The YouTube Canon, organized by Upload Cinema

Last night the Canon of YouTube was presented at the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam. Barbara de Wijn and Dagan Cohen (founders of Upload Cinema) asked 25 internet experts (including yours truly) to send in their top 10 YouTube videos. An important selection criterium was that the videos had to be internet native; the videos have to be born on the web or made especially for the web (so no Susan Boyle performing on Idols). This meant that the number 1 video of my personal top 10 was not included in the Canon.

The crowd at the City Theatre seemed to be different from the people attending the regular Upload Cinema events in the Uitkijk. They looked more like the City Theatre regulars but seemed to have a great time. There was a lot of giggling, laughing and even applauding for some movies. However, there were also people expressing a more critical note. I overheard two woman stating that it was one big fake, happy and shiny YouTube show. They missed the presentation of YouTube as a platform for protest. Of course, this is an important part of YouTube. Movies shot with mobile phones in Iran during the Iran Revolution were quickly spread and picked up by regular news outlets. The movie of Neda dying on the streets may be part of the next edition of Upload Cinema ‘Saved by YouTube’:

Activism on Internet is the theme of our March edition. We’ll be showing how people use the power of video and the Internet to make a statement, and even more importantly: set change in motion.

Sold out City Theatre Amsterdam

The two-hour program ended with a surprise: the recording of a video of everyone singing along to the famous Numa Numa song. The lyrics were projected on the screen and 500 people ended up singing and dancing as can be seen in the following video I made on stage. Sorry for the shaky camera, I was also dancing and singing ;)

Over a year ago, on January 17 2009, I gave up my tv. I must admit, the choice was not that hard. First my tv broke down and then I moved to a new house without an active cable connection so I did not bother to buy a new tv. So, how’s life, a year after I gave up on my tv?

The last image of my tv

Do I stare less at screens? No. Do I watch less series? No. After getting a VPN client a whole world of series opened up to me. The main difference between my life before and after tv? Twitter changed my viewing interests.

The Dutch twitterscene is very active commenting on tv programs. This brings back the old gathering function of tv: everyone watching the same program at the same time accompanied with a Twitter backchannel.  It made me want to watch programs I would have never considered watching before. However, following the hashtag (#) that belongs to the program, to me, is as entertaining as actually watching the show. Snarky, witty comments filling my screen. However, not owning a tv means I cannot participate unless it is streamed live.

With the turmoil around the Comissie Davids (“This independent committee has investigated the preparation and the decision-making process regarding the political support given by the Netherlands for the invasion of Iraq in the period from the summer of 2002 to the summer of 2003.”) a series of debates was held. With Femke Halsema (the leader of the GreenLeft parliamentary party in the House of Representatives since 2002) twittering live during the debate the #irakdebat Twitter backchannel got an extra dimension. Not only did she keep us up to date during the recessions, she participated in the conversation about the debate on Twitter. Never before did I watch political debates which such interest. My Twitter timeline provided me with cynical jokes, political context and supporting links and a strong politician who brought me closer to politics by providing a sense of immediacy.

Youtube is near celebrating its fifth anniversary¹ In it’s early days YouTube looked rather plain but a few months later, in June 2005, “Your Digital Video Repository” added the famous Upload Your Videos link.

In celebration of five years of YouTube videos, Dragan Cohen from Upload Cinema, asked tens of new media specialists to send in their all-time top 10 YouTube videos. The ultimate YouTube list of about 30 videos, the YouTube Canon, will be aired in the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam on the 22nd of February 2010. Please join us!

YouTube celebrates its 5th anniversary. That’s why Upload Cinema presents ‘Internet as stage’, a special compilation of real Internet classics. Video’s that can be considered as landmarks in the history of online film. Based on the input of some of the most important bloggers, web editors and internet professionals in The Netherlands. The show takes place on February 22 at 20.00 o’clock in the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam. Tickets are only available via the site of the Stadsschouwburg. (Upload Cinema)

My submitted YouTube top 10:

#1 RickRoll’D

The movie of all YouTube movies!

#2 Here Comes Another Bubble v1.1

Web 2.0 as the New Internet Bubble.

#3 Dramatic Look

Tatataaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! <insert dramatic look>

#4 LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!

Fanculture at its best.

#5 Numa Numa

Just doing his thing behind his webcam. For the whole world.

#6 Bert & Ernie tries Gangsta-Rap

YouTube is an important plaform for remixculture.

#7 The Sneezing Baby Panda

OMG! The Cuteness! ROFL!

#8 David After Dentist

Cute kid being drugged out after dentist visit filmed by his dad with his Flipcam, made possible by the introduction of small, easy, handheld cameras.

#9 大きな箱とねこ。(Big Box and Maru)

A YouTube top 10 without a cat movie cannot exist. Nora the Piano and Ninja Cat were also contenders to be in my top 10 but the Japanese Maru who’s obsessed with boxes won this spot.

#10 “Chocolate Rain” Original Song

YouTube is seen as an important platform for amateur musicians to become famous. This guy definitely became famous.

UPDATE: De Wereld Draait Door interviewed Alexander Klopping and Dragan Cohen about YouTube fifth anniversary (in Dutch):

1. The domain was registered on Feb 15:
   WHOIS information for youtube.com :
   Domain ID:
   Domain Name: youtube.com

   Created On: 15-Feb-2005 00:00:00[↩]

De eerste Twittershizzle zit er op. De abject-elitaire avond met honderden twitteraars, muziek, voordrachten en een veiling voor het goede doel werd een groot succes dankzij Bert Brussen, Bas Paternotte, Levi Boitelle en Gyurka Jansen. Een sfeerverslag in foto’s:

Organisator en bekende Paintcartoonis @baspaternotte

Organisator en initiatiefnemer @bertbrussen

Twitterfans van Dries Roelvink

Jan Dijkgraaf (HP/De Tijd) en Dries Roelvink

Plunk @danibalhentonel

@AmoorahNL interviewt @jandijkgraaf van HP/De Tijd

Geveilde Paintcartoon door @baspaternotte voor het goede doel

@JacoKoster wordt geinterviewd door @OnlineMarketeer

Geen Twittershizzle compleet zonder de aanwezigheid van heel veel camera’s.

The notion of following is anthropological or ethnographic. Bruno Latour: “Follow the actors.” Now we follow all sorts of things: object, medium, money. Why follow the medium? It has to do with a particular research practice: a new medium offers new spaces and objects and new opportunities arise. For example studying the commentspace as a subspace of the blogosphere. If we were to remediate the commentspace it is potentially some kind of lively, productive area for organizing voices and mobilizing citizens. A new space for organizing or issue making. One could stay in that mode no matter which new space arises, however, Richard Rogers rather looks at the specificity of the objects of that space and asks how the devices handle them and see if we can learn, repurpose and make findings. Political scientists/students embrace the commentspace as the new hope. However, the commentspace is being ignored by devices by the implementation of the nofollow tag. The commentsphere is a messy space for engines. Engines and humans ignore it but the users are subjected to the engine regime of nofollow. What to do? Digital methods are a new recipe for new spaces: look at digital objects, how do the devices handle them? Analyze, learn and repurpose.

Publiek Literanita

Vanavond, op de sterfavond van JD Salinger, organiseerde De Nieuwe Anita een nieuwe literaire avond genaamd Literanita. Ik ben een fervent lezer, maar het concept “literaire avond” heeft mij nog nooit aantrekkelijk in de oren geklonken. Het zal de connotatie met droog overloos gezever zijn. Totdat Freek Broekhuysen voor de Nieuwe Anita een avond samenstelde met Ivo Victoria, F. Starik, Maartje Wortel, Bernard Wesseling en Merel Roze. De tent zat vol en enkele schrijvers bleken geboren sprekers. Zo kocht ik na afloop van de avond het boek van Maartje Wortel die een van haar kortel verhalen voordroog. De eerste avond was een enorm succes.

F. Starik

Bernard Wesseling

Ivo Victoria

Maartje Wortel

Merel Roze

Publiek Literanita