one on my favorite user is "KevJumba", who is just a some teen who video blogs on Youtube and gives his opinions on different matters. He had joined Youtube on July of 2006 and is now the most subscribed Comedian and the 11th most subscribed user of all time.

I myself do not upload any videos of my own, although i use this site a lot to watch videos my friends have posted, popular videos, or just any video that catches my eye. I mostly use this site to relieve boredom at home. Youtube allows fast distribution of information and media. Any video or anything on TV that you missed can just be viewed on this site. I'm sure that you have heard many people say "Hey, have you seen _____ yet? Oh then just Youtube it." This site is great if you know what you are looking for, but if you just want to browse and see some fun stuff, it takes ages due to a lot of other things that might not be of interest floating around. However, if you know what you want to see, it is almost guaranteed that it will be on Youtube. Even though there are still a few issues to deal with, i think that Youtube is one of the greatest things to hit the internet.

A screen shot of Youtube's current "Most Subscribed Comedians" page as of Sept 10, 07. (click to enlarge)

(As you can see, the user "KevJumba" is #1)

A Youtube video of the 'most viewed' and 'top favorite' clip.

Second Life

Today in my ICT class the teacher made us research the 3d world of Second Life. From what i gathered Second Life is basically a 3d virtual world where people can create accounts and make avatars that can resemble themselves or a person that they wish to be. It is a simulation of real life. This "game" has been around since 2003 and has grown exponentially throughout the years.

This game features many different aspects such as a customizable avatar, world economy, and virtual dollars. Those virtual dollars are called "Linden Dollars" which have a fluctuating exchange rate to US dollars. Currently, the exchange rate is that one US Dollar ($US) can be converted to 270 Linden Dollars ($L). While Second Life is sometimes referred to as a game, this description is disputed. It does not have points, scores, winners or losers, levels, an end-strategy, or most of the other characteristics of games. Although, it can be thought of as a game on a more basic level. It is a virtual environment where characters undertake activities for the purpose of enjoyment.

In my opinion, i think that Second Life is a good way to meet people all over the world, although sometimes the people you meet might not be who they say they are.

Introduction

This is the first full day of school of grade 11. In the morning i forgot where my locker was and spent 5 minutes looking for it. First thing after the bell we went to our homeroom. Afterwards, I went to my ICT Digital Media class. The TOC made us create our own avatars on a flash avatar creator thingy and then copy and paste the screen shot of the avatar to Microsoft Word. With the avatar on Word, we typed out 10 things about ourselves. When we were finished with all that, he made us create and account on blogger.com and told us to write a blog. This blog right here, is the blog he told us to type up.