Step 1: Find A Digital Work You Admire
Digital Work Title: Batman: Hush – Atop the Fourth Wall
Creator: Linkara
Platform: YouTube
Type: Video review
Step 2: Analyse the Text
Obviously as a video platform, this text is a visual/audio type, one that I watch similar to a movie or a tv show. While most of Linkara’s videos are 15 to 30 minutes, this one is around an hour long, due to being a review of 12 issues of a comic run (rather than the normal 1 to 6 issues). And this is actually the reason I chose it, as it taught me a bit on how the YouTube algorithm works. Namely that it changes, what is popular varies and as such changes. Sometimes it’s less than 10 minutes, sometimes above 30, so in this video he decided to make it one super long video with ads in the middle as opposed to make a one-hour episode and then splitting it into two parts, each around 30 minutes. That showcases the flexibility one has when making YouTube videos, namely that you get to make your own rules in things such as scheduling and producing. Now, due to YouTube being owned by a company, Linkara doesn’t make money from visiting his page per say, such as visiting his channel, but rather he makes money for each *view* he gets on his videos, meaning he makes money from multiple videos at a time. Recognition is also evident as he himself is the star of his own show.
Step 3: Explore Possible Platforms for Your Work
Once I graduate college, I want to make my own web series, so I have decided on YouTube as my main platform. However, I have been thinking about Tumblr as a site I can publish written thought pieces that might not necessarily make a good video or that I can’t think on how to make it into a video, which is likely what I will be doing for this course.
Step 4: Publish a Piece of Your Own Writing on the Platform
Due to my platform being YouTube and I cannot make videos in the time given, my “writing” that I will submit to Canvas will likely be notes and “mini” essays that will be used to create the scripts for my videos. As such I have also posted a couple of things on Tumblr, though nothing formal quite yet.
Step 5: Analyse the Publication Experience on the Platform
I didn’t publish a piece for this class specifically, given that making a video takes a LOT longer than writing an essay. However, as I have published on YouTube before, I can talk about the process. One of the big things that will take time when publishing on YouTube is the actual publishing process. It takes time to upload the videos. For example, I’ve uploaded videos that are between 5 to 15 minutes, and each one took between 15 to 50 minutes with good internet. So longer videos take a lot long, one could spend almost an entire day just on the upload process. Then, of course, there’s the actual big bulk of publishing. Making videos. As a major in both English with a concentration in writing and in Communications with a concentration on film, I can safely say that making videos, at least in a near professional way, is a LOT harder and more time consuming then writing essays. This is mostly due to extra steps. You have to spend just as much time researching and writing like an essay, but you also need to film and record, edit the videos, get the proper lighting set up, make sure the camera and the microphone are working, record footage of things such as video games if it’s a gaming channel (not to mention play and beat the video games, which is another can of worms).
In YouTube, the main method of interaction between content creator and viewers is through the comment section, wherein people leave comments, and the creator can like them and reply to them. The other, and arguably more important, method is not so much interaction but more support showing, which is liking the video and subscribing to the channel.
For collaborations, well, most YouTubers have their business email in their About tab, wherein people can email them to do collaborations or promotions.
Template is the same for every channel. A profile icon, a channel banner, and a video to showcase for new visitors. Nothing too in-depth.
YouTube’s search engine is a mixed bag. Sometimes it’s very helpful and you can find exactly what you’re looking for, and others you can somehow find nothing on what you’re looking for.
