i stumbled onto this when i was talking driver49 into plugging in friendfeed lifestream into his site (something at the moment of writing this we cannot claim complete success). he unearthed an article from clive thompson at wired, about some of the youtube culture.
i mentioned in the comment that the youtube illustration was highlighted in dr. michael wesch's presentation to the library of congress (a great synopsis/history of digital video culture as acted out in youtube). if i were listening, which i am, michael wesch's stuff is where i'd be listening too. they are creative and intelligently observing the anthropology of technological culture. but i do like this snippet from clive's article.
pointed out that whenever we get our hands on a new medium we tend to
use it like older ones. Early TV broadcasts consisted of guys sitting
around reading radio scripts because nobody had realized yet that TV
could tell stories differently. It's the same with much of today's
webcam video; most people still try to emulate TV and film. Only
weirdos like MadV are really exploring its potential.
i like the little snarky comment of only the weirdos, the fringe people, or the earliest adopters are really exploring the potential of some of the mediums we find in social technologies.
Marshall McLuhan from Gavin Richardson.
