Britain’s Victoria and Albert Museum displays first-ever YouTube video and watch page
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Museum curators worked with YouTube to rebuild the design and experience of the original watch page, using internet archives from Dec 8, 2006 – the oldest available.
PHOTO: V&A MUSEUM
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in Britain has acquired and put on display the reconstruction of an early YouTube videos page, showcasing the platform’s first-ever video uploaded more than 20 years ago.
Museum curators worked with YouTube to rebuild the design and experience of the original watch page, using internet archives from Dec 8, 2006 – the oldest version available.
Within the page is the 19-second video clip entitled “Me at the zoo”, which shows YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim, then 25 years old, at the San Diego Zoo talking about elephants.
It has been viewed nearly 380 million times and received more than 18 million likes since the video was first posted to the video-sharing platform on April 23, 2005.
Both the watch page and video are currently shown in the Design 1900-Now gallery at the V&A South Kensington site in London, while the reconstruction process is shown at a mini display at V&A East Storehouse.
“Visitors will be able to see a recording of the YouTube page playing ‘Me at the zoo’ as they would have done 20 years ago,” the museum said in a Feb 18 statement.
Filmed on a low-resolution digital camera, the clip is widely considered a foundational moment in the rise of user-generated content, enabling new modes of public self-expression and changes to how media is created and consumed.
The videos page, meanwhile, marked an early example of user interface design conventions, such as badges, rating buttons, sharing and recommendation features – attributes that continue to shape the internet today.
YouTube chief executive officer Neal Mohan said: “By reconstructing an early watch page, we aren’t just showing a video; we are inviting the public to step back in time to the beginning of a global, cultural phenomenon.”
Ms Corinna Gardner, V&A senior curator of design and digital, said the snapshot of YouTube during the early days of Web 2.0 marked an important moment in the history of the internet and digital design.
“The acquisition opens new storytelling opportunities for us to showcase and explore the ways in which the internet has shaped our world, from the birth of mainstream video-sharing platforms through to today’s hyper-visual world and the media and creator economy that go with it.”
The clip “Me at the zoo” is said to be YouTube’s first-ever uploaded video and shows the platform’s co-founder Jawed Karim, then 25, at the San Diego Zoo talking about elephants.
PHOTO: V&A MUSEUM
This is not the first time the V&A has acquired digital designs. Previous digital acquisitions include WeChat, mobile game Flappy Bird, the Euki app and the design for the mosquito emoji.
Founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the V&A is the world’s largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of more than 2.8 million objects.
