Forums / Meme Research

Dear meme fans,

I thought it would be interesting to have a list of academic publications here in order to facilitate future academic research on the topic.

Please only include research on INTERNET MEMES, not on memes in general (in Richard Dawkins’ sense).

Cheers!

Knobel, M., & Lankshear, C. (2007). Online memes, affinities, and cultural production. A new literacies sampler (pp. 199-227). New York: P. Lang.
http://literacyandtech.pbworks.com/f/Text.pdf#page=11

Downes, S. (1999). Hacking memes. First Monday, 4(10).
http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/rt/printerFriendly/694/604

(On similar topic)
Heylighen, F. (1996). Evolution of Memes on the Network: from chain-letters to the global brain. In G. Stocker & C. Schöpf (Eds.), Ars Electronica Festival 96. Memesis: the future of evolution. (pp. 48-57). Vienna: Springer.
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Papers/Memesis.html

Technically, I do believe that any of the research performed by the former and current internet scientists of this website count as academic research.

Click the “Episodes” tab.

The episodes are awesome! There is a lot of information overall on this site and I believe that it is a great starting point for further research.

I am looking for literature from the fields of media studies, sociology, etc. that places the phenomenon of internet memes into broader theoretical discussions involving art, creativity, postmodernism, social functions, motivations etc.

BTW I am writing my master thesis on the topic of internet memes and creativity from a postmodern standpoint – wish me luck :)

cheers

I am going to write my bachelor’s thesis about the connection between internetmemes and literature (: (Hopefully! Am still in the 1st phase of researching etc. So I still have to see where that is going lead me..)

It is nice to read that more people are currently looking for/doing academic research on memes, as it is quite a novel subject, and I suspect it is not going to be the easiest task to find relevant literature about it, haha. Either way, your thesis topic sounds very interesting – good luck writing!

good luck for you as well!!! Will let you know if I find more useful lit ;)

I tought the episodes weren’t really that scientific, as they haven’t provided any evidence to confirm that what they say is true, they just told the version of history that is correct according to them.

Just so you know, this post is not to hate on Forest and the rest (actually, I really enjoy the episodes ^^), just to say that the episodes aren’t scientific. Oh, and that they’re awesome.

hey! i am writing my research on memes as well)
i know all the studies you’ve listed, check this out!
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/conf/memepap/marshall.html
• Jonathan L. Zittrain ,The future of the Internet and how to stop it, Yale University Press, 2008
• McTavish,Alexandra,essay, Culture in the face of Anarchy. Writing in a memetic Enviorment on line, 2011
• Shifman, Limor, Assessing Global Diffusion with Web Memetics the spread and evolution of a popular joke

Also, i have some books that might help you in your research, coz hey, they are helping me ) if you are interested, you can e mail me at lenagangan2@gmail.com

Wow! I just stumbled across this forum, and I am quite pleased. I am writing my Honors thesis for my bachelor’s degree about Internet memes, and I’ve been trying to figure out some research question. While trying to think of a question, I wanted to see what other researchers had done/are doing, and this is a great resource for me! Thanks!

Davidson Patrick, The Language of (Internet) Memes, in The social media reader, edited by Michael Mandiberg, New York : New York University Press, c2012. x, 289 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

i have the article in Word if you are interested, just send me a message (blagsdeath@gmail.com)

I apologize, i miswrote the name of the author in my last post. Is Davison, not Davidson. I’m so sorry if that caused you trouble to find his research.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/?o572tqow7ejls52

Uhh… This is something that I made back from 2 years ago from grade 10. I did this as the school required ‘personal projects’ (lol International Baccalaureate). In a sense, this is quite academical as I wanted to show general understanding on what are Internet Memes.

It is ‘Indonesianized’ because my school is from Indonesia, and perhaps would include Indonesian Memes inside.

It really lacks in credible sources, proper formatting for citations as well as the fact that it might be lacking in knowledge of Internet Memes due to lack of experience back then. As much as I wanted to edit this so that I can turn this to be more ‘serious’, I can’t as I’ve lost the original Publisher file. :(

Well, take a look at this crap, if you may.

Guys, i am a new member here in Know Your Meme. Actually, I joined this site out of academic purposes. I’m wondering if you could help me in my thesis proposal? My topic is about internet memes; their effects on people and their communication, why they are addictive and the like. Hope you can help with this. Thank you so much! I’m 18 and I’m from the Philippines by the way. :)

Danung, J. y L. Holloway Attaway, (2008) “All your base are belong to us: An analysis of the cultural connotations of the internet meme” en Literature, culture and digital media.

Stryker, C., (2011) Epic win for anonymous: How 4chan’s army conquered the web. New York, The Overlook Press.

Chen, C. (2012). “The creation and meaning of internet memes in 4chan: Popular internet culture in the age of online digital reproduction” Habitus.

Thank You! I can use these as my RRLs, But do you think these books are available here in the Philippines? Or are these available in pdf files? :)

I am currently writing my bachelor’s thesis regarding memes when I stumbled on this post and this has been a great source of information for me. You see, my research is centered on how memes reflect on society (or something like that) and I am still in the process of formulating research problems so my life is kinda messy right now. Any readings relevant to that (even the irrelevant ones) will be greatly appreciated.

I joined knowyourmeme.com just to thank you guys for being awesome in helping beleaguered students like me. Cheers and happy holidays! :)

Hai guise!

I will be writing my BA thesis on Internet Memes. I am an English major so I need to connect them to the language somehow. I have been focusing on the grammatical side of memes – why are some of the memes grammatically incorrect and how do they work and whether the ungrammaticalness (wut?) will influence English in the long term (for the worse). Also thinking about bringing in The Grammar Nazis as ‘saviours of the English language’

If you know of someone that has done something of this sort, please do let me know! You could either comment on this thread or if you have something specific (files to send, etc), you could write to me at britta.loobas@gmail.com

ktnxbai!

Good stuff here!

I am a graduate student writing on memes, myself. I’m looking into how memes and their templates can be used as tools to teach writing techniques and academic templates to incoming college students. I’ll try to contribute to this thread with anything I come across, and I’ll certianly be sure to check out some of the things listed here. Here are some of the sources I’ve been using, although this might not apply to everyone due to my topic.

George, Diana. “From Analysis to Design: Visual Communication in the Teaching of Writing” College Composition and COmmunication 54.1 (2002)

Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2007. (Academic templates and their uses/etc)

Hariman, Robert. No Caption Needed: Iconic Photographs, Public Culture, and Liberal Democracy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007 (images as iconic and able to comment on and influence society)

(Can’t believe no one has said this one yet, it’s not memes specifically, but the author nails many aspects of how online communities would influence humanity. Written in the 60s) McLuhan, Marshall and Bruce Powers. The Global Village: Transformations in World Life and Media in the 21st Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. (reprint)

@jubru

Some useful stuff I found on Google Scholar:

4chan and /b/: An Analysis of Anonymity and Ephemerality in a Large Online Community – a study by a couple of MIT scholars on 4chan.

And The Meme Machine – a book on meme theory from 1999 which has a chapter on the internet (probably of mostly antiquarian use now, but whatever).

Also, there is I Can Has Language Play – a recording of a conference presentation on LolCat language.

Finally, I suggest going through whatever the PBS Idea Channel has put up. They cover internet culture quite a bit, and the show itself is very literate. (One of my favorites compares Homestuck to Joyce’s Ulysses.)

As a side-note, I recommend getting into contact with Amanda B, a mod on this site who is also quite knowledgeable on this sort of thing. you can also ask me whatever questions you like – I’m an MA student in English Literature, and quite knowledgeable on basically all the topics you say your paper covers.

Cheers!

KYM articles are arguably formal enough to be considered academic, though it’s probably best to stick with the confirmed ones.

Keep in mind, though, that we are not “peer reviewed” in the academic sense. It would be best if you included a note explaining our confirmation procedures if you do in fact use an entry on this site.

This. I’m quoting KYM extensively in my Masters thesis as this is the primary source of meme information. But, I am stating in my introduction the details of the site, its unique place in my research, and how articles are created. I do love the fact that some of my citations are the usernames of article creators though. It is SO funny to have an academic site that is “(Blubberman)” or something like that! :P

That sounds neat. Maybe you can toss the thesis up on Academia and then link it here (or, more likely, in another thread) when you’re done.

Rinkel, Sean (2013): “Crisis Memes: The Importance of Templatability to Internet Culture and Freedom of Expression” is quite recent and looks interesting.

http://www.academia.edu/2439613/Crisis_Memes_The_Importance_of_Templatability_to_Internet_Culture_and_Freedom_of_Expression

I would consider: metaphors, semantics, applying cognitive linguistics rules to internet memes or such. I am writting a Major that will be based on internet memes and it will have to be related to cognitive linguistics (Lakoff, Jackobsen and others).