Tenori-on stage: YouTube as performance space

  • Authors:
  • Mark Blythe;Paul Cairns

  • Affiliations:
  • Northumbria University, UK;University of York, UK

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 6th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Extending Boundaries
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

This paper reports findings from four related studies of the "Tenori-on" as it appears on YouTube in order to consider Web 2.0 as a performance space. A quantitative analysis of returns for "Tenori-on" attempts to model how posts achieve and maintain popularity. This analysis suggests sustained posting and engagement amongst users rather than initial product launch enthusiasm. A content analysis of the videos returned demonstrates a very different response to the launch of other technologies like the iPhone 3G. A grounded theory explores comments to the most viewed video returned which was a post by the artist Little Boots. A range of comments indicate virtual applause and suggest that YouTube has been appropriated here as a space for performance. Finally perspectives from critical theory are drawn on to consider the meanings of the Tenori-on in this user generated context and the ways users creatively resist the most obvious affordances of the device.