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A YouTube history of a YouTube historian—a thread.
I only got around to making the first Sleeper Hit History last summer when I was a restless PhD candidate stuck at home (which, for the record, I still am).
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I only got around to making the first Sleeper Hit History last summer when I was a restless PhD candidate stuck at home (which, for the record, I still am).
1/11
But I actually started making YouTube history videos WAAAAAY back in 2008 when Youtube was still quite new.
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2/11
It was so early on that I was actually posting these videos on MySpace at the same time.
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3/11
Now, obviously these are absurdly embarrassing. So thank you for not watching them. But it shows that even before I could make videos well or really knew anything about history, I was already drawn to the notion of YouTube history videos.
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4/11
That year I went to broadcasting school with the vague idea of making documentaries. I learned to make videos better but still didn't know much about history. (Yes, I had an idea about making a Beverely Hillbillies style series about the Bonapartes).
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5/11
Then in 2011 I started my BA and the long work of studying history. I made a few more videos, but the demands of school (and later parenting) meant they were fewer and farther between.
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I finished my MA in 2016 and started the PhD in 2017. Wrote comps in November 2019. Wrote a dissertation proposal. Planned a research trip to @SchomburgCenter in NYC for March 2020. Then, to quote @HamiltonMusical, the world turned upside down.
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7/11
Home. Always home. No trips to New York. No Aix-en-Provence. That's when I realized I was sitting on an MA thesis and numerous term papers worth of research: Why not get back to my roots?
That, folks, is the history of Sleeper Hit History.
8/11
That, folks, is the history of Sleeper Hit History.
8/11
Now they've been added to university syllabi ( @DrSepinwall, @JohannaMellis, @neilldj)—we're learning online, after all—shared on academic forums ( @hnethaiti) and I've been asked to write them up as articles for popular websites ( @africasacountry)
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9/11
I don't want to get ahead of myself here, and I still have a dissertation to write, but I'm kind of considering ditching the professor path and making a go of this public-facing academic idea.
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10/11
So. Let me know your thoughts on Alt-Ac, and this type of academic media stuff. Could be an idea.
Also, I'd be happy to collaborate with anyone who wants to produce accessible video adaptations of their research for the public good.
Oh, and keep learning.
11/11
Also, I'd be happy to collaborate with anyone who wants to produce accessible video adaptations of their research for the public good.
Oh, and keep learning.
11/11
PS: With all that spare time, I also made a rock n' roll children's album last year.
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