The Victoria and Albert museum's digital conservation team has reconstructed the inaugural YouTube watch page from 2005 showing the 19-second clip 'Me at the zoo'.
There are seemingly endless video clips available to watch on YouTube but have you ever wondered where it all began?
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London's Victoria and Albert museum is now offering visitors a chance to look back at those arguably simpler times thanks to a new landmark display which captures the birth of the video streaming site.
The museum has acquired a reconstruction of an early YouTube watch page, featuring the first video ever uploaded to the site: Jawed Karim’s Me at the zoo. Visitors will be able to see a recording of the YouTube page as they would have 20-years ago, but without the harmonious electronic dial-up modem sounds.
It's part of the Design 1900-Now gallery at V&A South Kensington which explores how design reflects and shapes the way we live, work, travel and communicate.
Reconstruction process
The video shows then 25-year-old YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim talking about elephants.
Filmed on a low-resolution digital camera, it's 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 19-second clip has been viewed nearly 380 million times and received over 18 million likes since it was originally posted to the platform on 23 April 2005.
Over the past 18 months, the V&A’s curators and digital conservation team worked with YouTube’s User Experience team and interaction design studio, oio, to rebuild the design and experience of the platform from 8 December 2006 – the oldest timestamp documented online via The Internet Archive, a non-profit that oversees the history of the internet.
Corinna Gardner, Senior Curator of Design and Digital, V&A, said: "This snapshot of YouTube during the early days of web 2.0 marks an important moment in 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.”
This process of reconstruction will also be explored in a mini display at V&A East Storehouse.
Neal Mohan, YouTube CEO, said: “It's wonderful to see "Me at the Zoo" join the Victoria & Albert Museum's collection. What started as a simple 19-second moment of self-expression became a new way for people to share their stories with the world. 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. It is a proud moment to see this piece of digital history housed in the V&A where we hope it will inspire generations to come.”
