I've never spent much time on YouTube before now. My overriding impression of it was "scary" - to think that I could be walking down the street and have my pants fall down, and next thing you know it's the top-rated video on YouTube! (And of course it would be top-rated, were that to happen.)
As increasing numbers of YouTube videos are posted on other sites I've watched a few here and there. I'm sure YouTube will have - and has probably already had - a significant impact on this year's presidential election. I find it disturbing when sound bites ("video bites?") are posted in such a way as to be taken out of context. But,with recent developments in the campaigns, well, um, one of the campaigns, I can't help but kind of hope that online videos may help to expose the, er, limitations of certain candidates. But this is not a political blog...
Today I did spend some time watching videos, and it was fun. I see a lot of potential for educational applications. For example, this TV advertisement for Salem cigarettes from 1970 could serve as hard-hitting documentation on the smoking culture that existed before today's 18-22 yr. old college students were born. It would be hard to get the same impact from other formats.
I also enjoyed watching various library tour videos. There are a lot of them, many quite creative and funny. For example, this one from Harper College Library:
I would love to see a side-splittingly funny yet educational video created publicizing the St. Olaf Libraries to our students. Maybe as an introduction to the library scavenger hunt that the freshmen participate in during orientation. (Last year some students made a very funny video about the library as a project, but if it's on YouTube, I can't find it.) Library types tend to have good senses of humor, and that's certainly the case at ours. We should exploit that and show the students that we're fun people!
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1 comment:
That Salem commercial is a scream!
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