Ryeberg.com publishes essays about YouTube videos (or videos from any other video-sharing site), curated by artists, writers and thinkers. We say that each of these individual essays is a “curated video.”

video clip/s + written text = a curated video

This makes Ryeberg Curated Video an “online magazine” but with an important difference: essays published always include video clips, either as a starting point or as lyrical counterpoint to the text.

What’s the purpose of Ryeberg?

Watching and sharing video clips has become a routine part of our lives, and it’s time we had a site dedicated to making sense of it all. Ryeberg believes that online video can be the source of compelling questions and useful discussion, but that it doesn’t speak for itself.

The purpose of Ryeberg is to make good use of some of the video content pouring through cyberspace, and to surround it with intelligent, convivial discourse.

Websites that organize and present the most interesting internet videos already exist. How is Ryeberg any different?

Ryeberg believes that the way videos are framed and presented shapes their meaning and our experience of them. Sites like TheDailyTube and the wonderful Frequency understand this, and do a good job at showcasing the best videos from YouTube and other popular video-sharing websites.

Ryeberg operates in a different way. Video clips are organized, not by category or rank, but by the unique critical apparatus of Ryeberg curators. In other words, the organizing principle of the website is the curators themselves. Their enthusiasms and interests dictate what videos appear, just as their commentary shapes how we see those videos.

The diversity of Ryeberg curators means that the site offers no particular bias, no final word, and no totalizing discourse. Ryeberg is a kind of disjointed collaboration, but one that encourages friendly and meaningful exchange.

OK, but video hosting sites like YouTube already have text comment sections. Why do we need Ryeberg?

The commentary sections on video-sharing sites tend to fall short of the task that Ryeberg seeks to accomplish, and this is not only because of word limits.

Ryeberg refers to its contributors as “curators” for a reason—to suggest that they are dealing with video clips in much the same way a gallery curator deals with works of art: Ryeberg curators select from the vast, disordered warehouses of video-sharing sites, then interpret and present their videos in a way that best serves their perspectives and purposes.

A curated video—the end product in this process—is neither wholly video nor wholly text. In a sense, it is a genre unto itself, defined by its two indivisible, organic parts: video and text.

I still don’t quite get it. Tell me more.

Perhaps you should have a look at RYEBERG SPEAKS, the website blog. You could also check out this nicely written article which appeared in The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national paper, during Ryeberg’s third week online.

Why is the website called “Ryeberg”?

“Ryberg” was the maiden name of Erik Rutherford’s Swedish grandmother. Her father was Rudolf Ryberg, so the site is a variation on the good man’s good name. Erik Rutherford is the creator of Ryeberg.com, and its Editor-in-Chief.

Rudolf Ryberg (1896-1981)

How does one become a Ryeberg Curator?

Ryeberg Curators are invited by Ryeberg to curate for the site. However, if you think this kind of curatorial work is for you, click on the Ryeberg button.