This is the first of three posts I'm planning to do on YouTube.
Many think YouTube is a collection of videos, but some argue it is a social network. Have you ever gone to YouTube to watch one particular video and found yourself clicking on suggested content when the video finishes? Have you ever clicked on a video thinking it was what you wanted only to find that it was someone talking about the video you wanted to see? Isn't that weird?
Some people use YouTube as a social network. They watch, and they post responses. It may seem foreign to some of us, but to some kids, it is part of how YouTube works.
Here is a recent example that I keep watching and looking for responses because I'm fascinated with
1. how this girl's brain works
2. how phonics work/don't work in reverse
3. how people use technology to solve a problem
The first video is of a girl who seems to be able to instantly provide the reverse pronunciation of any word presented to her.
As I was watching this, I wanted to hear it in reverse. We've all tried to listen to a record in reverse to see if the urban legends about some rock albums are correct. Didn't you?
To my pleasure, when this video finished, I was presented with a suggested video of the entire clip in reverse. Someone had the same idea I did, so they uploaded a reverse version of the video as a response. I didn't like it in reverse, because I couldn't figure out what she was supposed to be saying. One of the comments nails it. ("I heard maybe one or two things...I'm a tad skeptical.)
But then what I REALLY wanted, was to hear the word the boy said and they hear her backwards word in reverse. Thanks to someone with some video editing skills and the social aspect of YouTube, I had what I wanted.
But as I watched this, I realized that she is sounding out how the words would sound if she were reading the left-to-right, only the letters were in reverse order. Playing the audio backwards is not going to turn them forward. The /er/ sound is not phonetically reversed of "re."
So here is what I'm left with.
1. YouTube is cool.
2. I'm skeptical about this girl, but something tells me her brain is just working differently. And that is cool.
3. People do post response videos to YouTube. I usually don't have time or interest to watch them, but when I do, that is cool, too.