User talk:EuanWhitelaw

This is my discussion page, if you want to drop me a message here's the place to do it.

EuanWhitelaw (discuss • contribs) 10:08, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

Getting through today shall be the greatest of reliefs. BobblehatImara (discuss • contribs) 15:52, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

Hey, thanks for the suggestion! Would you be able to post the link for the article on my discussion board? That would be great! Thanks! BerlinLea (discuss • contribs) 12:07, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Van Koten and McLuhan have both said interesting things I might include on the section, but it's proving pretty difficult to find anyone who has done work on blended identities in particular. This article has been quite good: http://www.dourish.com/classes/readings/Slater-SocialRelationshipsIdentity.pdf but still on the hunt! BobblehatImara (discuss • contribs) 16:38, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Hey, I just posted my final draft on my discussion board. Would be glad if you gave me some feedback on it/ did some editing. Of course I'm more than happy to do the same for you if you want! Thanks! BerlinLea (discuss • contribs) 12:31, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the feedback! Was really helpful! BerlinLea (discuss • contribs) 16:50, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

Hi again, I was just reading over your stuff on the wiki- first of all: good work! Then I'd recommend you to adjust your referencing a little, changing it from the "essay style" intext citation to footnotes, like you started doing it in the draft below. Just something I've noticed, I might be wrong here... BerlinLea (discuss • contribs) 15:02, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

YouTube and Vlogging
YouTube is a public video sharing site created in 2005. People of all ages, races and genders use YouTube as a way of forming an online identity. Among entertaining home video clips, and amateur short films, Video Blogging (Vlogging) is one of YouTube’s most popular trends, as it provides a medium to create a publically accessible performance of “the real me”. Hobsbawn sees the current age as defined by a “hunger for a secure identity” (Strangelove). This then highlights the obvious attraction of Vlogging, as a way for any person with a video camera and an internet connection to document their identity and present it for the world to see. Vlogging is one of the rawest forms of media as it is simply people sharing their feelings and experiences with the world, and as Van Koten states while discussing McLuhan’s theories concerning hot and cold media “…when we peel away the layers of media we ultimately end up with human experience”. (Van Koten) This closeness to human experience and supposed honesty that people put across in Video Blogs (Vlogs) encourages others to use this medium and share their own feeling and experiences in order to feel like an individual within a community. Mendelson and Papacharissi discuss how Carey (1975) “emphasised a ritual view of communication which helps foster community integration through the sharing of common experiences and values” (Mendelson & Papacharissi). It is true that YouTube is seen as a community and safe place to share these feelings and experiences and the users of YouTube are regularly referred to as the “YouTube Community”. But why do people use this public video forum to share these inner most confessions rather than keeping a physical diary or having real life conversations. Sherry Turkle states in her TED Talks “Connected, but alone?” that “the feeling that ‘no one is listening to me’ makes us want to send time with machines that seem to care about us” (Turkle). YouTube provides an instant audience of listeners for any user, millions of people can access a Vlog at any one time, the community of an instant audience must surely play a key factor in why people choose to share their life experiences via Vlogs as opposed though real life social interaction. However, Turkle also states that through her research she has discovered that many feel that a feeling or experience is not valid until it is shared through the internet, usually via some form of SNS “I share therefore I am” (Turkle). So, by sharing these personal/confessional videos on YouTube, not only do users receive and instant audience to listen to their feelings as they try to work out their own identity, but they also gain validations of those feelings through the process of sharing. The idea of being part of a community which also validates ones inner most feelings must surely be an appealing one for many, hence the popularity of Vlogs on YouTube. However, the identities presented on YouTube are not necessarily exact representations of how those users behave in their real world lives. Michael Strangelove in his book “Watching YouTube: extraordinary videos by ordinary people” discusses how “There are hundreds of videos online title ‘the real me’ that explore the difference between videographers on-screen persona and their ‘real’ self.” He goes on to give an example of a video made by college student Kevin Wu with the above title, Kevin explains how he is a different person from his videos, “You don’t know me…you don’t really know someone through the internet” (Strangelove). The construction of an ideal persona on SNS is seen across all mediums; YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr etc. When discussing the formulation of college students photos galleries on Facebook Mendelson and Papacharissi state that we “consciously and unconsciously transform ourselves before the camera, portraying a version of ourselves we wish to be” (Mendelson & Papacharissi). So, while people wish to feel that their feeling are validated and they as themselves are accepted as part of a community, the common case is still that they present an ideal version of themselves and push that forward to be accepted as their true identity, whether is accurately reflects their real world persona or not. EuanWhitelaw (discuss • contribs) 13:08, 4 April 2014 (UTC)