Second method: Ethnographic case studies on Nico Nico Douga and Todou
Two intensive ethnographic case studies around video-sharing platforms will form the core of the project.
The first one will look into the practices around the Japanese platform Nico Nico Douga (nicovideo.jp). This platform was originally created as a mash up of Youtube on the one hand, and 2-channel on the other hand. As a mash up, it is itself (as a platform) the result of more effective metadata management. Nico Nico Douga exists since little more then one year, but is by now the 6th most visited website in Japan.
Nico Nico Douga has on top of this several features that make it interesting for our study of metadata. As already mentioned above, users of Nico Nico Douga can write directly on the moving image while they watch videos. All following users can then see the remarks of former users as part of the video (the remarks scroll into frame of the moving image from right to left, and remain visible for about 4 seconds). They comment the video as well as each other‘s comments. This feature is the key to the success of Nico Nico Douga.
The latest re-launch of Nico Nico Douga ads further features, for example the possibility to insert interactive buttons in the video, from which users can jump to any other video at any moment in time (that is: from video x at minute 1.45 to video Y at minute 1.23).
Additionally to this, the interface of Nico Nico Douga also displays a high complexity of other forms of metadata. The content itself consists largely of re-sampled fragments of TV series and music pieces. Content is uploaded by the users just as on Youtube. However, initial analysis seemed to indicate that content is often directly aimed to provoke the generation of metadata. It almost seems as if on Nico Nico Douga it is not metadata, which serves data, but data, which serves metadata.
Research on Nico Nico Douga has now started. You can find more about this on our research blog: http://d.hatena.ne.jp/metagold/
Our second case study will look at the Chinese video-sharing platform Toodou (Tudou.com). Based in Shanghai, Todou was launched on April 15, 2005. By September 2007 it uses the world’s largest CDN (Content delivery network) to serve over 55 million videos each day. It competes with Youtube to be the largest video-sharing website in the world (it streams less clips, but more video minutes than Youtube). Most of the features of Toodou resemble more or less the features of Youtube. Our interest in Todou is thus more inspired by its specific role in the Chinese mediascape.
Both ethnographic case studies will aim to collide as much data as possible in short but intensive periods of fieldwork in Tokyo and Shanghai, which will each last 4-6 weeks. A locally based assistant will help the research associate to organise the interviews. He or she will translate where necessary, and provide additional technical and cultural expertise. His or her task will also be a first analysis of the portal and the content, and a comparison of the portal with other national websites as well as with international competitors.
At the centre of the fieldwork itself will be interviews and focus groups with users. Some of these interviews will include ethnographic elements such as joint watching, uploading, video producing, and writing on the video (in the case of Nico Nico Douga). We aim to organise Nico-Nico-Douga- and Todou-parties – fun-events, where several users show each other their favourite clips. We also aim to interview some of the ‘ stars’ that these platforms have produced. We might watch content with people, who do this for the first time. We will produce and upload some content ourselves – ideally this would take the form of targeted mini-experiments.
On the producer side we aim to interview interface designers, programmers, content and channel managers, marketeers and the founders of the platforms. If possible, we will conduct short ethnographic studies of one or two weeks inside the companies. Ideally we will be able to model these studies similar to the classical ‘ gate-keeper-studies’ in media ethnography. We aim to do so in both platforms, but particularly so in the case of Todou. We will also discuss the platforms with film critics, anime critics, commentators such as bloggers, academic and non-academic internet theorists, media artists and other artists, who combine text and image.