[Air-L] Ideas on in-class activity on memes?

Kathleen Stansberry katiestansberry at gmail.com
Wed Oct 28 19:58:14 PDT 2015


For something fun, hands on, and creative, consider using the site
https://imgflip.com/memegenerator to have students create their own meme
then share it with the class. I've had success doing a brief (10-15 minute)
discussion on popular memes, then uploading a photo of the school mascot
doing something silly to imgflip and having students add their own captions.
They typically come up with inside jokes about the school, which can lead to
a discussion about how memes require some level of shared knowledge or
common assumptions. Also, it's a good exercise to show how memes are built
on a common idea or piece of content and that creativity can thrive within
prescribed boundaries. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Air-L [mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Liz
Crocker
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2015 6:05 PM
To: Jesse Littlewood <jesse.littlewood at gmail.com>
Cc: List Aoir <Air-L at listserv.aoir.org>
Subject: Re: [Air-L] Ideas on in-class activity on memes?

It could be fun to focus on one particular meme per group and have them do
research to see variation acceptability and change over time. They could
look at submissions for sites like reddit (/r/adviceanimals being an obvious
suggestion) to see what gets upvoted or downvoted and see if they can tease
out what aspects make that particular form successful or unsuccessful. Are
there in-jokes that index in-group belonging? Pop culture references? What
is too tame and what is too obscene? How does timing play a role? Are
current iterations of the meme the same as earlier ones and how can they
chart those shifts over time? It would be easy enough to pull in some theory
or levels of analysis you've already used in the course.  Then, once they
think they've figured it out have them create a reddit account, make their
own meme, and post. They'd probably have a blast seeing how their experiment
turns out. Maybe even offer some Halloween candy or a bonus point for
whichever team's meme does the best.

I look forward to seeing other suggestions!

Liz Crocker
Graduate Research Assistant
Division of Emerging Media Studies
PhD Candidate
Department of Anthropology
Boston University

On Wed, Oct 28, 2015 at 12:20 PM, Jesse Littlewood <
jesse.littlewood at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm a lurker here (and only part-time lecturer) and trying to overcome 
> my own Afraid to Ask Andy <https://i.imgflip.com/t9h5b.jpg> I thought 
> would throw this out: my social media <http://exp50.com> undergraduate 
> course has time for an in-class activity around internet memes. Given 
> ~45 minutes, what would you do to have students explore how/why and 
> impact of internet memes?
>
> I would say the goals are to drive the "folk culture" aspect of memes, 
> digging into what makes them "work" and set up how #brands are trying 
> to take advantage of that folk culture (and often failing).
>
> Some thoughts I have: A structured create-a-meme -- e.g. here's a 
> mission, create some memes about it (have the class review it?); a 
> treasure-hunt online?
>
> Would love any other ideas here or off-list, and my thanks.
> Jesse
> about.me/jesse.littlewood
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