The Victoria and Albert Museum Acquires an Early YouTube Watch Page
The London institution preserves the platform’s 2006 web design and the historic “Me at the zoo” upload.
Summary
- The Victoria and Albert Museum has officially acquired an early YouTube watch page and the platform’s first uploaded video
- The digital acquisition captures the internet’s transition into Web 2.0 and the rise of user-generated multimedia content
- Curators utilized open-source emulators to reconstruct the original 2006 code and bypass modern technological obsolescence
The Victoria and Albert Museum has officially acquired an early YouTube watch page and the platform’s first-ever video, “Me at the zoo.”
Captured originally by the Internet Archive on December 8, 2006, the acquisition preserves a pivotal moment in web design and digital history. The digital artifact consists of three main components: the front-end code of the watch page, the video file for “Me at the zoo” which was initially uploaded on April 23, 2005, and a selection of banner advertisements from the era. Showcasing the lightweight and functional aesthetic of the mid-2000s, the 2006 layout features the video player and comments in a large left column, flanked by related and suggested videos on the right.
To bring the dormant web page back to life, the museum collaborated with YouTube’s User Experience team and interaction design studio oio. The primary challenge involved bypassing the technological obsolescence of the original custom video player, which was built to run on the now-defunct Adobe Flash Player. Utilizing the open-source Flash emulator Ruffle, the team successfully restored the platform’s early functionality. This rigorous reconstruction process, complete with documented code modifications, ensures that a foundational piece of the modern creator economy is preserved and operational in perpetuity.
