Blog One: The YouTube Creator Space

By Alesha Granshaw

Image from: http://www.languageatinternet.org/articles/2005/120

YouTube, a virtual network created in 2005, has amassed an incomprehensible number of users in its ten years of operation. YouTube acts as a global network by facilitating a “forum for people to connect, inform, and inspire others across the globe” (YouTube, 2015). I have been a member of the YouTube community for a few years now, but until now I have just been mindlessly consuming content generated by global users without considering the impact of this network on a larger scale. For me personally, YouTube has been a ‘space’ that I have encountered without taking the time to analyse and explore it in a way that assigns it value and gives it a sense of ‘place’.

‘Space’ and ‘place’ are two ideas that share a common theme and are therefore often hard to conceptualise as individual counterparts of a whole notion. Whilst ‘space’ and ‘place’ cannot be defined in a singular sense and depend upon each other for substance, there are distinct differences between the terms. As explained by Tuan (1977, p.6), any area of space is insignificant unless we openly explore it and assign it a sense of worth and meaning.

Laurie McNeill (2011) examines the online diary, an evolution of its print form, in a discussion regarding the impact of the Internet on the concept of genre. Considering genres is important as it is "impossible to communicate outside of genres" (Van Luyn, 2015). In this discussion, McNeill (2011, p.314) says that we should look at genre evolution from a “Darwinian perspective” and she applies this framework to her analysis of “blogs”. Virtual networks like YouTube seem to take this transition one step further, going from online written diaries to a video medium. This video medium continues to satisfy “generic conventions” and give viewers an insight into the current life and emotions of the specific content creator.

Over the coming weeks, I will be continuing to examine the intricacies of YouTube in order to develop a sense of ‘place’ within the global YouTube community and reflect upon the evolution of the diary genre, in terms of McNeill's discussions.

References:

McNeill, L. (2005). Genre Under Construction: The Diary on the Internet. Language@Internet, 2, article 1. Retrieved August 8, 2015 from http://www.languageatinternet.org/articles/2005/120
McNeill, L. (2011). Diary 2.0?: A Genre Moves from Page to Screen. In C. Rowe & E. L. Wyss. Language and New Media: Linguistic, Cultural and Technological Evolutions (pp. 313-323). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc. 

Tuan, Y. (1977). Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience. London, UK: Edward Arnold. 

Van Luyn, A. (2015). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place, Lecture 3: Space and Identity: Genre and Transformation. [Powerpoint slides]. Retrieved on August 12, 2015 from http://learnjcu.edu.au

YouTube. (2015). About YouTube. Retrieved August 8, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/

Image Credits:

YouTube Play Network [Image]. (2015). Retrieved from http://ducdang.net/danh-gia-network-bent-pixels-youtube-partnership-network.html