Thing #20: YouTube

I must be one of the few people in Howard County who has spent less than ten minutes, grand total since its inception, on YouTube. Every once in awhile, my son will alert me to something he deems worthy of me taking the time to watch.

When I read YouTube's answer to "What is YouTube?", the circus actually came to my mind. It was like listening to the ringmaster announce the show: "Watch millions of videos," "Share favorites with friends and family," "Connect with other users who share your interests," "Upload your videos to a worldwide audience." All of these functions are technological wonders. However, I do feel as though some users cross the line of good taste. Also, as the parent of an Internet-savvy teen, YouTube's easy accessibility makes my job of policing my child's Internet use just that much more of a challenge.

From a library perspective, it might be quite interesting to incorporate a YouTube-like component to library web sites. Imagine with the click of one button, a video pops up, and you are taken on a librarian-guided virtual tour of your local library. This has no doubt already been done, somewhere.

It is obvious as to why YouTube is so popular, as it taps into the voyeuristic side of our characters. In search of a video that was not "sordid or scandalous," I searched the category "library." Well, I found sordid and scandalous there, as well. However, I also found Nancy Nerenberg's "CLA Library Cheer: