Online Journalism 1 - Weblogs and Journalism

Reviewing something from YouTube

So - it's time to put into practice some of the the things we've talked about - and write a review on your blogs.

So what are we going to review? Well, I think it might be interesting to review some of the content on YouTube. It's accessible and short - we can watch it in class and talk about it. I think there might be some mileage in becoming a YouTube reviewer - someone who finds interesting things on YouTube, Revver, GoogleVideo etc... and then writes about them. It's like the modern version of a TV critic.

To start off, we're going to review a short video called YouTubers. What I want you to do is embed the video on your blogs and write a short 100 word review of it.  Here's the vid

Here's another YouTube video which is sort of similar - have a look at it and see what you think.

If we don't get round to this in class - have a look at these on your own time or pick out another YouTube video to review. Pick something that could only appear on YouTube. Try to find a clip that will let you say something about YouTube as a distinctive new media channel. It could be a video blog, a fan remix or mash-up, one of the new pieces of professional content made specially for YouTube, a viral, something done for YouTube by a big media organisation or politician, desperate to reach the kids...

If you're stuck for ideas, you could try reviewing a YouTube phenomenon called LonelyGirl15. You might need a little bit of background to understand the whole thing - Wikipedia has a good run down.

But there's lots out there - try to write a mid-length review - 2-300 words - you can go longer if you want. Set the clip in context and embed it on your blogs so people can watch it.

Some reviews to look at

Here's a few reviews to look at in class. Have a look at some from each group and think about how the review was written - think about the intro and the structure. Think about how the review works for the audience, what the writer assumed about what their potential readers knew and cared about. Think also about different types of review - how would you classify the different types of review here.

OK - here's some stuff from the NME:

• A short review of a new track by Goldfrapp
• Album reviews of new product from The Orb, Mars Volta and Vampire Weekend
• Gig reviews - Radiohead and the Ting Tings

Some reviews from Time Out:

• Theatre - 'Hairspray'
• Books - The last 'Harry Potter', 'The Long Tail'
• Film - 'Juno', 'There Will Be Blood'
• Restaurants - Gordon Ramsay's latest place

More film reviews from Empire:

• Juno (again, sorry)
• National Treasure 2
• Cloverfield
• Blade Runner: The Final Cut

Finally - some TV reviews from The Guardian

• Lucy Mangan on a Dave Gorman documentary
• Charlie Brooker on last year's Big Brother
• Charlie Brooker on Panorama
• Sam Wollaston on property shows

Today's session

Today we're going to start by looking at reviews. We'll go through some basic approaches to writing reviews in print then think a little about how well these guidelines work online.

We'll then look a little at YouTube and go on to explore what some people refer to as the 'new media landscape'. We'll do this first by watching a BBC1 documentary - www.herecomeseverybody.co.uk - which looks at the way participatory media technologies, all that Web 2.0 stuff, is changing the way the traditional media and arts world work. The film's a bit old now - it was shown on BBC1 around a year or so ago, but it's interesting to see what traditional media makes of current developments. It should also give you an introduction to some of the ideas and debates we're going to explore in more detail over the next few weeks.