You Tube Round-Up

Considering the big buy-out story, there's been a lot of media coverage on YouTube and the online video industry. Instead of attempting to summarize it all here, what I'd rather do is point out some interesting recent cases for why the YouTube model has been so different from traditional broadcasting.

If you don't know what YouTube is, you can watch this YouTube montage. But whatever you do, don't accidentally type in U Tube.

The other wonderful thing about YouTube is that it allows stories that the mainstream media avoids, like DRM or Network Neutrality. Often they explain technology-related issues with analogies to traditional sociality or the infrastructure everyday life, as these videos demonstrate with their comparisons to household items or public roads.

Now the minority political party has gotten into the act. As this Los Angeles Times story "Political Tracker is Looking for Err Time" demonstrates, which tells about videocamera operatives following Republican candidates and waiting for gaffes. (I do actually like seeing how candidates interact with smaller audiences in more informal circumstances, so I actually think that without the "gotcha" component, this could be a good idea.) Congressional testimony is also online, for issues being underplayed like the Voting Rights Act amendment, which minority leader Nancy Pelosi posts regularly. Some of it contains dramatic accusations, like this election-rigging testimony.

Now even LonelyGirl15 has gotten into political consciousness raising, now that she's publicizing issues about poverty for the UN.