Jon Worth » Youtube

An odd selection of classic Youtube

Jon — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:36:53 +0000

A few things I’ve come across recently and thought I should share… A couple of these are thanks to Bente Kalsnes who always has a knack to find excellent things!

1. Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us
RSA animation about personal motivations. This is brilliant, and well worth watching until the end.

2. Microsoft designs the iPod
Bit retro this one, but it made me smile.

3. Fast Lane – The Slide
The environmentally friendly and fun way to get down into the U-Bahn at Alexanderplatz.

4. Augmented Reality – Explained by Common Craft
A simple guide to how augmented reality works. The guy’s accent is a bit grating, but the explanation is simple and clear.

Political videos so bad they make you squirm

Jon — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:14:21 +0000

First up, Germany’s new European Commissioner Günter Oettinger. He says in German that English is vital for German people to speak, and then he goes on to speak absolutely dire English:

This terrible, terrible song was put out by the youth of the UMP, the party of Nicolas Sarkozy, featuring dodgy appearances from (among others) Rachida Dati and Christine Lagarde. And yes, this was official. Excruciating… You even have subtitles so you can sing along and change the world!

It even prompted a piss take on the floor of the National Assembly in France!

Some examples of the power of Youtube

Jon — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:48:09 +0000

In the presentations I make about the impact of the internet on politics and society, Youtube often gets a mention. Although not all explicitly political, these are 4 of my favourites. Think of what you could do with some inspiration like this… Dave Carroll, the singer in the first one, said he asked himself “if Michael Moore were a musician, what would he do?” – not a bad question to ask!

5.8 million views

6.3 million views

5k views

49k views

Vote, but don’t vote UKIP

Jon — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:13:17 +0000

The European Parliament has just put out this video on Youtube saying that’s it’s never too late to vote. Well, who should you actually vote for? Not UKIP as far as I’m concerned… So I produced a little remix:

The Lives of Others – UK Civil Liberties mashup

Jon — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:24:53 +0000

I spent an hour or so last night putting together this first-ever Youtube video mashup I’ve done, taking the German trailer for Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) and adding subtitles in English – only the subtitles are about UK civil liberties issues in 2009. The idea comes from the famous Downfall mashups, but using an alternative German film instead, and also conscious that most UK viewers will not necessarily follow the German. If you do understand both languages there are additional subtleties…

For those have not seen it, Das Leben der Anderen / The Lives of Others is an award winning film about Stasi Germany, where the Stasi are keeping tabs on an playwright suspected of western sympathies, and the main Stasi official eventually sides with the playwright. More details about the film can be found at Wikipedia.

But why now, and why the mashup?

Firstly, I recently visited Hohenschönhausen Prison in Berlin, featured in the movie (although scenes were not actually shot there). This builds on a long interest in Germany, German unification, my time living in Berlin in 2001 / 2002, and also the excellent book Stasiland by Anna Funder.

Secondly, in the UK anti-terror billboards have started to appear, urging you to snoop on your neighbours if they are disposing of chemicals or looking at CCTV cameras. I’ve posted about the billboards here, and there’s a billboard slogan generator here. Seeing one of these billboards at Tufnell Park tube station yesterday pushed me to act…

Thirdly, there has been recent coverage in the press of rather heavy handed police methods when it comes to security in London. An Austrian tourist had pictures deleted from his digital camera for taking pictures of Vauxhall Bus Station, and a member of protest group Plane Stupid was offered cash by Strathclyde Police. This follows increased surveillance of environmental groups, and the controversy over 42 terror detention and the UK losing a case at the European Court of Human Rights over DNA data retention. All these stories are one way or another featured in the subtitles.