The Art of Watching Databases: The article by Geert Lovink argues that Youtube is really "the art of watching databases" where receiving information on Youtube is not intended to be "informative" further than what is displayed on 2 minute videos and mastering the skills to watch databases require nothing more than the interest in looking for "brief peaks" of information.
Constructive Instability: Another author named Thomas Elsaesser approaches Youtube and Web 2.0 by describing the close merging of "art" and "life" that they bring to human and it is difficult to draw a fine line between nature/culture without really modifying how we define "life" of human as things become more life-like.
The similarities between the two arguments are understood through the processes of Youtube searching. Youtube-ing goes through the process of searching something up by a name (tag) leads to hours of endless database that always leads you astray the focus of your search! By this, I mean the endless hours spent "searching" for something (Rube Goldberg), but you find yourself somehow on the other end of the "tag" spectrum watching a video of a cat playing with a piece of yarn instead! However, the most fascinating part of this process is that most of us can't remember why we started watching the cat with the yarn in the first place without realizing the goal of looking for Rube Goldberg!!! (Alas, the power of tagging.) Thus, this leads to a second similarity between the two approaches of Web 2.0 (Youtube). Not only are we being drained with the massive overload of data, but we have an extensive enjoyment of the randomness and short lived information given to keep us happy! As Geert Lovink puts it, "we relive our childhoods, aware that unknown companies are watching over our shoulders." similarly, Thomas Elsaesser's experiment also lead to seeing benefits to human enjoyment as well, as he puts it, "Thanks to all of them[Youtube videos], I have found on YouTube ways of knowing and ways of being that are ludic and reflexive, educational and participatory, empowering and humbling."
So what else is there to say about Youtube? Geert exerts that Youtube-ing has brought out ADHD in all of us as we get very comfortable with simply "getting what we want" by playing with the on and off switch in our heads with a click of a button because we simply don't have the memory to be attentive to videos lasting more than 2 minutes! On top of our ADHD, we feed this behavior with more undivided total attention by multitasking, as did the home television has taught us.
For Thomas Elsaesser, he views Youtube and Web 2.0 as another piece that still divides "art" and "life" even though it may seem the two may be blending together because of the life-like processes embedded in today's culture and technology. Furthermore, he argues that in order for art to survive, it "may need to become more like life than life itself(as opposed to life-like)" because our form of life becomes more engineered and programmed and "made". Thus, I think is it a rather ironic solution for the defined lines between "art" and "life" to continue to exist by essentially being the other, that is, "art" being more like life, while "life" pushes toward art form because of technology and biology.
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