New Research: Videoblogging
kelly| April 6, 2009 5:02 pmWomen Videobloggers and YouTube: Participatory Informal Digital Learning and Open-Access Web-Based Research
This research project engages female videobloggers (vloggers) to develop three aspects of internet studies presently unexplored in existing literature.
(1) Unique web-based methodology: First, we are developing an innovative and experimental web-based methodology: rather than conducting the traditional “confidential” interviews, we interview female videobloggers within the very medium they themselves have chosen for public, creative, and political expression: YouTube. We will develop interview questions in a You Tube video post (filmed and posted by Kelly Ladd, under the supervision of the Dr. Megan Boler) and the female videobloggers will respond through their own YouTube channels and videopost responses. Thus the research conversation will be (a) immediately transparent and open to the public; (b) “answers” will remain under the participants’ “ownership,” thereby creating a new model of open access and transparency of research process too often hidden by traditional ethics protocols. Participants will control their own confidentiality concerns by filming their own responses and choosing how and what they wish to publish on YouTube.
(2) New research directions regarding women’s online practices. Through an online survey of 300 women vloggers and through our in-depth interviews, we aim to explore vloggers’ insights regarding
• diverse expressions of gendered identities,
• online audiences and cross-gender dialogue and response,
• our Open Access Research Design using their platform of choice, YouTube
• women’s under-representation within web-based communities
(3) Making Research Public through Digital Media: Our final aim through our “YouTube Research Channel” is to enable and invite public comments and response. Though this open and transparent process we aim to engage scholars, students, and wider publics in research that is usually “black boxed” and not made public until years after the research has been conducted. Our project will demonstrate how innovative social tools such as YouTube can be effectively used for social science and humanities research to engage subjects as collaborative peer experts. Our innovative approach to posting interviews through online YouTube videos and having participants respond via videoposts, in turn commented on by the public, allows for a truly open access, collaborative, and public research process.
Researcher Vlog:
>
Vlogger Profiles:
nutcheese
Style: Improv
Joined: March 11, 2006
Videos Watched: 20,301
Subscribers: 5,320
Channel Views: 177,693
Age: 32
Influences: Q-tip
Similar To: Your mom
Potty humor makes me laugh.
City: San Francisco
Country: United States
nutcheese is one of the most “subscribed to” lesbian vloggers. She has a “diary style” vlog. Her largest collection of videos chronicle her difficulties in living in a “ghetto” in San Francisco, there are 28 “Ghetto Videos”. Her videos feature everything from interviews with her alcoholic, screaming neighbor and her joy at seeing a new carpet installed in the hallway.
atree3
Style: VLogging
Joined: June 02, 2007
Videos Watched: 4,949
Subscribers: 693
Channel Views: 24,154
Age: 78
Country: United States
atree3 has a very eclectic collection of videos. A large number of her videos are dedicated to quilting. She meticulously chronicles quilt making and offers quilting advice. atree3 is very outspoken and her videos are often about sex and ageism.
powderpink
Joined: July 30, 2006
Videos Watched: 11,993
Subscribers: 3,044
Welcome to my little piece of the Tube.
Name: najah
“I’m nothing special. Just your everyday sistah. Jack of all trades Master of none. I would like to say that I have definitely lived and learned so feel free to drop in a get a little bit of my insight on things”
“So your gyrl is on a weight loss mission.I’ll keep you all updated {{{If you care}}”
powderpink’s vlogs are very personal. Her vlogs are about everything from work to her struggle with weight loss and her relationship with her girlfriend. Her largest collection of videos is called “Cocktail Conversations” where she and friends converse over martinis. She also vlogs while in the bathtub in a segment called “Bathtime Babble”.
BeanerLaRue
Style: Parody
Joined: December 14, 2007
Videos Watched: 47,159
Subscribers: 11,856
Channel Views: 257,156
I’m a professional actress in stage & film
A trained singer & dancer who also
Models & performs burlesque
BeanerLarue makes videos satirizing media figures — for example OctoMom. She collaborates with other highly trafficked users, most notably olgakay and xgobobeansx. The videos have a moderately high production value and BeanerLarue is utilizing YouTube as way to get increased exposure as an actress.
Tobie2
Style: VLogging
Joined: April 18, 2006
Videos Watched: 17,747
Subscribers: 721
Channel Views: 24,543
“If we elimate the extremes, we run the risk of becoming them” SLD
Tobie2 is an outspoken lesbian vlogger. Her videos, while often parodic and sometimes very personal, are always concerned with gender representation and gender divisions online. In one video she addresses the difference in online presence of gay males vs. gay female vloggers. Her catchphrase “Welcome to my hair” has caught on among other vloggers.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
