YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture

摘要

Until someone writes the book, it sometimes does not occur to the rest of us that some small aspect of a broad topic is worthy of academic research. Jean Burgess and Joshua Green are to be commended for seeing the opportunity presented by YouTube. Considering how late in time it has emerged, there is already a substantial body of literature covering social media in general, and YouTube in particular. Much of this is focused on its instrumentality, typically exploring the implications of the specific purpose to which it has been put, or else offering a prescription for maximising the utility value of the medium. Relatively few, if any, explore YouTube as a socio-technical phenomenon in its own right. Burgess and Green canvass a range of perspectives including comparisons between YouTube and the mainstream media, its role in popular culture, in social networks, and cultural politics; and they also discuss what they regard as its uncertain future.