Online-Memes

This article maps some key patterns associated with how internet memes are conceived and how online meme practices have evolved and morphed during the period from 2000 to the present. We document the rise of internet memes during their early years as a broadly communitarian cultural engagement, mostly characterized by goodwill, humor, and an often “nerdish” sense of shared cultural identity. With the massification of internet access and participation in online social practices employing Web 2.0 and mobile computing capacities, changes occurred in how internet memes were conceived and created (e.g., image macro-generators). Since around 2012, many online meme practices have become intensely politicized and increasingly used for socially divisive and, often, cruel purposes. We explore some of these shifts and argue that what we call “second wave” online memes have been used as weapons in personal, political, and socialcultural wars. We conclude that internet memes scholarship would benefit from revisiting the original conception and theory of memes advanced by Richard Dawkins, and attending closely to what motivated Dawkins in this work.

There is a lot of people that viewed memes and found them funny and entertaining, but not all people find it funny, the view it as negative, inappropriate, offensive, insulting, annoying, etc. The focus of this study is to gain new knowledge whether the attitudes of students on memes that contain sensitive content is disturbing for them or not because there has been issues about the memes posted on social media that may contain sensitive content for others. In other words, the goal of this study is to know the attitude or behavior and the reactions of the senior high school students towards memes and how they view it. Three questions are set to guide the researchers and ought to answer later on. First, what is the level of awareness of Silliman University Grade 12 STEAM Senior High School students on memes with sensitive content. Second, what would be the possible effects on a person after viewing memes with sensitive content. Lastly, if there is a significant difference of awareness of students towards memes in terms of sex. The data was gathered through an online survey. Based on the data gathered, the researches have safely assumed that the students had an average knowledge of awareness from the harmful content that memes contained. There was no significant difference of awareness in based on sex of an individual. Students have considered memes as somewhat positive and negative at the same time. Nevertheless, citizens of the net should be responsible in utilizing social media.

This paper aims to discuss the growing and dominant online phenomenon – internet meme by doing a bibliographic review of related theoretical and empirical research. This paper presents the review of recent literature (2005-2017) from various journals, magazine articles, and book sections. It also argues for meme literacy to be included in the limited traditional digital literacy definition and considered as an essential locus for cultural, civic and political participation for children and youth.

This article maps some key patterns associated with how internet memes are conceived and how online meme practices have evolved and morphed during the period from 2000 to the present. We document the rise of internet memes during their early years as a broadly communitarian cultural engagement, mostly characterized by goodwill, humor, and an often “nerdish” sense of shared cultural identity. With the massification of internet access and participation in online social practices employing Web 2.0 and mobile computing capacities, changes occurred in how internet memes were conceived and created (e.g., image macro-generators). Since around 2012, many online meme practices have become intensely politicized and increasingly used for socially divisive and, often, cruel purposes. We explore some of these shifts and argue that what we call “second wave” online memes have been used as weapons in personal, political, and socialcultural wars. We conclude that internet memes scholarship would benefit from revisiting the original conception and theory of memes advanced by Richard Dawkins, and attending closely to what motivated Dawkins in this work.

Esta investigación fue relevante en el área de las comunicaciones porque los memes son una forma de interpretación de la realidad en la cual “el meme puede aludir a un referente más o menos concreto, y cuando es reconocido por los participantes en el acto comunicativo, efectivamente posibilita la puesta en común” (Pérez, Aguilar y Archilla, 2014, p.83). El problema de investigación partió a raíz de la masificación de los memes, y su proyección en los jóvenes, donde se investigó cómo “los usuarios se apropian de ellos y ‘remezclan’ para adaptarlos a su entorno y necesidades de comunicación” (Gómez, 2014, p.4). Según Vélez “no se necesita ser un profesional del área de las comunicaciones o lingüística para entenderlos [memes]” (Vélez, 2015, p.130).
Ahora bien, ¿Por qué fue relevante estudiar o investigar este tema? ¿Qué aporta al área de las comunicaciones? Para responder lo anterior fue necesario observar a los memes como una forma de interpretación de la realidad. Ya que “el meme puede aludir a un referente más o menos concreto, y cuando es reconocido por los participantes en el acto comunicativo, efectivamente posibilita la puesta en común” (Pérez, Gabriel; Aguilar, Andrea; Archilla, María Ernestina.2014.p.83). También es importante señalar que cuando un meme es compartido “los usuarios se apropian de ellos y ‘remezclan’ para adaptarlos a su entorno y necesidades de comunicación” (Gómez, Ignacio.2014.p.4). Por lo tanto, he aquí la relevancia de esta investigación.

Uno de los puntos novedosos de este trabajo, fue que se investigó un tema que es de principal interés para los jóvenes. Así mismo, se presentó la influencia que poseen los memes en las relaciones sociales del grupo de estudio y el uso que les otorgan. Ya sea como un rol identificativo y/o de pertenencia dentro de su círculo más cercano. Dilucidando si es que ocupan los memes como un método para interactuar con su grupo social pero sin poseer la necesidad de entrar en contacto directo con ellos.

Otro punto importante a señalar, es que también se investigó si es que la influencia de los memes se mantuvo solo dentro del margen de internet o ya es un complemento de interacción en el día a día.

Finalmente, esta investigación fue pertinente porque permitió comprender cómo el grupo de estudio usa los memes, a través de qué medios los crea y difunde y cuáles son sus motivaciones para realizar lo anteriormente escrito. Incluso, este trabajo otorga la posibilidad de aclarar el origen y futuro de los memes, a través de los distintos testimonios recogidos.

(ÖZ) Dijital ortamlarda bireylerin ve/veya toplulukların, " kendini ifade etme " nin mizahi bir biçimi olarak ürettiği " internet mem " leri, son yıllarda akademisyenler arasında dünya çapında ilgi uyandırmıştır. Sayısı günden güne artmakta olan mem çalışmaları, dijital bir kültür nesnesi olarak memlerin, internet-ortamlı iletişimde oynadığı etkin rolü gözler önüne sermektedir. Bu çalışma, içinde bulunduğumuz yeni medya çağında bir internet fenomeni olarak ortaya çıkmış olan, kullanıcılar tarafından oluşturulmuş içerikler olarak internet memlerine ilişkin alanyazına odaklanmayı amaçlamıştır. Bu bağlamda, internet mem tanımları, özellikleri ve memlerle ilişkili olarak tartışılagelen diğer konular ele alınmıştır. Türkiye'de mem çalışmalarına ilişkin var olan olanaklara da değinen çalışmanın, Türkiye'deki internet-ortamlı mem çalışmalarına katkı sağlayacağı umulmaktadır.
(Abstract) Internet memes, generated as a humorous mode of " self-expression " by individuals and communities in digital spheres, have received scholarly attention across the globe in recent years. An increasing number of studies on Internet memes show that memes as digital cultural artifacts play a significant role in Internet-mediated communication. This study aims to focus on the international literature on Internet memes as user-generated content that has emerged as an Internet phenomenon in the age of new media. In this regard, the definitions and attributes of Internet memes and other related discussions are addressed. The study also searches for potentialities of meme studies in Turkey, with the anticipation of contributing to the aforementioned studies.

Publicado originalmente en Revista Nexos el 24 de junio de 2017.
Link: http://cultura.nexos.com.mx/?p=12942
¿Qué son los memes? ¿Qué es la imagen pobre?
Lejos de ser un tema menor, el meme y el momo son un asunto complejo que se vuelve necesario discutir, no sólo por su omnipresencia sino por la fácil reproducción de éstos a causa de la gran capacidad de síntesis con que tocan temas de actualidad combinándolos con lo cómico. Es decir, lo cómico parece ser el elemento detonante que hace al meme crear masa y colectividad. Pero si es ésta una de sus principales características, nos encontramos ante el peligro de que mediante el uso de memes se pueden minimizar, ridiculizar e incluso normalizar ciertos temas e ideas.

Kien, Grant. (2019). Communicating with Memes. Consequences in Post-truth Civilization. Lexington Books.273 pages.

An early impression based on the title of the book under review here, Communicating with Memes, might be unclear. The statement leads readers to believe they would be exposed to a historical overview from the time the term “meme” was coined by Richard Dawkins (1976) up to date. Nevertheless, the book attempts to investigate various levels of content, medium, audience, and socio-cultural effects of memes, understood as a comprehensive system, not as communication product solely. This work goes far beyond the idea of memes as cultural units that spread from one person to another, through copying and imitation; instead, it focuses on examining a wider concept, memetic communication, considered a new phenomenon in the 21st century, touching on every manner of theoretical and research focus, producing a highly interdisciplinary text.

This article maps some key patterns associated with how internet memes are conceived and how online meme practices have evolved and morphed during the period from 2000 to the present. We document the rise of internet memes during their early years as a broadly communitarian cultural engagement, mostly characterized by goodwill, humor, and an often “nerdish” sense of shared cultural identity. With the massification of internet access and participation in online social practices employing Web 2.0 and mobile computing capacities, changes occurred in how internet memes were conceived and created (e.g., image macro-generators). Since around 2012, many online meme practices have become intensely politicized and increasingly used for socially divisive and, often, cruel purposes. We explore some of these shifts and argue that what we call “second wave” online memes have been used as weapons in personal, political, and socialcultural wars. We conclude that internet memes scholarship would be...