I am amazed at how connected the world becomes on a daily basis. What used to be a cliché, has know become the truth. We literally have the world at our fingertips. Everyday people like you and me have the possibility to create and publish our work for the whole world to see. With the creation of YouTube, people from all walks of life have found an outlet for their creativity. Young people have become prolific on writing and creating original works and posting them for the world to view and critique. Granted, some of the pieces out there are not on my favorites list, but still these kids are putting themselves out there and taking a chance.  One of the videos I came across this morning on YouTube, is called Welcome to the YouTube Nation. I think that this is where we are at now as a connective world. Tonight on ABC, they are airing a segment called ‘Caught’ The year’s best video – from the wild to the wacky, and the obscene to the absurd.. I believe that YouTube will become the most disruptive technology piece for 2007. 

An excerpt from the YouTube show notes, Caught:From the frontlines of the war in
Iraq to the political battleground of the 2006 midterm elections, the surge of online video has changed the dynamic.“When [people] take on these tools of TV, they can do amazing things,” said Jarvis. “They’re telling their stories. That’s incredibly powerful. I think we’re just seeing the beginning of what the people can create, now that they have the tools of creation.” 

My daughter even plays around with creating original ‘movies’ and ‘movie trailers’ for what could’ve been the next installment of Harry Potter. She has a group of friends that are very much into creating fan fiction and they’ve taken the next step by creating trailers for their writing. My daughter and I have many discussions about copyright and what is appropriate. She readily shows me what she’s working on and seeks my approval and comments. She became a published author this past summer and understands how important it is to protect one’s work.  What do you think?