31 August 2008

YouTube: A Video Commons?

I've noticed increasingly that the "young people" seem to watch YouTube rather than that old-fashioned thing called "TV". Here's a nice piece in the Guardian reminding us that YouTube is much more than a super MTV (what's that?), but is fast turning into a kind of visual Wikipedia: if somebody was able to digitise it, you can probably find it.

YouTube is best known for its offbeat videos that become viral sensations. But among its millions of clips is a treasure trove of rare and fascinating arts footage, lovingly posted by fans.

Being able to regard YouTube as a video commons: just one more reason to get rid of 18th-century copyright laws.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi At The Open University we've recently launched a YouTube channel to add more of our educational materials to the commons. Check it out at www.youtube.com/ou and visit OULearn for our learning videos and OULife for student and staff blogs.

Glyn Moody said...

Thanks for the link. More and more educational establishments are doing this, and I'm sure it'll be standard in due course.