9.9.08

10. Discover YouTube and other sites that allow users to upload and share videos

Within the past 2 years online video hosting sites have exploded, allowing users to easily to upload and share videos on the web. Among all the Web 2.0 players in this area, YouTube is currently the most popular, allowing users not only to upload their own video content easily, but also embed clips into their own sites easily. The speed at which YouTube has flourished is amazing: founded in February of 2005, YouTube first previewed to the public in May 2005 and was officially launched in December 2005. YouTube was purchased by Google in November 2006.

Do some searching around YouTube and see what the site has to offer. You’ll find everything from 1970s TV commercials and 60s music videos to library dominos (please don’t try this at Becker!). Of course, like any free site you’ll also find a lot of stuff not worth watching too. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore and see for yourself what the site has to offer.

We suggest these 2 short videos as an appetizer:

Drama Prairie Dog



How the Dramatic Prairie Dog was Born



Resources:
Exercises:
  • Explore YouTube and select one or two videos.
  • Create a blog post about your experience. Post a link to the videos you chose. What did you like or dislike about the YouTube site and why did you choose the video that you did? Can you see any features or components of the site that might be interesting if they were applied to library websites?
Optional Exercise:
  • Try placing the video inside your blog. You should see some HTML code below and/or to the right of the video labeled “Embed.” Copy and paste the code in your blog. Remember: you’ll need to use Blogger’s Edit HTML tab when pasting the HTML code.
  • There’s a YouTube video embedded in the Becker Library site in the Scholarly Communications Portal. Can you think of other places in the Becker web site where videos could/should be embedded?

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