<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">Hey Watch This! Sharing the Self Through Media: <a href="https://vimeo.com/394007182" class="">https://vimeo.com/394007182</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Hey Watch This! Sharing the Self Through Media (2020) is
a documentary of video sharing on YouTube. It uses a case study of
early YouTubers to explore human mediation. The film engages with
enduring and profoundly philosophical questions about how we relate to
media as individuals and as a society. Issues include discussing where
the “real me” is located, how we learn to make media, what counts as
full participation on social media sites, and how we envision our
digital legacies.</div><div class=""><p class="">As an ethnographic film, Hey Watch This! analyzes the interactions,
beliefs, and life ways of a social group. The director is an
anthropologist who explores why people share themselves and engage in
sociality through media. The film began by exploring video blogging but
ultimately analyzes the astonishingly vast array of media that
interviewees used to communicate and record their life stories. The film
is oriented around interviews and observations recorded at
participant-run YouTube meet-ups that the director attended across the
United States and one in Canada.</p><p class="">Rather than being character-driven, the documentary is organized
around themes such as: Is it important to show my own image to fully
participate in media-based “participatory cultures”? Why do we use
certain types of media for specific purposes? How should we deal with
hurtful commentary, as a community or individually? How does
commercialization impact perceived options for sociality? When and why
do we migrate away from a social media site? The case study remains
timely as we are now seeing a “third wave” of concerns about fair
internet access, beyond physical access (the first wave), and equitable
production of content across different social groups (the second wave).
The “third wave” of internet inclusion aims to ensure availability of
venues for people to post their personal media. The documentary
encourages new generations of media participants to discuss and reflect
on how future platforms for media sharing might be designed as we all
navigate an ever-expanding mediascape. </p></div><div class="">Special thanks to all the video makers who participated in this
study. Thanks also to everyone who shared videos and photos for the
film. I appreciate the support of YouTubers who provided encouragement
for this project!</div><div class=""><p class="">Special thanks also to Henry Jenkins [<a class="video_time" data-time="1080">18:00</a>] and Michael Wesch [<a class="video_time" data-time="1538">25:38</a>] for lending their insights to the study.</p><p class="">Hey Watch This! was recorded between 2007-2009. </p><p class="">In Memoriam<br class="">
I was saddened to learn of the passing of thetalesend (Ryan) and
ZenArcher (Po), bright spirits who are greatly missed. I feel very
grateful for their important contribution to the film.</p><p class=""> Thematic Time Indexes <br class="">
(Pages numbers refer to my book Thanks for Watching)</p><p class=""><a class="video_time" data-time="100">01:40</a> Video reciprocity and ethnographic researcher vulnerability [<a class="video_time" data-time="100">01:40</a> to <a class="video_time" data-time="128">2:08</a>]<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="139">02:19</a> Community perspective remarks<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="228">03:48</a> Getting started on YouTube <br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="607">10:07</a> Playful "paparazzi" (pp. 57-61)<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="706">11:46</a> Importance of showing one's image [<a class="video_time" data-time="706">11:46</a> to <a class="video_time" data-time="900">15:00</a>]<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="900">15:00</a> Using characters to find the real self [<a class="video_time" data-time="900">15:00</a> to <a class="video_time" data-time="1075">17:55</a>]<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="1078">17:58</a> Participatory cultures and YouTube [<a class="video_time" data-time="1078">17:58</a> to <a class="video_time" data-time="1336">22:16</a>]<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="1337">22:17</a> Video drum circle (pp. 65-68)<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="1386">23:06</a> Difficulties of attending meet-ups<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="1436">23:56</a> Example of Stickam (former live video chat service)<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="1538">25:38</a> Research on community [<a class="video_time" data-time="1538">25:38</a> to <a class="video_time" data-time="1627">27:07</a>]<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="1627">27:07</a> Interviewees' ideas about community [<a class="video_time" data-time="1627">27:07</a> to <a class="video_time" data-time="2134">35:34</a>]<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="1676">27:56</a> Conflict and proposals to handle it [<a class="video_time" data-time="1676">27:56</a> to <a class="video_time" data-time="1985">33:05</a>]<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="2135">35:35</a> Subscription reciprocity [<a class="video_time" data-time="2135">35:35</a> to <a class="video_time" data-time="2185">36:25</a>]<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="2186">36:26</a> Ethnographic researcher vulnerability [<a class="video_time" data-time="2186">36:26</a> to <a class="video_time" data-time="2245">37:25</a>]<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="2245">37:25</a> Alternative perspective on subscribers [<a class="video_time" data-time="2245">37:25</a> to <a class="video_time" data-time="2308">38:28</a>]<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="2309">38:29</a> Exploring the "real me" across media and in person [<a class="video_time" data-time="2309">38:29</a> to <a class="video_time" data-time="2413">40:13</a>]<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="2425">40:25</a> YouTube losing social centrality to interviewees [<a class="video_time" data-time="2425">40:25</a> to <a class="video_time" data-time="2657">44:17</a>]<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="2664">44:24</a> Personal reasons for organizing a gathering<br class="">
<a class="video_time" data-time="2748">45:48</a> Reflections on future digital legacies [<a class="video_time" data-time="2748">45:48</a> to <a class="video_time" data-time="3102">51:42</a>] (pp. 203- 216)</p><p class="">The filmmaker’s statement, study guide, transcript, director’s bio,
and sample discussion questions are available on the film’s website at: <a href="http://www.patriciaglange.org/page2/page2.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="">patriciaglange.org/page2/page2.html</a></p><p class="">Evidence in the documentary also informed my book, Thanks for
Watching: An Anthropological Study of Video Sharing on YouTube
(University Press of Colorado, 2019). It explores video sociality and
analyzes core concepts in anthropology such as reciprocity, community,
participant-observation, chronotopes, and the posthuman.</p><p class="">A pdf version and hard copy of Thanks for Watching may be found on the University Press of Colorado website: <a href="https://upcolorado.com/university-press-of-colorado/item/3737-thanks-for-watching" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="">upcolorado.com/university-press-of-colorado/item/3737-thanks-for-watching</a></p><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></body></html>