YouTube is a little more than two years old. It’s a mere toddler. But, it’s now owned by an overgrown, fully-bearded nine year old. Yes, that would be Google, and that means that YouTube is ready to storm its way into the media mainstream, pampers and all. You can be sure that GooTube has already cooked up several strategies that will lead the video unit to media domination. But, even to the untrained media observer, it’s fairly clear that Google’s video unit has chosen the 2008 election as an arena in which it intends to compete with other major media outfits for eyeballs. In April, YouTube launched its political channel CitizenTube (get more info here) and, along with it, its first major line of video programming called You Choose ’08. The concept here is simple and promising: Citizens ask questions to the ’08 candidates, and the candidates respond. The results, however, have been largely disappointing. When you strip everything away, what you get are politicians speaking the same platitudes that we’ve seen for decades on TV. (See a sample reply here.) The only difference is that the video quality is worse, and they’re managing to get their platitudes in front of a young demographic, which is no small feat. For better or for worse, YouTube is to the ’08 election what MTV (remember Bill playing the sax?) was to the ’92 election. While neither CitizenTube nor the political campaigns are using the video platform in revolutionary ways, the millions of average users who make YouTube what it is are doing a better job of it. Of particular interest is the way in which videos are emerging on YouTube that counter images being carefully projected by candidates and their campaigns. Here are two quick examples. GOP candidate Mitt Romney has been predictably working to cast himself as a social conservative. Twice in recent months, he has shown up at Pat Robertson’s Regent University to deliver lines like this:
But then, however inconveniently, videos from Mitt Romney’s past political campaigns show up on YouTube, ones which should make evangelicals think twice, and there is not much Romney can do about it. The past hurts, but it doesn’t lie: Then there is Hillary Clinton. She’s got the money, the party machine is backing her, trying to wrap up the nomination with a bow. But then a damning attack ad crops up on YouTube. This pitch for Barack Obama remixes the “1984” TV ad that famously introduced Apple computers to America, and it casts Hillary as a political automaton, an image that rings true for many. (The Obama campaign denies having anything do with the video, and its creator remains unknown.) It is with videos like these that YouTube gets politically interesting. Just as quickly as a political campaign projects an image for Romney or Clinton, your average web user can scrounge up footage that calls that image into question. A retort is always possible, which was never the case on TV. And the cost of delivering/countering a message runs next to nothing. Again a first. YouTube equalizes, and it isn’t a terrain on which the rich can instantly claim victory. Just ask Romney and his over $200 million in personal wealth. What good has it done him in YouTube land? |
YouTube’s Impact on the 2008 Election: The Hype and the Fact
Art Blogs — A New Addition to the Culture Blogs Family
| We now serve you 25 art/visual art blogs, all of which have also been folded into a larger list of 100+ culture blogs. We’re now calling it The Big List of Culture Blogs (pretty creative, eh), and we’ll add to it over time.
As always, please **@******re.com/”>email us and let us know if we’re missing something essential.
Relate Feature: See our related article on Art Museum Podcasts. |
Who Killed JFK? Two New Studies
Whether you think John F. Kennedy was a great president or just a guy
who enjoyed sultry birthday
serenades (see clip below), you have to admit
his hold on America’s cultural imagination is still powerful four
decades after his assassination. Two major new works of history tackle
the question and, predictably, come down on opposite sides of it. David
Talbot’s Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years offers new evidence furthering the great conspiracy theory, while Vincent Bugliosi’s Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy agrees with official history and the Warren Commission.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about these latest products of the
Kennedy industry is the fact that both books are taking advantage of
new media formats to combat the traditional problem with Big History
texts–weight. Bugliosi’s tome comes in at a back-wrenching 1,612
pages, so be thankful that his publishers included the many endnotes on
an accompanying CD. (You would be well-advised to save a few months and
read the New York Times review here.) Talbot’s Brothers is only a third as long, but that’s still almost 500 pages–so why not enjoy it as an eBook instead, or just check out the excerpt on Salon? Or take in its New York Times review here. If your eyes are tired already, rest assured that both authors also appeared on the Leonard Lopate show (Bugliosi mp3; Talbot mp3 ). And if you happen to live in the Bay area, you can go see Talbot will be in San Francisco promoting the book tomorrow, May 22.
U2 Plays @ The Cannes Film Festival
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The 60th Cannes Film Festival is in full swing. It’s all film for ten plus days. But last night, music – or really U2 – took center stage. Before the midnight screening of their new rockumentary, U23D, the Irish band played a two song set (Vertigo and Where the Streets Have No Name) on the red carpet. It was short and sweet. You can watch it below. Cheers. Tell a Friend About Open Culture - More Podcasts: Arts & Culture — Audio Books — Foreign Language Lessons — News & Information — Science — Technology — University (General) — University (B‑School) — Podcast Primer |
The Book World Goes Sensibly Digital
There are some early signs that publishers and booksellers may be seeing the light.
Until recently, the book world applied an irrational logic to downloadable audiobooks and podcasts. As we noted back in February, the paper version of the bestselling business book, The Long Tail, ran consumers $16.47 on Amazon. And yet the cheaper-to-produce audio version implausibly amounted to $31.95 on iTunes and $27.99 on Audible. Did it make sense? Hardly.
Since February, a little bit of reason has been injected into the market. As the The New York Times recently noted, the publisher Henry Holt made a smart move. They took the popular podcast, The Grammar Girl (iTunes Feed Web Site), and within days spun off an hourlong audiobook priced at a sane $4.95. The next thing you know, it became the bestselling audiobook on iTunes. Here, the audiobook format let publishers respond to a market opportunity — and far more quickly than they ever could have with a traditional book. (A traditional Grammar Girl book won’t come out until next year.)
Rational act #2: Some publishers are now releasing audio versions of new books before issuing the actual hard copies. Why? Because, they’ve found that digital copies can generate buzz and greater sales for paper copies. And yes, in these situations, the digital and paper versions are comparably priced.
Finally, booksellers are now using audio to inform consumers and motivate them to click “Add to Shopping Cart” a little more often. Take for example the new line of podcasts from Amazon. Created by in-house editors, Amazon Wire (iTunes — Feed ) offers interviews and exclusives with authors of new books. Amazon BookClips (iTunes — Feed ) puts a spotlight on up-and-coming and bestselling authors. And with Significant Seven (iTunes — Feed), Amazon points you to new must-read titles. How well integrated into Amazon’s sales efforts, and how effective these podcasts will be at generating sales, all remains to be seen. But it at least points to a more sensible way of bringing the digital and paper worlds together.
A Little Lifehacker Love
Our foreign language lesson podcasts got a little love yesterday from the great Lifehacker site. Many thanks to them. For any visitors who aren’t familiar with our other podcast collections, here’s a list that you’ll want to peruse.
Arts & Culture — Audio Books — Foreign Language Lessons — News & Information — Science — Technology — University (General) — University (B‑School) — University (Law School) — Podcast Primer
The Skinny on Second Life
Ever wondered what Second Life is and if you should care about it? Imagine a 3‑D immersive game where you control an avatar and travel through constructed environments–and now take away the game part. What’s left is a fairly wide-open creative space where users can create and sell in-game stuff–houses, objects, clothing, etc–or engage in group activities ranging from concerts to political activism to prostitution. It’s free to join but to own land (and receive a larger stipend of in-game cash) you have to sign up for a monthly subscription.
The online community has been growing fairly rapidly over the past year or two, now boasting over one million users who logged in during the past month. Big business has taken notice of the trend, and companies from Toyota, Microsoft and Sony BMG have all launched virtual presences in SL.
The service has been receiving some of its most enthusiastic press from educators who hope to take advantage of the free-for-all 3D spaces as tools for pedagogy. You can find a lot of engineering schools, medical institutions and, of course, the Star Trek Museum of Science on this list of science places in SL. The world’s creators actively encourage educational participation and teachers from many universities (including Harvard, Columbia and more) have tried running courses or training sessions in the simulation. There is at least one skeptic out there, though: Clark Aldrich, a consultant for an e‑learning company, offers up ten things he sees missing from SL as an educational tool.
Whether or not Second Life becomes a permanent fixture of the Internet landscape, it’s certainly captured a lot of peoples’ attention. To learn more about it check out the plethora of podcasts available on iTunes. At the very least this world does offer some zany opportunities for multiple layers of simulation. Check out this video of a U2 “virtual tribute band” performing a concert with lovingly rendered tribute avatars:
Climate Crisis, the Happiness Conundrum & the Evolution of Religions: TED Talks on YouTube
| Once upon a time we told you about TED Talks, the annual conference that brings together the world’s “thought-leaders, movers and shakers.” These talks have been available on iTunes in both audio (iTunes — Feed) and video (iTunes — Feed). And now you can apparently find some on YouTube. Below we highlight a few.
First up, Dan Gilbert, a Harvard psychology professor who recently wrote Stumbling On Happiness, a book that uses psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy and behavioral economics to show how our imagination — our unique ability to predict the future — usually interferes with our basic ability to be happy. Here you get some kernels of thought from the bestselling book, and some insights into why a paraplegic is often as happy as a lottery winner. Good stuff here. Next, we give you Al Gore doing a little stand-up comedy (no kidding) and speaking on global warming, much as he does in An Inconvenient Truth. No other introduction is needed. Lastly, we give you Dan Dennett, Director |
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