Digital Ethnography

In my recent presentation on YouTube I mention the idea that we can sometimes experience moments of “aesthetic arrest” while watching YouTube.  This was mentioned in the context of Domino1023’s insightful reply to Boh3m3’s question, “Why do you Tube?” in which she says,  “It allows you to watch other people without staring at them, or making them uncomfortable, because they don’t see you watching them. You can just watch their videos.” She concludes with the powerful suggestion that this creates a situation in which “you can just like see their being, you can see their person.”

Here are some of my thoughts on this, Continue Reading »

After watching my presentation on YouTube, several people have asked me for a specific definition of “context collapse.”  Here is an excerpt taken from the middle of a paper called “YouTube and You: Experiences of Self-Awareness in the Context Collapse of the Recording Webcam” that I recently submitted for peer-review.   (Skip to the fourth paragraph for the definition of context collapse): Continue Reading »

Several people have requested the text for the little poem I recited toward the end of my Library of Congress presentation on YouTube.  It is based on the famous words of Carl Sagan reflecting on an image of earth taken from a distance by Voyager 1 in 1990.  In that image the earth is so far away that it appears as no more than a “pale blue dot.” 

  Continue Reading »

The video of the presentation I gave at the Library of Congress last month is finally ready. This was tons of fun to present. I decided to forgo the PowerPoint and instead worked with students to prepare over 40 minutes of video for the 55 minute presentation. This is the result:

In case you want to skip around, or just want an overview of what the talk is about, here is a timeline: Continue Reading »

Presented at the University of Manitoba on June 17th 2008.

Kind words about this presentation from Stephen’s Lighthouse: Continue Reading »

Jeff Young just published a flattering piece about my recent talk at the Library of Congress.

Anthropology Professor, Now a YouTube Star, Says Web Video Can Help People Craft Their Identities Continue Reading »

Here is the full World Simulation video for Spring 2008. Several people have seen the sped-up “teaching with twitter” version and requested the original, so here it is. This won’t be up for long, so watch now!

Online Videos by Veoh.com