WhoseTube?Nick Douglas takes readers' questions about the impact of YouTube.

Slate contributor Nick Douglas was online at Washingtonpost.com on Thursday, July 19 to discuss the impact of YouTube and the world of online video. An unedited transcript of the chat follows.

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And how will the content evolve?

Nick Douglas: I have no idea what they'll do, but here's what I hope they do: More fine-tuned controls for creators, more customizable creator pages, more of the community-driven features of Vimeo, and less emphasis on "most viewed" videos.

I expect we'll just see a smoother interface; the YouTube embed interface has turned into a stupendously useful little menu. It's pretty much a "widget." The site still looks ugly as sin, and while I'd like to see that change, I'm not holding my breath.

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Champaign, Ill.: Given the growing political and cultural power of online shared video, do you recommend educational measures to ensure literacy and informed citizenship in this medium? Should I be teaching "millenial" students how to create 30 second videos as much as the 10 page paper?

Nick Douglas: Yes.

The 30-second spot is a viable art form. (Remember that my beef with YouTube's format isn't that it encourages so many people to make such short and punchy spots, but that that's the ONLY thing it seems to encourage.) Some of the most powerful art of the modern age is advertising. It expresses a message in a memorable and often emotional, even spiritual way.

Moving the 30-second spot to a less commercial sphere allows artists to exploit the advantages of this form for higher (or just less mercenary) purposes.

At the same time, let's not stop writing 10-page papers and shooting 90-minute films.

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Larry King:

The documentary you referred to is "Spin" by Brian Springer. You can watch it at Google Video here.

Nick Douglas: Thank you!

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Nick Douglas: We can take more questions.

Regarding the careless manner in which most online video is created: There seems to be a dearth of online film schools. The creators of "Four Eyed Monsters" (at http://foureyedmonsters.com I believe) have written some good lessons in filmmaking, but why haven't we seen a video series explaining how to use a camcorder for something more than "Funny noises and faces I can make"?

(Incidentally, there is a video called "Funny noises and faces I can make," and its creator HAS done more sophisticated work.)

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Sacramento, Calif.: I'm sort of confused about how they censure things. I understand that they take porn out, but some of the older music videos and things have stuff that's pretty close to porn. Do you see them cracking down harder in the future? How do they decide how to censure stuff?

Nick Douglas: I'd guess that anything showing, well, a nipple or genitalia is considered pornographic. Nudity is explicitly forbidden in YouTube's terms of service. One reason for this rule is that hosting nudity may require the site to maintain hard-copy forms verifying the ages of anyone who appears nude. That's a headache that no one wants to deal with unless nudity is their core business.

The relevant law, USC 2257, is controversial because (it seems to those of us who opose it) it places the burden of proof on a publisher who may have no direct contact with the nude model.

As for "pretty close to porn," well, it's not porn, even if it's corrupting the minds of our yadda yadda yadda.

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Cologne, North Rhein Westphalia: Am I being impertinent to say what a mistake it is that I am reading an article about YouTube and you have no link to this site?

Nick Douglas: You're right, they could use the traffic.

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Los Angeles, Calif.: I want to know how the creator of YouTube get the idea and get enough servers to host it?

Nick Douglas: The idea, say the founders, came when they tried to send a video to a relative. This is how most ideas come about, at least if you listen to founders. Since they were young guys, porn was probably also discussed in that first bull session, but they had to pick that or sending videos to Grandma, and you know which one's more likely to get money from conservative venture capitalists.

As for the servers, I seem to remember YouTube being down frequently in its early stage. That happens to pretty much every web service before (and sometimes after) it gets bought by a company with generous resources.

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