The World Made Meme: Public Conversations and Participatory Media PDF
Preview The World Made Meme: Public Conversations and Participatory Media
The World Made Meme The Information Society Series Laura DeNardis and Michael Zimmer, Series Editors Interfaces on Trial 2.0, Jonathan Band and Masanobu Katoh Opening Standards: The Global Politics of Interoperability, Laura DeNardis, editor The Reputation Society: How Online Opinions Are Reshaping the Offline World, Hassan Masum and Mark Tovey, editors The Digital Rights Movement: The Role of Technology in Subverting Digital Copyright, Hector Postigo Technologies of Choice? ICTs, Development, and the Capabilities Approach, Dorothea Kleine Pirate Politics: The New Information Policy Contests, Patrick Burkart After Access: The Mobile Internet and Inclusion in the Developing World, Jonathan Donner The World Made Meme: Public Conversations and Participatory Media, Ryan M. Milner The World Made Meme Public Conversations and Participatory Media Ryan M. Milner The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England © 2016 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. This book was set in Stone Sans and Stone Serif by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Milner, Ryan M., author. Title: The world made meme : public conversations and participatory media / Ryan M. Milner. Description: Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2016] | Series: The information society series | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016010239 | ISBN 9780262034999 (hardcover : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Memes. | Memetics. | Culture diffusion. | Mass media. Classification: LCC HM626 .M553 2016 | DDC 302—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016010239 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction: The Rise of Memetic Media 1 Part I: Media Made Memetic 7 1 Logics: The Fundamentals of Memetic Participation 11 2 Grammar: Structures for Making Statements and Making Do 43 3 Vernacular: Everyday Expression in the Memetic Lingua Franca 79 Part II: Memetic Public Participation 111 4 Antagonism: Race, Gender, and Counterpublic Contestation 115 5 Voice: Pop and Populism in Public Commentary 151 6 Conversation: Cultural Participation and the Culture Industries 185 Conclusion: The World Made Meme 217 Appendix: Methods and Ethics 221 Notes 233 References 239 Index 251 Acknowledgments A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s This book, like the texts at its heart, is a collective endeavor. It wouldn’t exist without years of help and support from the people closest to me. From the earliest iterations of this research, the insight and sacrifice of my men- tors and friends have proven invaluable. In many ways, this book began when I first wandered into Nancy Baym’s graduate seminar on digital media at the University of Kansas a decade ago. I was a dazed M.A. student who wasn’t quite sure why he was there, but Nancy’s years of guidance shaped me into the scholar I am today, and I can only hope this work honors that profound influence. The same could be said for the professors who guided parts of this project at the University of Kansas. I spent my graduate education crowd- ing the offices and struggling through the seminars of Jay Childers, Dave Tell, Yan Bing Zhang, Ben Chappell, and many others, grappling with half-formed ideas along the way. They helped walk those ideas closer to fruition. My time in Lawrence, Kansas, was also defined by some of the finest friends I could hope for. My fellow graduate students Mike Ander- son, Evan Center, Chelsea Graham, Vince Meserko, John Vilanova, and Clare Echterling spent years generously lending me their eyes and ears— and on a few nights, their couches. As this project comes to a close, I have not forgotten them. As I left the University of Kansas, the help and support did not wane. Mentors like Jean Burgess and Limor Shifman, as well as colleagues like Kate Miltner, have provided substantial insight. Whether sitting right next to me at a conference panel or trading ideas with me from halfway across the world, these mentors and colleagues have been instrumental. In particular, Whitney Phillips has been astounding in her support, camaraderie, and kindness. This book is the better for her feedback and friendship, and I’m a viii Acknowledgments better scholar for both. As I have struggled to refine the perspectives that became this book, I am grateful I have not had to do it alone. I have many people to thank from my time at the College of Charleston as well. Leigh Moscowitz, David Moscowitz, April Bisner, Paul Anderson, Max Kovalov, Carl Wise, Kaitlin Reiss, Bea Maldonado-Bird, and Abby Steere-Williams have all opened their homes, offered their insight, and— most importantly—provided their friendship, shaping this project along the way. Among my friends at the College of Charleston, David Parisi and Jacob Steere-Williams have proven ever more invaluable with every article shared, every class co-taught, and every happy hour toasted. Without the community of friends and scholars around me, this book would still be a half-hoped dream. At home, Sarah, Sophia, Gabriel, and Pearl have endured more than their fair share of long workdays and forcibly quiet rooms. And they’ve responded with nothing but love, esteem, and giant hugs every time I walk through the door. Back in Kansas City, mom and Eric have kept close even as their son and brother moved across the country. My family has stayed right here with me, celebrating my every success and commiserating my every worry through every step of this project. I wouldn’t be me without them, so this book wouldn’t exist without them. From its earliest conception to its final days with the stellar team at the MIT Press, the collective that wrote this book is too vast to list. I am grateful for every reviewer, editor, panel chair—every student, mentor, and friend— who has shaped the pages to follow. I am also grateful for the innumerable constellations of participants creating, circulating, and transforming memetic media. Every hashtag, every mashup, every Photoshop; this book wouldn’t be anything without any of them. So thank you.
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