[History and Theory of New Media] Accidental Archives
This past Christmas, my mother took all of my grandmother's old family VHS tapes hand had them converted to digital. She uploaded them to YouTube, and we spent hours watching them before the big day.
When I started reading Rick Prelinger's "The Disappearance of Archives", I was reminded immediately of my mother using YouTube to preserve family memories. As Prelinger states, "YouTube is not itself an archives... but it might as well be an archives; that in the public mind it is not simply an archives but an ideal form of archives". (p. 199) I found this an interesting train of thought, especially considering how accurate it was - YouTube was not created to be an archive, and yet many people use it that way - even unintentionally.
Another, more widespread example is the former video sharing site, Vine - it allowed users to create six-second videos, and was once called a "tiny YouTube". (Mosendz, 2014) It would have also been considered, in Prelinger's words, a "moving image archives". However, the site failed and ended up closing due a multitude of problems, such as a failure to make money and losing talent to other sites. (Newton, 2016)
After the site collapsed, "Vine compilation" videos started littering YouTube - essentially archiving the lost site. Many of the popular content creators from Vine also moved to YouTube to continue their work, such as Thomas Sanders, known for his "Story Time" Vines.
Despite not being an archives, YouTube really does function as one - an easy to use, easy to contribute to archives, which is likely what makes it feel so ideal. It also has an interesting way of connecting the past to the present and future - Viners and other users continue to create new content even as old videos, like my mother's family tapes, are added for preservation.
Prelinger, R. (2016) The Disappearance of Archives. New Media, Old Media: A History and Theory Reader. (Second Ed., p 199-204) Routledge: New York, NY.
Mosendz, P. (2014 May 2) Vine Launches Its Own Tiny YouTube: The super quick video sharing app has revised and expanded its website to allow anyone to watch and search for videos. Atlantic, The. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/05/vine-launches-its-own-tiny-youtube/361566/
Newton, C. (2016 October 28) Why Vine died: Closing the loop. Verge, The. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/28/13456208/why-vine-died-twitter-shutdown
When I started reading Rick Prelinger's "The Disappearance of Archives", I was reminded immediately of my mother using YouTube to preserve family memories. As Prelinger states, "YouTube is not itself an archives... but it might as well be an archives; that in the public mind it is not simply an archives but an ideal form of archives". (p. 199) I found this an interesting train of thought, especially considering how accurate it was - YouTube was not created to be an archive, and yet many people use it that way - even unintentionally.
Another, more widespread example is the former video sharing site, Vine - it allowed users to create six-second videos, and was once called a "tiny YouTube". (Mosendz, 2014) It would have also been considered, in Prelinger's words, a "moving image archives". However, the site failed and ended up closing due a multitude of problems, such as a failure to make money and losing talent to other sites. (Newton, 2016)
After the site collapsed, "Vine compilation" videos started littering YouTube - essentially archiving the lost site. Many of the popular content creators from Vine also moved to YouTube to continue their work, such as Thomas Sanders, known for his "Story Time" Vines.
Despite not being an archives, YouTube really does function as one - an easy to use, easy to contribute to archives, which is likely what makes it feel so ideal. It also has an interesting way of connecting the past to the present and future - Viners and other users continue to create new content even as old videos, like my mother's family tapes, are added for preservation.
Prelinger, R. (2016) The Disappearance of Archives. New Media, Old Media: A History and Theory Reader. (Second Ed., p 199-204) Routledge: New York, NY.
Mosendz, P. (2014 May 2) Vine Launches Its Own Tiny YouTube: The super quick video sharing app has revised and expanded its website to allow anyone to watch and search for videos. Atlantic, The. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/05/vine-launches-its-own-tiny-youtube/361566/
Newton, C. (2016 October 28) Why Vine died: Closing the loop. Verge, The. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/28/13456208/why-vine-died-twitter-shutdown
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