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Dems Flock to YouTube to Support Obama
This week at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, delegates, party leaders, celebrities, and voters from every state in the nation gathered to officially nominate their candidate for President. YouTube, an official partner with the Convention, was on the scene with an upload booth that captured the thoughts of hundreds of diverse and enthusiastic Democrats. There was the woman who sang an ode to Barack Obama, a couple of Alaskan fisherwomen who applauded his efforts to protect our natural resources, and military veterans who gave their own reasons for supporting Obama. Here's a full set of highlights from the "I nominate Barack Obama because…" series:



In addition, party and political leaders – among them Governor Mark Warner, Senator Harry Reid, Governor Bill Richardson, Governor Brian Schweitzer, Mayor Gavin Newsom, and Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin – and celebrities like John Legend, Charles Barkley, and Louis Gossett Jr. took the opportunity to speak directly to the YouTube community and/or to talk about why they are nominating Obama. Their videos, and a whole lot more, including Senator Obama's acceptance speech, are available on the DNCC's YouTube channel.

Stay tuned next week as we head to Minneapolis/St. Paul to catch all of the proceedings on the Republican side and to hear why that Convention's attendees feel equally excited about their candidate, Senator John McCain.



Yours,
Steve G.
YouTube News & Politics

New Captions Feature For Videos
Here at YouTube, we're always trying to find new ways to enrich your viewing experience and to help video creators reach a wider audience. As part of this goal, we've added a new captioning feature which allows you to give viewers a deeper understanding of your video. Captions can help people who would not otherwise understand the audio track to follow along, especially those who speak other languages or who are deaf and hard of hearing.

You can add captions to one of your videos by uploading a closed caption file using the "Captions and Subtitles" menu on the editing page. To add several captions to a video, simply upload multiple files. If you want to include foreign subtitles in multiple languages, upload a separate file for each language. There are over 120 languages to choose from and you can add any title you want for each caption. If a video includes captions, you can activate them by clicking the menu button located on the bottom right of the video player. Clicking this button will also allow viewers to choose which captions they want to see.

Some of our partners have already started using captions to offer you a better understanding of their videos (even with the audio turned off):

- BBC Worldwide: captions are provided in five different languages on this clip from Top Gear.
- CNET: tech product reviews from CNET's Crave blog.
- UC Berkeley: footage from the Opencast Project Open House.
- MIT: full lectures on subjects like Physics.
- Gonzodoga: English subtitles on this awesome Japanese animation.

We hope captions will serve to tighten the YouTube community by bringing together international users from different cultures.
We're excited to see what kinds of fun and creative uses for captions you'll be coming up with for your videos!

For more information about how to use captions, visit this page.
The YouTube Team

Announcing the Winner of the People/YouTube Red Carpet Reporter Contest...
Did you vote? The time to find out who won has finally arrived.

We challenged you to show off your celebrity reporting skills, and after two rounds of voting for your favorite microphone-toting reporter, we're pleased to announce a winner. Congratulations to Chescaleigh, who will be joining People.com's Michelle Beadle on the red carpet at a major awards ceremony in Los Angeles this September. As your official Red Carpet Reporter, Chescaleigh will have the opportunity to interview some of TV's biggest celebs as they strut their stuff before the big show. Check out Michelle Beadle's announcement video here:



Chescaleigh's trip to L.A. comes complete with a makeover from Revlon and invites to some of the hottest parties in town. You can catch her exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes footage on the Red Carpet Reporter channel next month.

Well done, Chescaleigh, and special thanks to everyone else who entered or voted.

Cheers,
The YouTube Team

Trendspotting Tuesday: Unusual Art
With the outlandish Burning Man festival taking place this weekend, TrendspottingTuesday takes a wide-eyed look at the world of unusual art.

You don't need a Burning Man-style art car to take a tour through this gallery of unconventional materials and quirky ideas. All it takes is a few mouse clicks to witness delicate, water-based calligraphy on the streets of Beijing, fuzzy felt art in New York or a burbling balloon installation in London.

If art is food for thought, our collection of unusual arts and crafts includes some raw materials that are more commonly thought of as, well, food. Though you wouldn't want to swallow bubblegum, have you ever considered sculpting with it? And if you enjoy your cheese sliced, how do you feel about a whopping 1,200 pounds of it, expertly carved? These are all questions you can ponder while watching a butter sculpture meltdown. Here's the full playlist:



All the best,

The YouTube Team

The Democratic National Convention on YouTube
Today in Denver, the Democratic National Convention begins! Thousands of delegates, super delegates, party leaders, media, and political tourists have descended upon this Colorado city for four days of non-stop celebration. Here on YouTube, you can join them.

Visit our Convention Headquarters at www.youtube.com/2008conventions for all the latest video from the Convention floor, in addition to behind-the-scenes footage from party leaders and videos uploaded straight from the Convention by delegates. We'll also have upload booths set up around the Pepsi Center and Convention Hall, not to mention in the the Big Tent, where all the bloggers will congregate for the week. Video will be pouring in from these locations and hundreds of others...and we'll do our best to stay on top of it all on our Convention channel.

Be sure to look out for Rich Peters, the winner of our Democratic Convention contest, who will be reporting all week on the proceedings. He even wants to know you if you have questions you'd like him to pass along to those he meets in Denver.



Every Convention has had its signature moments (like Senator Obama's 2004 speech in Boston), so watch out for this year's defining occurrences and rising stars on YouTube. In fact, check www.youtube.com/2008conventions often for the kind of coverage you won't find anywhere else.

Yours,

Steve G.
YouTube News & Politics