ERIC Number: ED601427
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 369
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 978-1-3922-0040-7
ISSN: EISSN-
EISSN: N/A
"'Doing' YouTube": Information Creating in the Context of Serious Beauty and Lifestyle YouTube
Thomson, Leslie Elizabeth Anne
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
This dissertation uses constructivist grounded theory to illuminate the practices and activities-namely, those tied to the information creating and the informal information provider roles-of"serious YouTubers", specifically "serious beauty and lifestyle" YouTubers. A "serious YouTuber" is defined as an individual who regularly uploads original content to the video-hosting website YouTube as a part- or full-time venture, thereby attempting to rally viewers into a sub-community. In their videos, beauty and lifestyle YouTubers cover such varied terrain as makeup, fashion, decor, relationships, and daily life. Sensitized by the frameworks of practice theory, everyday life information practices, serious leisure, and creativity forms, this investigation suggests that the information creating done in the mixed serious leisure beauty and lifestyle YouTube pursuit is unique, distinct from the information creating done in strictly professional, educational, hobbyist, or domestic contexts. Documentary research (seven monographs, ten magazine issues, over thirty podcast episodes, and upwards of one hundred YouTube videos were read, listened to, or watched), and semi-structured interviews (twenty-four total, with a sample of twelve serious beauty and lifestyle YouTubers) produced a data record that was analyzed using constant comparison. Findings of this investigation and analysis fall into three main areas.First, serious beauty and lifestyle YouTubers embark upon career trajectories consisting of six periods that span observation, experimentation, and ownership of their creating. Second, serious beauty and lifestyle YouTubers operate and interact within an expansive social world of primary and secondary actors that include YouTube itself, viewers, brands, managers, and more, forming relationships that affect their creating. Third, serious beauty and lifestyle YouTubers carry out ten-step episodes of creating, each step an information activity that utilizes different information resources and tools. One overarching thematic thread weaves throughout these findings-affect-and the original concept internal sensibility is introduced and exemplified.These findings have significance for practice, theory, and research. Among other contributions, they supply an understanding of public information institutions' roles in promoting serious-level creative projects, an empirically grounded update to the existing everyday life information practices model that accounts for creating, and suggestions for refining the current findings through research with other creative groups. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: Video Technology, Grounded Theory, Constructivism (Learning), Life Style, Interpersonal Attraction, Web Sites, Creativity, Clothing, Interpersonal Relationship, Interior Design, Leisure Time, Career Development
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A