[spectre] Out now: The Inner Life of Video Spheres--Theory for the YouTube Generation by Andreas Treske

[Geert Lovink]

Out now: The Inner Life of Video Spheres--Theory for the YouTube  
Generation by Andreas Treske

Network Notebooks 06, Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam, 2013.  
ISBN/EAN 978-90-818575-3-6

Read online and download pdf or order a copy here:
http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/portal/publication/no-06-the-inner-life-of-video-spheres-andreas-treske/

And check the beautiful book trailer on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/59438330

Video is everywhere, like a space in which we move, an ocean we can  
dive into. But video is no longer the video we once knew. To address  
this techno-social shift, Andreas Treske sketches the outlines for a  
philosophical and practical understanding of online video, offering up  
a theory for the YouTube generation.

Video is examined up close and as a societal phenomenon. The images of  
a video constantly refer to other images, to the user and to the world  
outside. There is a 'thickening of the image'. Videos also exist in  
relation to each other. On YouTube each video is accompanied by dozens  
of suggestions commercials and comments. Or consider TED-talks: every  
presentation refers to many others, all connected in a network and  
easily changing from one hype to the next.

Useful for comprehending this relational context is the philosophy of  
Peter Sloterdijk, who describes human society in terms of 'spheres'.  
Online video can be understood as similar to bubble stuck to other  
bubbles, coming together to from foam within the connected sphere of  
the human environment.

Most prominent effects so far is video as a means of protest in the  
squares of the world, where revolution is filmed an uploaded in real  
time. Video isn't a defined movie-object watched individually, but a  
movement of millions of video simultaneously, causing a cascade of  
reaction throughout the world.

Andreas Treske is an author, filmmaker and media artist. Currently he  
teaches in the Cinema and Digital Media Department at Izmir University  
of Economics, in Turkey. He was the organizer of the third Video  
Vortex conference in Ankara.

Colophon: Network Notebooks editors: Geert Lovink and Miriam Rasch.  
Copy editing: Morgan Currie. Design: Medamo, Rotterdam http://www.medamo.nl 
. Publisher: Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam. Supported by:  
CREATE-IT applied research at the Amsterdam University of Applied  
Sciences (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Domein Media, Creatie en  
Informatie).