Cancer story gets national attention

A video of Jack Hoeger, an 8-year-old rural Cedar Rapids boy, was posted Thursday in a blog on the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s Livestrong Web site, www.livestrong.org

The video of Jack’s cancer survival story, “Get to Know Jack,” was made Saturday by a family friend who operates a Dubuque Web site company and was posted on YouTube, said Jack’s father, Marty Hoeger, 35.

I think that this video is fantastic. I found it really moving. It’s really sad that an 8 year old boy had to go through such a horrible experience yet he survived and is able to speak about what he went through. It’s really inspiring.

This video has been watched more than 12,000 times and had 80 comments. This is a great video and I’m really happy that it has been posted on YouTube.

What do you think? All comments welcome…

Bristol Tennessee Cops Get First Hit On YouTube Video

The Bristol Tennessee Police Department posted a video showing some of their most-wanted suspects with the video-sharing Web site YouTube on Wednesday.

I think that this is a great way to help police find criminals.

On Friday, police officers were able to apprehend Noah Jay Carrier, 25, after receiving several anonymous tips on his whereabouts from people who saw the video.

According to reports, YouTube accounted for one-third of the 9.8 billion videos viewed online in the U.S. during January meaning that the police can gain such large coverage within the U.S via YouTube.

Do you agree that this method of finding criminals is constructive?

All comments welcome…

Teens get a taste of Hollywood at Putnam’s YouTube premiere

Area teens strolled the red carpet Thursday for a premiere and awards ceremony of YouTube videos they produced for a library contest.

The teens wrote scripts, shot video and edited three to five minute movies last month during Teen Tech Week, an annual event sponsored by area libraries. The videos could be an alternate ending to a book or portray why the teens loved their library. The finished YouTube videos were debuted on the IMAX screen at the Putnam Museum Thursday.

Again here is a productive way in which YouTube can be used. Teenagers were given the opportunity to tap into their inner director skills and produce videos which interested them without any crude and inappropriate aspects to it.

What do you think? All comments welcome

YouTube’s Singing Sensation Marie Digby

Marie Digby, 24, is a singer – songwriter living in Los Angeles, who has been blessed with a beautiful voice and amazing talent. It all started when Marie uploaded her video “Umbrella” – an acoustic version of Rihanna’s song – onto YouTube on May 27th 2007. In less than a year “Umbrella” has gathered over 5,521,073 hits and 26,773 favourites. After gathering so much attention via comments on YouTube Marie upload more covers such as James Morrison’s song “You Give Me Something” and Linkin Parks “What I’ve Done”.

Although Marie had already signed with Disney’s Hollywood Records in 2005, she decided to upload videos of herself on to YouTube to gain more publicity – it definitely worked! She has written many of her own songs such as “Stupid For You” (a personal favourite) and “Unfold” which you can find on her YouTube channel and MySpace website. Her song “Spell” featured in the season finale of “Smallville” and her version of “Umbrella” featured in MTV’s “The Hills.”

Her album is coming out on April 8th. To pre order it visit this website.

This is a clear example of how YouTube can be used in a constructive way.

YouTube Used in Fight For New School

Last week, Thestar.com reported a NDP MP’s campaign on YouTube to build a long awaited primary school in Attawapiskat, Northern Ontario, Canada.

By the weekend it was the third most watched political video on YouTube Canada.

The reason why YouTube was used to launch this campaign is because the MP believes that this is where people go to get their information.

Yesterday, Thestar.com reported that despite the campaign on YouTube, the primary school will not be built.

I think that it’s fantastic that YouTube has been used to promote this worthy cause. So far, the video has been viewed16, 893 and gathered 129 comments. This clearly shows how YouTube has the ability to be used to benefit the general public.

If you would like to sign the petition click here.

What do you think? All comments welcome…

Learning through YouTube

Boston Now reported last week how YouTube has helped make the classroom more interactive for teachers and students.

Thomas Fauls, a professor at Boston University said: “It’s great. There’s a fair amount of reliability; you can find what you need. It’s a no-brainer that it’s an instant hit in the class.”

As a university student, I agree that YouTube does in fact make lectures more interactive and exciting. One of the things which keep me awake during my psychology lectures is the frequent use of YouTube. Our lecturer shows us footage of interesting experiments almost every week which makes the class so much more exciting and appealing.

Personally, I believe that it’s much easier to understand and remember an experiment if you see it take place, rather than simply read it from a book. This can be applied to all subjects, not just psychology.

This illustrates how YouTube can in fact be seen as a success.

What do you think? All comments welcome…

YouTube Posting Leads to Arrests in Assault

Video images of first degree assaults were posted on YouTube reveals the NY Times today.

Police were tipped off about the footage when interviewing students about a separate incident. The footage shows punching, kicking and the use of a pocketknife against the victim.

It has now been removed from the website.

I’m finding it difficult to decide whether I think this video should have been posted on YouTube…On the one hand, it’s awful as it advocates violence and the use of weaponry. It also exemplifies how corrupt society has become that teenagers are firstly abusing one another, and secondly using mobile phones to record their abuse and then post it online. It’s as if they are proud of what they have accomplished which may in fact influence others to copy their obscene behaviour.

However, as a result of this footage being posted on YouTube the police were able to find the students and arrest them. The fact that this was the second local arrest in the past month linked to YouTube shows two things. One, evidently there is a lot of crime in this area, and two, the people in this district feel it necessary to display their felony online.

Therefore, by teenagers posting such videos on YouTube they are assisting police in finding and arresting them. Now, police will find it easier to locate such criminals. This illustrates how YouTube can actually be seen as an essential source for police when fighting against crime in New York.

What do you think? All comments welcome…