Making Sense of YouTube October 20, 2008

Speaker: Jean Burgess, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries & Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

This presentation reports on a recent study of YouTube that relied principally on a survey of 4300 of the most 'popular' videos, which were categorised according to criteria derived from media and cultural studies approaches to the analysis of media genres and practices.

The analysis produced new knowledge about the extent of particular uses of the platform (such as vlogging, political commentary, or the 'distribution' of broadcast content); and the relationship between different modes of 'audience' engagement (commenting, responding, rating) and particular content genres.

The presentation builds on the findings of the study to discuss the co-existing and competing uses that are actually being made of YouTube - by the media industries, by audiences and amateur producers, and by particular communities of interest; as well as to consider the way that these practices challenge existing understandings of cultural 'production' and 'consumption', and their implications for the uncertain and competing futures of participatory culture online.

About the speaker

Jean Burgess is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries & Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, where she works on the politics and pragmatics of cultural participation and user-led innovation in new media contexts. Her recent work has included a major study of YouTube in collaboration with Joshua Green (Convergence Culture Consortium/Comparative Media Studies Program, MIT), culminating in the book YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture, to be published by Polity Press in 2008/9.

Burgess has developed several applied research partnerships with cultural institutions and community-based organizations, particularly around digital storytelling for cultural participation, advocacy and engagement. She is Reviews Editor of the International Journal of Cultural Studies.

Official Website: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=217