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2h ago

V&A Unveils Reconstructed 2006 YouTube Watch Page With Platform’s First Video

Built from an Internet Archive snapshot, the display preserves the early code, Flash-era player, the video file and period ads.

YouTube, as it appeared on 8 December 2006
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A woman sits in a museum looking at a picture frame with Jawed in 'Me at the zoo.'

Overview

  • The acquisition is on view from February 18 in the Design 1900–Now gallery at V&A South Kensington, with a mini display on the rebuild at V&A East Storehouse.
  • The reconstruction recreates the late‑2006 “watch” experience using the December 8, 2006 snapshot and an 18‑month conservation effort that now emulates Flash via the open‑source Ruffle project.
  • The V&A worked with YouTube’s User Experience team and interaction studio oio to rebuild the interface and ensure provenance of materials.
  • The museum formalized the acquisition as three components: the original front‑end code and player from December 2006, the ‘Me at the zoo’ video file, and YouTube ads from December 2006 to January 2007.
  • ‘Me at the zoo,’ a 19‑second clip uploaded by co‑founder Jawed Karim on April 23, 2005, has accrued roughly 382 million views and over 18 million likes.