Basic Research on Topic 6.

6. Identify a figure who is generally known to have played a major role on the internet. Evaluate if his/her contributions are justified or mythologized. 

In topic 6, I did research about the founder/inventor of Youtube, which is Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim. Before I start, I will write a little bit introduction about 3 of them.

First, Steve Chen, Chen is the Chief Technology Officer at Youtube. He was born in Taiwan and immgrated to United States when he was 15. After he graduated from University of Illinois, he started worked in PayPal, and that is where he met his co-inventors and co-founder Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim.

Next, Chad Hurley, the former CEO and co-founder of YouTube. Hurley was majoring Fine Art in Degree at University of Pennylvania. After he graduated, he worked in PayPal and met Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. Based on Mary Bellis, Hurley “considered a whiz at user interface design.” (Bellis, M, 2016) Hurley also designed Paypal’s trademark logo.

Then, Jawed Karim, Karim is the elusive one between Chen and Hurley. He practiced an advanced degree at Standford University. Based on FrostSnow, Karim is the first person who uploaded a video on YouTube and it called “Me at The Zoo”. Other then that, in the website, aboutmoney, Bellis wrote “According to Jawed Karim the inspiration for YouTube came from the halftime faux pas committed by Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, when Janet’s breast was accidently exposed. Karim could not easily find that video clip online and then a few others.” (Bellis. M, 2016)

In 2005, Chen, Hurley and Karim co-launched YouTube, the video sharing website. In 2006, YouTube also bought by Google for 1.64 billion in stock and 3 of them was in the list of “The 50 People People Who Matter Now” by Business 2.0 magazine in 2006.

I found it is quite interesting to know about the history of Youtube. Although this is still not deep into the topic yet, but I think I’ll keep on my research on this topic.

Bellis, M, (2016) Who Invented YouTube? [online] Available at http://inventors.about.com/od/ijstartinventors/p/Steve-Jobs.htm (Accessed on 8 Dec 2016)

Bio. (n.d.) Steve Chen Biography. [online] Available at http://www.biography.com/people/steve-chen-201191#synopsis (Accessed on 9 Dec 2016)

Bio. (n.d.) Chad Hurley Biography. [online] Available at http://www.biography.com/people/chad-hurley-201192#synopsis (Accessed on 9 Dec 2016)

FrostSnow (2016) Jawed Karim Biography. [online] Available at http://frostsnow.com/jawed-karim (Accessed on 9 Dec 2016)