The idea was brought up over at the YouTube thread to have a LitReactor YouTube channel full of book reviews, book commentary, and more.
First, is anyone interested?
Second, I understand any hesitency to create videos and upload them to a separate channel (which would pull views away from your own channel) so perhaps a LitReactor playlist would make more sense. That way, LitReactor members could upload videos to their own channels as they want and we could simply list those videos in a playlist.
I'm up for either way. Though, I do lean toward the playlist idea, as any videos I create I'd rather host on my own channel (I'm a view snob).
Thoughts?
I don't have a personal account, so we could always do a hybrid model of a site-wide account for those of us without channels and a playlist that includes videos from separate users and the LitReactor account.
I'm really interested in the idea of opposing book reviews by two members of the site, debating on the merits of one book they've both read, and in interaction in general. There's a lot of great things that happen on the site that would be even better in a different, more structured format like videos.
Caleb--if you got enough interest I might allow my arm to be twisted into making some videos. I've been sort of toying with the idea of YouTube for a couple years, but haven't had the breakthrough that pushes me to do it yet.
"I'm really interested in the idea of opposing book reviews by two members of the site"
Dear Courtney,
Why you always wanna be arguing with somebody?
Sincerely,
The Universe
Maybe instead of a debate, which frankly I think we've had enough of, two people just giving their view? One pro, one con, no contact before hand regarding the book. Maybe even have someone else pick who does it out of the volunteers and it is kept under wraps until till it's filmed.
Or we could just do book reviews.
I was actually promoting the concept Dwayne mentioned, because I'm not even sure how two people would debate over video. Skype? That would just look terrible.
Seriously, though, I came up with the idea because of John and Hank Green. Their videos are ultimately interactive (at least, the ones I used to watch -- not sure what it looks like now) because they would post videos that involved the audience by either teaming up to discuss one issue or somehow relating to one another. There was one hilarious sequence where they debated over who put dog shit in their nintendo when they were kids. John Green had his twitter followers measure the distance between the floor and their chihuahua's ass. The point is to get people involved, not be foaming at the mouth and attacking the next person's video.
.
Caleb. But if you don't like them, don't say so, because he's right there ^ (he started the thread).
I think of YouTube videos that aren't music like Twitter -- if it isn't funny, people won't watch it. I have a hard time reading book reviews at all because, unless I'm interested in the book and actually sought out the review, I find no reason to keep reading. I'm a terrible person and a perfect example of the way soundbites have affected my generation; I can watch them -- because there's usually a lot of visuals, which keep me engaged -- but I can't read them.
I see your point, cosmo. Book reviews can be terrible (very terrible), but I'm bookish and nerdy enough to actually enjoy someone talking about books, even if I couldn't give a shit about the book being discussed. Perhaps I'm just lame like that. It's possible.
For me, watching someone talk about a book, even if that person isn't very articulate and the video production quality isn't very good, is much better than reading a book review. I think people try too hard with a written book review. The passion doesn't translate very well. But with video book reviews, you can see the expressions, the excitement, everything.
Here's a few that come to mind, from channels that I subscribe to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huUKd5LkDBU
This guy is very casual, but his passion is evident. He doesn't try to be deep, nor does he try to be funny. It's just a passionate reader talking about the books he's read.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oH7a6kw5HY
She's part of a duo who sometimes do (pretty funny) vidoes together. Generally, this channel discusses books I don't care much for, but again, I could listen to anyone drone on about books.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNcWzFyewdU
Probably my favorite book related channel. Her videos aren't always about books, but I think those that are tend to be my favorite.
Also, the YouTube book community (called Booktubers...I know) also have a cool thing called Tags where they tag other users that they want to bring into a conversation. So, with Litreactor, you could have something like "June Bookclub" be a tag, and everyone could record a few comments about the book and use that tag to keep them together.
Neato, bookmarked. I'll give it another shot. Thanks!
