The Anthropology of YouTube

It's raining here today on Prince Edward Island, so time to read books and RSS feeds. I came across (at Johnnie Moore's blog) this presentation of Michael Wesch. With his anthropology group at Kansas State University he's made some very worrthwile video's already. This is a video production of a presentation he gave last June at the US Library of Congress. An hour worth of worthwile watching.

In general I think anthropology is important in making sense of the internet-induced/katalysed changes around us. The Monster-theory, based on the work of anthropologist Mary Douglas, is an example of that as well. The participatory observation Wesch and KSU do is something I try to stress in my presentations as well: you have to use social media tools to better understand what they can do for you.