Third method: The ‘MTM –experiment’
The ethnographic research outlined above already includes some smaller experimental elements. Additional to this we plan to conduct one larger Experiment: the MTM-experiment (Marathon-Thoughtbyte-Metadata -experiment). The basic idea is to create several hundred short videos with intellectual content, put them on different video sharing platforms, and harvest the metadata 6 months later – this way we will be able to observe not only which videos died, and which have acquired a life on their own, but also how they have re-assembled with other video data and user feedback. The experiment includes 4 steps:
(1.) Acquiring the video data.
(2.) We slice up the video material into ‘ thought-bytes’ of 1-5 minutes length. All in all we aim for about 300-500 of such thought-byte-videos. We stick these on Youtube. We could do the same on Todou and on Nico Nico Douga. In this case we might have to subtitle it, or even get additional Japanese and Chinese material.
(3.) After 6 months, we harvest the metadata (this will be done through writing computer programs, using Google API – Yuk can do that).
(4.) When we look at the data, we ask questions like: Which thought-byte died, which flourished? How did it flourish? What are its tags, comments, relationships and connections to other videos, new videos and video comments, subgenres, user numbers, channels? How do these thought-bytes come alive inside the metadata environment of these platforms? We will treat video as living and changing entities inside these platforms, and metadata as a generating environment (instead of a regulating one).