Don’t despair: there are people who need you right now and there are easy ways you can help. Spoiler alert: put away your solidarity hijabs and safety pins. Watch the 5-minute video here.
I’m not crying you’re crying 💗
#NoMoreCraptions
On September 25th, 2016, I want to launch #NoMoreCraptions.
What is #NoMoreCraptions, you may ask? It’s a campaign that I want to start to make people aware of the lack of proper closed captioning on YouTube.
As you know, I have been working for almost two years to make YouTubers aware of closed captioning for their deaf audience. I have been somewhat successful, but I’m not clearly as close as I want to be. That is because I cannot do this by myself. There are too many people on this earth. I am one person in a world of seven billion. I can only make so many “caption your videos!” videos. Every channel has a different audience consisting of different people. In order to reach out to everyone, I need everyone’s help.
I have only one rule for this video: the video must be captioned, obviously. The video must be captioned before you make it public.
I want the videos to cover these topics:
- Introduce the campaign and what it is
- What closed captioning is
- Why it’s important (d/Deaf/HOH people, people with auditory processing disorder, for people learning other languages, etc)
- What auto c®aptions really are and why they don’t work
- How it benefits creators (captions get translated into subtitles, brings it more viewers/subscribers)
- How to caption (you can refer them to my 3 Ways To Caption video or tell them to Google, lol)
- Note that if creators choose to go the fan contribution route, they NEED to look over the submissions before publishing. Caption with jokes and unnecessary commentary are not real captions and should not be published.
- Anything else you can think of that would be worth noting.
I want to emphasize that I would really like to see these videos go up on Sunday, September 25th. Why? While September is fully dedicated to deaf awareness, there is one day dedicated to the cause: the last Sunday of September. So, for 2016, that’s the 25th.
Please, please, please, if you can get anybody you know on board with this, please send them this post. I want as many people involved as possible. My mission is to make this a huge thing. I want this to make this as big as possible in just one day.
When the day arrives, I will make a #NoMoreCraptions playlist on my YouTube channel so all the videos will be in one place.
If you have any questions, feel free to message me! I will reblog in about two weeks and then another a week after that with reminders to get your videos finished and ready to go.
Can people who don’t make videos (but who watch them!) write blog posts or something instead?
Yes!
If you hadn’t heard about this, you are not in the minority. *I* hadn’t heard about this. It’s not being covered or talked about at all, aside from by individuals in disabled communities. This is a horrific hate crime and Annie’s response to ableism and activists’ lack of attention to disability issues is so incredibly eloquent, powerful, and necessary. If you are a fellow marginalized person or an ally in general, you need to be sharing the hell out of this.
The #FemTube Website is now live!
Welcome to the beginning: the FemTube website! Explore, enjoy, and tell me your thoughts!
Want to participate in the one-year anniversary of #FemTube? Here’s your chance: the #YouTubeGirls Tag!
This is an idea that came out of the group @thegeekyblonde and I were in during @rowanellis ‘s Creator Workshop at VidCon!
Our goal is to help current and aspiring creators by sharing our YouTube techniques, and no longer keeping the helpful tips secret. We want you to participate! This video details how to create and submit your tag video for the FemTube one-year anniversary playlist. Looking forward to your submissions! <3
PETITION TO ADVERTISERS TO STOP SUPPORTING BUZZFEED VIDEO
ATTN BUZZFEED ADVERTISERS:
As an internet native, a successful YouTube creator, a “millennial,” and your target demographic, I understand why you’d throw a large marketing budget into BuzzFeed’s Video initiatives. Their videos get millions of views and because of their low production value, are easy to turn around on a tight timeframe. I get it. It seems worth the investment.
But BuzzFeed has been caught repeatedly stealing ideas, jokes, bits, gags, and therefore money from prominent YouTube creators. And we’ve all had enough. It’s time to#StopBuzzThieves
See for example:
“Will It Waffle?” vs. BuzzFeed’s “Can You Waffle It?” In what is a blatant rip off, BuzzFeed takes from established blog-turned-book “Will It Waffle?” The premise is straightforward
It’s Akilah Obviously’s “How Black People Feel About” vs. BuzzFeed’s “Ask An Asian” In 2013 I created a short series called, “How Do Black People Feel About?” Where I’d answer user submitted questions on behalf of my entire race as a joke. In 2015, BuzzFeed had the same idea.
TigerTomato’s entire channel vs. BuzzFeed’s “Artists try pancake art sponsored by Holiday Inn Express” I’m not an intellectual property lawyer, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night and I found it really shameful that any part of a marketing budget was allocated to BuzzFeed to steal an idea that TigerTomato could have improved upon for less money.
Cut.com’s “100 Years of Beauty” vs. BuzzFeed’s “100 Years of” series These ideas are the same down tho the simplistic background choice and caption style. In the past few years BuzzFeed has hoped to acquire Cut.com but they chose to remain independent. There’s no question of how they were inspired to create this series. There’s also no credit given.
It’s Akilah Obviously’s “How to Be an Introvert” vs. BuzzFeed’s “A Perfect Weekend for Introverts” While content about introversion is overwhelmingly prevalent on the internet today, sketch content about it is surprisingly bare. Imagine my surprise, then, when beyond an identical thumbnail came a video shot sequence that was identical to my work.
This isn’t parody. This isn’t homage. This isn’t a coincidence. This is a deliberate initiative on BuzzFeed’s behalf to undermine the hard work of independent comedians, creators, and innovators in the online space.
Beyond the obvious cut-and-paste of BuzzFeed lies a deeper issue; They are making millions of dollars from corporations like yours who aren’t well-versed enough to know that their work is fraudulent, and pumping it into their company–not even into the hands of their own creators.
Prominent black YouTuber Kat Blaque described a time when she and other LA LGBTQ creators were emailed and asked to help brainstorm ideas for BuzzFeed Video without compensation for their time and input.
“Then a few people chimed into the email chain and I couldn’t help but agree. One person asked “Are we going to be compensated for our time?” and went into depth about how often trans people work for free or very little and create these things that are profitable for cis consumption, but are never able to see compensation. This is a perpetuation of the oppression that marginalized minorities face and when you factor in Buzzfeed as an idea, it creates a situation where as a person with a voice that’s hardly heard, you feel as though you should be thankful for even having the chance. So you’re willing to work for very little or for free and who gets paid for your story at the end of the day? Cis white men. So who cares if you needed to pay rent or afford your medications for the month. Ultimately, you should be thankful for the chance and continue to work for free. When pressed on this, the trans guy in question said thatBuzzfeed “simply didn’t have the budget” for consultants. In response, a fellow trans consultant said that “being able to work for free was a privilege”.
BuzzFeed’s choice to infringe upon the intellectual property of those more innovative has negative implications for culture as a whole. We aren’t living in the golden age of television because people are good at copying video content and putting blonde hair on it. It’s because more and more voices are being heard. And with Facebook announcing that its algorithm will begin prioritizing the posts of family and friends over those of brands and fan pages–there’s no better time to invest your budget into individuals with talent, taste, and ability.
Young people shouldn’t have to work for cheap, or for free, or have their videos stolen for the sake of BuzzFeed’s creatively bankrupt scheme. No one should have to work for exposure. People die of exposure.
Don’t you think your millions of dollars would be better spent on original content from young creators with audiences and potential on YouTube? Do you know how much more of a return you’d get on your investment if you paid 50 top creators $20,000 instead of throwing a blind million at the untalented, underpaid staff at BuzzFeed Motion Pictures?
Suggestions for how to spend all that money you saved when you stopped supporting the predatory content thieves that comprise BuzzFeed Motion Pictures: Worried it’ll be too hard to find qualified content creators to rep your company? Try partnering with YouTube and talent agencies for access to qualified independent creators. Going directly to creators incentivizes media giants like CAA, UTA, ICM, etc., to sign digital talent and protect them with legal teams that can review contracts and ensure that their ideas are protected and compensated. If you want our brand loyalty, you need to be loyal to us. By continuing to support BuzzFeed video, you are complicit in the repeated, egregious theft of hundreds of millennials’ intellectual property. Consider this our collective cease and desist letter to BuzzFeed’s video department. We’re not going to cower because of the size or reach of BuzzFeed. We refuse to let their creatively bankrupt business model become the new status quo. The era of BuzzFeed thriving on the backs of uncompensated, young talent is over.
Want to be featured on the upcoming FemTube website?
Hey, friends! I am in the process of creating a website dedicated to FemTube, and am looking for artists for our merch section!
Are you an artist? Do you make music, art, poetry, zines, anything or everything in between? Do you want to be part of a website dedicated to representation for females and underrepresented individuals online?
Then slide into my DMs! I want to feature your work on our website!
Here’s a longer post and a GoFundMe page about my liver/lyme problems and treatment. Please reblog and give if you can. Any amount helps.
alongside my favorite ladies in the May 2016 issue of Glamour magazine
thisisnotHolly
You are aware thisisnotHolly is agender correct?
I am! They were still identifying as female on YT when I featured them 3 years ago. I didn’t realize they were still on the list of women posted – I do try to remove people from that if they come out as a different gender.
If anyone notices anyone else on the list who maybe wouldn’t want to be anymore, let me know! I try to keep track of it all, but sometimes stuff slips past me.
hannahwitton-deactivated2020072
HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY! Here are 10 small female youtubers you should watch! Go and subscribe to them ALL!
Black History Month -- Support Black YouTube Creators.
It is well-documented that Black people face bias on a consistent level in all fields. YouTube is no different. And a lot of this has to do with YouTube FANS succumbing to their own subconscious biases and only subscribing to people who look like them.
Tumblr has a strong Black community that is supportive of #BlackExcellence, #BlackGirlMagic, #BlackLivesMatter, #BlackoutDay etc., and it is free and takes just SECONDS to subscribe to a YouTube channel. You want to support Black businesses? Support Black YouTubers. That shit is a job. It takes hours/days to edit and promote a 3 minute video. There are tons of great channels of all races and ethnicities and genders and sexuality, but if we can have a moment of honesty, mediocre white channels still can experience explosive growth where that is simply not possible for Black channels–until now.
I’m imploring you (regardless of race) to SHARE this post and SUBSCRIBE to every channel therein. You don’t necessarily have to like or watch any of their videos, but you probably will and that’s great! But know that BRAND DEALS (read: THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS) go to creators with high subscriber counts, and we as a group have been disadvantaged since the beginning of the platform.
You lose NOTHING by subscribing to the channels here, but you will be making it possible for hundreds of talented (or at least relatively driven) Black creators to be seen by brands that are only looking at numbers. Help even the playing field!
THE ASK
I’m going to list some Black YouTube channels.
REBLOG THIS AND ADD HOWEVER MANY BLACK CHANNELS YOU CAN THINK OF
–avoiding repetition if possible. If you can’t think of any, LIKE THIS POST, AND SPEND 10 MINUTES SUBSCRIBING TO THEIR CHANNELS. We aren’t powerless. We never have been. Sometimes it just takes deliberate action to make things fair.
SUBSCRIBE TO:
+ R E B L O G + L I K E + S U P P O R T B L A C K C R E A T O R S +
the “should we wear “feminist” labeled clothes video is here! tell me what you think in the comments!
What questions and topics do you want addressed during the Disabilities on YouTube Panels at VidCon?
I am working on my panel outlines, and I want to know from community members what you want addressed, answered, and/or discussed during such a public forum. Either reply to this or send me an ask. | Original video
Reblogs are appreciated!
Hey folks, would you mind giving this a boost? Thank you! @foundhergrail @thegeekyblonde @chescaleigh @marinashutup