Class Notes 10/22

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*Everyone should find one excerpt, type it out, and provide analysis of the excerpt chosen. If you were trying to make a larger argument, you would need to go in and find textual evidence of it. DO NOT QUOTE & SUMMARIZE but quote & find evidence to support the claim in one or two sentences.

Kairos- a notion of opportunity (the time being right).

Domesticate- to tame that is suitable for a particular space (in context to Greis’ article)

Associative- linked to or tied to

Contiguous- next to each other

Irreverent- not respectful

Key Claims of Articles

Picking Up the Fragments of the 2012 Election: Memes, Topoi, and Political Rhetoric

  • Social media is becoming too involved in politics, specifically memes that are taking us away from the heart of the issues or core of politics.
  • “Some memes function as a rhetorical topoi” (Wetherbee 2).
  • “The internet memes are fleeting bits of discourse that quickly lose steam…”, in other words, memes don’t necessarily last once they go away from what once gave them momentum; they go away (Wetherbee 3).
  • Memes have an impact and a sort of power. As they circulate, they are changing.
  • The meme “binders full of women” took off because it tapped into other things that was circulating about how people felt about Romney
  • Memes are distancing from its social context

Iconographic Tracking: A Digital Research Method for Visual Rhetoric and Circulation Studies

  • Images are not stable
  • Circulation is beyond what users of the internet can control

*Continue discussion on the blog by analyzing quotes found in the article

Presentations

Ashley: What’s So Special About a Meme?

  • The Willy Wonka meme uses the same photo but provide different contexts and is essentially farther from the original context

Samantha: The Art of the Meme

  • There may be a consequence of an image as it circulates
  • Memes are in the political scene and are used to send political messages or may be a spoof on the real message the candidate is trying to convey

Jodiann: The Virality of Memes

  • How memes go viral
  • She believes memes are an accidental invention
  • Memes are popular in culture
  • Memes changes our ways of knowing and understanding, the way we think and interact with each other

Pamela: Got Milk? Got Meme?

  • How an advertising campaign can turn into a meme
  • Promotion of milk in the United States turned into a meme
  • Participatory culture where memes allow us to do so
  • Memes can be taken in different ways

Crowdsourcing Lebduska’s article on Racist Visual Rhetoric

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Here, we’ll start the discussion we’ll continue in class next week about Lebduska article, “Rasist Visual Rhetoric and Images of Trayvon Martin.”

This is an opportunity to make sense of the article together (similar to how we each write our excerpts/questions on the whiteboard in class), so let’s first tackle what the article is actually saying by crowdsourcing her main claims (thesis, points, evidence in support of those points) here. Then we can also unpack them, asking clarifying questions, complicating them, challenging then with provocations and counter-arguments, etc.

Don’t forget to include citations in MLA format when you refer to the text.

Are Lives Really A Joke? (Ashley & Jodieann)

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What is the original context of this image (or images, since there were a series of them)? Who is the “author”? When/where/why was it taken (or created)?

The photograph was taken by NilĂŒfer Demir, a photographer working for the Turkish agency DHA (Dogan News Agency). The photo was taken in the midst of the Syrian refugee crisis. This photo was taken on a beach in Turkey. Upon further investigation it was discovered that the boy’s four-year-old brother Galip and a third child were found a short distance away. The boy’s mother was found on a beach 150 miles away.

What kind of visual imagery does it involve? What type of argument does it make (including its emotional appeal)?

This is a raw, heartbreaking image. The image presents the argument that the ignorance towards violence has gone too far. Being that this is a child it affects most of its viewers.

What about the remixes of this images? What arguments / appeals are they making?

Arch2O-Syrian-01That drowned Syrian boy © Patrick Chappatte,The International New York Times,That drowned Syrian boy

The images above all remixes of the initial image. Every remix serves a different purpose. The first two appeal to the emotions of everyone especially politicians that have chosen to ignore the crisis. The bottom two are remixes that undermine the seriousness of the situation. Without knowing the original context, the user would be emotionally unaware of the initial message.

How did this image go “viral”? How did it circulate? Through what networks (social media & otherwise)? How did the consumers of this image become producers of new meaning?

The image started with European news sources and spread quickly to social networks and American news. All networks contributed to the  viral spread of the image. The emotional appeal alone created an environment of the need to participate in social change. As hashtags and captions were added the image became more popular.

What meanings did this image taken on? How was it appropriated?

In its more disturbing forms the image became a joke. It was used in a was that desensitized the situation.

How did you go about doing your research here? Provide us with the citations / links you are looking at.

Most of the images are linked back to their original sources. All of the images came from the Google seach ”Syrian boy memes”. That single search provided insight into the situation.

 

Crowdsourcing Ben Wetherbee’s article on Memes, Topoi, and Politic Rhetoric

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Here, we’ll continue the discussion we began in class today about Wetherbee’s article, “Picking Up the Fragments of the 2012 Election: Memes, Topoi, and Political Rhetoric.”

This is a challenging article (on many levels), so let’s first tackle what the article is actually saying by crowdsourcing his main claims (thesis, points, evidence in support of those points) here. Then we can also unpack them, asking clarifying questions, complicating them, challenging then with provocations and counter-arguments, etc.

Don’t forget to include citations in MLA format when you refer to the text.

Class Notes 10/20

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Announcements:

Cats Exhibit:

  • “New Age Museums”: allowing more interactions
  • A phenomenon that is culturally specific to the US
  • Memes can reshape the cultural landscapes that they are a part of

Cohen & Kenny:

  • meme: single idea that is imitated as it changes and evolves(circulation)
  • Three properties:
    • longevity: livespan
    • fecundity: fruitfulness or ability to produce
    • copy fidelity: closeness to original
  • Photogenic truth: in meme culture, not all things depicted are truth (208)
  • Memes redefine culture, context
  • Memes allow emotions to be explored through images
  • “Although memes are created online … revision, and agreement.” (86)

Hafner & Jones:

  • Framing: image/text interactions
  • Multimodality: the use of multiple semiotic modes, such as visual, aural, spoken and written modes, in a text.
  • spatial perspective:
  • simultaneous: at the same time
  • emotional appeal & visual arguments (61)
  • cultures of use

Questions:

  • Who is the “author” of the content?

Class Activity

IMG_4370 IMG_4369 IMG_4368 IMG_4367IMG_4372

Crowdsourcing Laura Gries’s article on Circulation and Iconographic Tracking

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Here, we’ll continue the discussion we began in class this week about Gries’s article, “Iconographic Tracking: A Digital Research Method for Visual Rhetoric and Circulation Studies.”

This is a challenging article (on many levels), so let’s first tackle what the article is actually saying by crowdsourcing her main claims (thesis, points, evidence in support of those points) here. Then we can also unpack them, asking clarifying questions, complicating them, challenging then with provocations and counter-arguments, etc.

Don’t forget to include citations in MLA format when you refer to the text.

The Virality of Memes

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Memes inception is here to stay. Memes provide an opportunity to connect with people of all sort. To say that memes has not had any effect on popular culture is like saying global warming has had no effect on the world. Another added bonus of memes is that it encourages participation and shareability. Memes have the ability to be shared across a wide range of platforms and on smartphones as well which is major. Memes encourage collaborative community while also cultivating a new form of discourse community— they are unlike traditional culture.

The Virality of Memes

The Syrian Boy [By: Samantha and Pamela]

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What is the original context of this image (or images, since there were a series of them)? Who is the “author”? When/where/why was it taken (or created)?

A Turkish photographer took the picture of the boy, Aylan Kurdi  who washed ashore after the raft him and his family were on capsized in the sea. It was taken amid the height of the refugee crisis when thousands of migrants a day were fleeing into neighboring countries in desperation.

What kind of visual imagery does it involve? What type of argument does it make (including its emotional appeal)?

This is raw truth imagery, it called attention to the dire situation involving the refugees. There is little to no regulation on the transportation of the Syrians fleeing and most UE countries are reluctant to help making a humanitarian argument.

What about the remixes of this images? What arguments / appeals are they making?

(via google)

Images, remixes like this one are appealing to peoples emotional side, a call to be a human being. It’s tragic to see or hear of a loss of any child but more and more children like this little boy are dying on this dangerous and long journey out of Syria and through Europe. Many charities and organizations have tried to lend their hand in aiding these people and it provokes you as an individual to take action.

 

How did this image go “viral”? How did it circulate? Through what networks (social media & otherwise)? How did the consumers of this image become producers of new meaning?

This image was in several press sources. First in European press and then in western world press like the NY Times. Consumers of this image then turned around and shared their take on it, their stance on the issue and their tentative solution to it. Twitter was a big host for this image going viral, so many people retweeted and commented on this image, some conveying shock others disgust.

 

What meanings did this image taken on? How was it appropriated?

It took on a meaning of desperation, struggle, hardship and consequence. This image became the most powerful in framing the refugee crisis and the end that many families are met with when they try to flee the war torn country.

How did you go about doing your research here? Provide us with the citations / links you are looking at.

Pam and I used google, twitter and news sources like The guardian and Associated Press. We looked at what came up in text and in image and how the authors of those posts conveyed meaning. Some just bringing to light what’s really going on in Europe right now and others calling for humanitarian action and aide for these people who have no means to help themselves.

Tracking Viral Visual Images

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Today in class, we’re building on the thinking / work you’ve done with the readings, and also your first drafts of this week’s presentation in order to see how images circulate / make visual arguments in practice. Therefore, each group will work on the image of the drowned Syrian boy who washed on the shore, recently.

Young boy washed up on the beach.

Photo credit: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/02/shocking-image-of-drowned-syrian-boy-shows-tragic-plight-of-refugees

This image has gone “viral” in a number ways, and is a fascinating case study (much like the Obama Hope image that Greis explores) of how images circulate.

In pairs, you will research this image together, track its circulation, and discuss what you find. You will have 15-20 minutes together to do this. Make sure to take notes as you can, and before we come back together as a class to discuss the assignment, you and your partner should make a collaborative post (include both of your names), summarizing your thoughts (categorize as “The Image That Shook The World” (it’s OK if you don’t completely finish – do the best you can, and then work to revise it for Thursday’s class). Here are some things to consider as you work:

  • What is the original context of this image (or images, since there were a series of them)? Who is the “author”? When/where/why was it taken (or created)?
  • What kind of visual imagery does it involve? What type of argument does it make (including its emotional appeal)?
  • What about the remixes of this images? What arguments / appeals are they making?
  • How did this image go “viral”? How did it circulate? Through what networks (social media & otherwise)? How did the consumers of this image become producers of new meaning?
  • What meanings did this image taken on? How was it appropriated?
  • How did you go about doing your research here? Provide us with the citations / links you are looking at.

Meme’s Ability to Change Over Time

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Memes are created for various reasons and they can be duplicated thousands of ways that sometimes users who create them may not no the origin of its existence. Because of viral media as Greis puts it, “once produced and distributed in a networked pathway, images rapidly undergo change in terms of location, form, media, genre, and function” (335). What once was a photo in a comic book circulated into a proliferation of memes. Thousands of users rely on the internet everyday and with the addition of social networks it is easy to spread content as simple as a meme online. The internet makes it easy for users to create memes as well with just a few clicks. But those who create these memes, how many of them know its origin? Memes do not and will not remain the same because each user who contributes to creating them have a different purpose from another user as to why they created it in the first place whether because they intend to be funny or serious or even romantic. Memes change over time through the web and users never look back. Next time you see a meme ask yourself, what actions, process, or result of manipulation created the meme to begin with?

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