In my first week, I began exploring scholarly articles published on the topic of YouTube \u201cvlogs.\u201d Starting broad, I simply searched online sociological databases using keywords such as \u201cYouTube,\u201d \u201cvlogs,\u201d etc. Given the relatively young age of this type of media, I did not know what exactly to expect. Several results turned up that I found interesting, and I read two articles published on the topic. First, I read an article by Morris and Anderson on how vlogs are rewriting traditional forms of popular masculinity. It suggests that vloggers amass large followings due to their embracement of inclusive masculinity. Second, an article by Berryman and Kavka on vlogs and their effectiveness regarding handling anxiety, depression, and other types of mental health disorders. Here, the authors address vloggers that are not unwaveringly positive on their platform, and instead profile their distress and emotional vulnerability.<\/p>\n
This data, in my opinion, is a tremendous starting point for my research. For a project centered around the usefulness of vlogs and the place they may hold moving forward, topics like these show there is validity in them as a form of media. The articles serve as important exemplars of the direction Millennials can take vlogs and demonstrates how effective they can be at combating social issues. I was happy to see these articles turn up, as I feel they give my argument a strong direction.<\/p>\n
These were not the results I expected, though. Instead, I figured I would see articles more geared towards the production and consumption of vlogs. That is, targeting the initial questions I posed in my project overview: why are people interested in them? Why are content creators motivated to create these vlogs? The articles by Morris and Anderson as well as Berryman and Kavka instead gave a different perspective on the topic centered around the latter half of my research question: where can vlogs take us and what place will they have for our generation moving forward? I\u2019m now considering how these vlogs are changing dominant forms of masculinity and the acceptance of mental illness, which I find exciting and interesting.<\/p>\n
My process for collecting research was relatively straightforward. I searched Scopus for articles using the keyword search listed above. However, I found it challenging to find a high volume of articles on the specific topic of \u201cvlogs.\u201d This poses a challenge for me moving forward \u2013 since it is such a recent trend, I must figure out ways to expand my research tactics to reveal an adequate selection of articles from which to choose. In order to fix this, I plan to meet with Beth Hoppe and take advantage of other resources. Additionally, I plan to broaden my searches.<\/p>\n
Moving forward, I will continue finding articles similar to these two. That is, other articles that discuss the usefulness of vlogs. Perhaps I will find articles that comment on their place in our society economically and how they are able to provide financial stability to Millennials, or something similar. However, I also hope to find articles geared towards my initial questions involving the production and consumption of vlogs, as stated above. I hope to amass two sides to my research: one that addresses the production and consumption aspect, and another that centers around the effectiveness of vlogs for Millennials and our society, such as the two I found this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In my first week, I began exploring scholarly articles published on the topic of YouTube \u201cvlogs.\u201d Starting broad, I simply searched online sociological databases using keywords such as \u201cYouTube,\u201d \u201cvlogs,\u201d etc. Given the relatively young age of this type of media, I did not know what exactly to expect. Several results turned up that I … Continue reading “Log 1”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":15,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-3010-spring-2018-sjablons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-3010-spring-2018-sjablons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-3010-spring-2018-sjablons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-3010-spring-2018-sjablons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-3010-spring-2018-sjablons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-3010-spring-2018-sjablons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-3010-spring-2018-sjablons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/sociology-3010-spring-2018-sjablons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}