Thing #20 - YouTube

YouTube is fantastic. I have video I've wanted to add to the site for several months, but haven't taken the time. Too bad that wasn't part of this assignment - maybe it would have finally happened. I chose the video of Shawn Klush winning the BBC's World's Greatest Elvis contest because I've seen him perform live and spoken with him twice. I never saw a live Elvis concert, but I own DVDs of several Elvis concerts and I'm convinced Shawn is the closest thing to the King I'll ever see in person. Besides that, he's just a really neat person. Very kind and down to earth.

I was a bit disappointed when YouTube informed me that I had no friends. Oh well, I really must stop spending so much time at work! Of course YouTube is addictive, as many web things tend to be. A number of people have probably been harmed by video posted maliciously to the site, but overall, it's a terrific concept. No matter how many safeguards are in place, there will always be people who abuse the system.

After reading nearly all of the fine print, I'm still not sure if I can legally download videos to my own computer for my own enjoyment or if I must watch them through YouTube's embedded reader. Anyone know? It did read like I couldn't use the videos for any purpose but YouTube could do anything they wanted with them.

Students seem to like nothing better than photo opportunities. I post pictures to the library web site (I need to add pages for this purpose). When other students see them, they always ask how they can get their picture on the site. Short video clips featuring students demonstrating things or book talking would probably be hugely popular, but I don't think we have the bandwidth to support mass usage.