McNeill discusses the
diary genre saying, “Certainly, the mode has taken on new, sometimes multimodal
features, and potentially new – or at least different – uses, as it reaches out
to wider, responsive audiences” (2013, pg. 323). One such new chapter in the
diary genre is that of Video logging or vlogging. YouTube relies minimally on
the written word unlike most other social networks and it is a massive host for
many of the vlogs on the internet. A very common genre in vlogs on YouTube is
the genre of comedy. “Genres actively generate and shape our knowledge of the
world” (Van Luyn, 2013). I subscribe to my favourite vloggers because I want to
see more of these people’s hilarious rants, and before watching one of their
videos I am already put in a good mood as I am expecting to be amused.
Image Retrieved from: http://www.digitalcreative.tv/vlogging-with-dslrs/
Compared to the written
blog, it is much easier to demonstrate authenticity on a vlog. The vloggers appearance,
emotions, expressions and tone are public for the audience to view. This also provides
the audience with a connection or sense of familiarity to the vlogger. However,
on YouTube this authenticity doesn’t extend much further than those who vlog,
as the rest of this social network’s participants are generally kept anonymous.
Most people except the best known don’t even try to demonstrate a form of
authenticity.
Reference List:
McNeill, L. (2011).
Diary 2:0?: A Genre Moves from Page to Screen. Language and New Media (313-323).
New Jersey: Hampton Press Inc.
Van Luyn. A.
(2013)-BA1002: Our Space, Networks, Narrative and the Making of Place,
Lecture 6: Genre and Identity [Power Point Slides]. Retrieved from:
http://learnjcu.edu.au
Image Credits:
McNeill’s (2011) article, titled Diary 2.0 suggested the move from the written secret diary toward the open to public on-line diary. Reading the article, it didn’t occur to me there is also a thing called video-diary. The simple word ‘diary’ denotes, at least in my mind, a very personal and secret book of written text. Of cause, the genre of diary has changed with the advent of the internet. But still, I did not think of the logical progression to the video-diary.
ReplyDeleteSince following your link and watching some of the vlogs, I haven’t stopped laughing!
What a funny and entertaining way of expressing ones opinions. As with the written blog, vlogs may lack authenticity, but who cares. Diaries don’t necessarily require the reader or viewer to know the creators identity…or do they?
Anyhow, thanks for showing this old fella a new genre of diary-keeping.
I may just have found a new hobby.
McNeill, L. (2011). Diary 2.0?: A genre moves from page to screen. In C. Rowe & W. E. L. (Eds.), Language and New Media: Linguistic, Cultural and Technological Evolutions (pp. 313-323). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press Inc.