Tackling Youtube

Today I tackled youtube. I have to admit that I have relatively little experience with the vastness that is youtube. I've looked at a couple of clips that were sent to me and tried to do a little searching on my own, but didn't even have an account until today (unless I created one last year and forgot I did so because I never used it). So today I attempted to find potential videos I could use in class.

As a speech instructor, I emphasize the importance of citing your sources and giving credit where credit is due. So before I go any further I need to mention that this afternoon's explorations came about because a colleague of mine, Ryan Deblock mentioned a video he thought I might be able to use in my classes. He gave me a couple of the "tags" (key words linked to the video in order to help the search process) and part of the presenter's name. And with just that little bit of information and a few clicks on the computer I was able to find the right video. So thanks Ryan!

From the youtube I was able to play the video without the need of an account with them. Cool! Even better was the fact that youtube pulls up a list of "related videos" which can revolve around similar topics. So from one key word search I was able to connect up to several "layers around a theme". A few of theme were ripe for class modules. But now what? I wanted to be able to compile these good finds but where? That's when I found the value of creating an account with youtube.

Once I created an account I had quite a few options that were readily available as "quick links" (one-click options that removes the need to copy and paste urls or the specific web address). I noticed that one option was to post it on your facebook. This was mighty tempting as I have been using my facebook account alot lately but opted not to link them there now as I thought I would have potentieally alot of video links and didn't want to bother all my facebook friends each time I saved a new video.

Next on the list of possible ways to store my youtube video finds was the quick link to "digg". Digg is another site that compiles a wide range of videos but tabulates the popularity of videos by common viewers. "Yea I dig that video." When you see the thumbnail of the videos listed at the digg.com site you also see how many people "digg it". And there's tabs at the top of the screen that let you pull up the most popular (highest digg scores). It's the who's who of cool videos I guess. The downside of digg.com is that contrary to what I wanted it to do, I don't think it is possible, even with an account (which I signed up for), to have a public space that lists only the videos you dug (can you use past tense with iterms?)

What I ended up doing was storing my video finds at the youtube site through a function called "playlist". I decided this was a good solution for where I was at right now. As I am still collecting videos and not really sure how I'm going to use them (have students view them and take a quiz on them, compare one to the other, find others like them, etc.) this seemed to serve my needs well for now. A really helpful tool under the playlist feature is that I can breakdown my playlist into categories I assign. Here's the highlights from what I worked on today:

Playlist one: Ableism
video: "In My Language"

Playlist two: Country videos (as in international countries not as in "Dropkick me Jesus through the goal posts of life" country music)
video: "Presentation about India"

Playlist three: gender
video: "Exploitation of women in ads"
video: "Girls--what not to be"
video: "The negative influences of the media on women"

Playlist four: presentation tips
video: "How NOT to use powerpoint"
video: "Killer presentation skills"

Playlist five: verbal language habits
video: "Like--you know"
video: "The impotence of proofreading"

Playlist six: world religions
video: "the tribe" (tribethefilm.com)