ABSTRACT
From technical animations to video blogs, girls are contributing an impressive kaleidoscope of videos to YouTube. This chapter describes the experiences of girls who exhibited “geeked out” or technical identities that developed from manipulating computers, cameras, and editing tools to create personally expressive videos. It focuses on girls’ technological self-perceptions and techno-cultural affiliations. Those who self-identified as technically proficient often performed an affiliation not only to the act of making videos but also to particular technology-related cultural beliefs, such as learning on one’s own, and supporting a historically situated Internet value of protecting free speech, even when YouTube yielded contentious and hurtful commentary on girl’s videos.
