The first book on my required reading list is called "Video Nation: A DIY Guide to Planning, Shooting, and Storing Great Video."
Side note: The official first book from my reading list was Jean Burgess' "YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture", but I had already read that for my Spring 2015 class "Learning from YouTube", also with Professor Juhasz. Burgess is more focused on the academia of YouTube (yes, that is a thing), and I am trying to focus more on the hands-on application of the knowledge I have already learned. I will try to write a blog post describing my experience in the "Learning from YouTube" course, but I want to make sure I am producing my projects and videos in a timely fashion-- then we can discuss the academic side.
I have just completed reading chapter one: Everybody is a Star, and while I have a lot to share about the knowledge I have gained, I'm saving that for a little later. I want to share my thoughts on the book overall.
It is fantastic! I'll be honest, I didn't really know what this book was going to be. There are about 4 types of books on my required reading list:
1). Jean Burgess "YouTube: Online Video and Participartory Culture", which focuses on the academic and philosophical issues of web video.
2). Craft, inc.-- I needed a book that focused more on the artistic side, and this book also had the benefit of being about the online marketplace, another facet of the online DIY culture. I needed a book about selling crafts and the handmade going into the online sphere. There are quite a few books on this topic; this one seemed easiest to understand and most thorough without dumbing down any of the topics. I'll let you know my thoughts as I read it and if I think it's more effective than other books of similar topics.
3) A niche craft book-- I haven't fully decided which book this is going to be yet; if you look on the syllabus I have a list of possibilities. I am probably going to read one of the Jane Austen themed books, since I will be learning about fan culture (including TV show/movie/etc. inspired crafts) and watching the movie Austenland. I will probably refer to another niche craft culture (e.g. Harry Potter Knitting,) but the online DIY movement is transferring much of this craft and fan culture onto the Internet, perhaps making this book unnecessary materials.
Which leads me to...
4) Video Nation-- This is the book I am reading now. As this is an independent study, I chose the books, wrote the syllabus, and made all of my plans for the semester. The interesting thing about the online DIY culture is that it essentially eliminates our need for books teaching us how to do things. I wasn't sure if I should have a book describing how to film videos when the very purpose of this course is to prove how these books are going to be obsolete because of online blogs, videos, websites, and tutorials.
That being said, I am very grateful I included "Video Nation" in my course. The book is easy to understand and consolidates a lot of information from all over the web into one bite-sized piece of reading material. Over the past two weeks, I have been searching YouTube, Pinterest, Google, you name it, trying to find each step in creating a video. I need to learn where to shoot a video, then I need to learn how to shoot overhead tutorial videos, etc. Because I took "Learning from YouTube", I know the basics of what gets views and what videos become popular, but I never figured out how to put that into practice. "Video Nation" is easy to read (lots of pictures, bite sized chunks of information), and includes digital video extras that I can access online.
I am really enjoying "Video Nation", and I am excited to start planning my first project and video! Stay creative, stay awesome!
- Rebecca
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