Amy

I was struck by Amy’s presentation, which spurred me to do some further research.  She presented an article that examined the prevalence and influence of smoking videos on YouTube.  In the top 50 search results for ‘smoking,’ there were more pro-smoking videos, but the anti-smoking videos were more popular.

In conclusion, the more attractive the video, be it pro- or anti-smoking, the more influential it is.  This is a good criterion for the upcoming class video project.

Additional criteria for top videos included:  Categories- comedy, entertainment, music; 2-5 minutes and encoded, and new every 3 days.

James

Wow.                 # of films in film history    =      # of videos posted on YouTube every 15 days

That’s staggering.  Of course there is a vast difference between the length and quality of feature films and brief online video posts, but the overall point is that the mass proliferation of videos on YouTube is staggering.

Additionally, James noted that popular videos tend to swell in popularity, whereas unpopular/niche videos descend into obsolescence.  Hence, amidst all of the competition, it is worth it to produce a quality video and put everything into promoting its popularity.

Megan

What struck me most about Megan’s whole presentation was a single statement that she quoted.    In effect, it was that you cannot engage in deep thought in constant blips in Twitter, and that continuous partial thought doesn’t help us contribute anything significant.

As a result, I deeply felt a desire to create engaging videos–not provocative–but thought-provoking; different.  That’s significant.  There’s a lot of ways to achieve that, and I would really like to study different advertisements and videos that stand out as poignant, thought-prov0king pieces that have incite pondering. I know that sounds vague, but it really excites me.

Zane

Aside from the cookies, Zane’s presentation was great in the fact that it showed what many other religions are doing online, ranging from the super-conservative churches that have virtually no presence online, to those who seem to only exist on the internet.     It helps me appreciate the intelligent and professional efforts the Church has chosen to make  about its online presence.

More to be posted soon.