#meme

What exactly is a meme? There is actually academic studies for this cultural phenomenon call memetics, and as described by Davi Johnson, in Mapping the Meme, it is the emerging and contested science of the "meme." When asked what a meme is some might think of Kermit...

or this lady...

What do these new form of social "propaganda"  actually say about our culture? Through the research and writings of Johnson, Jenkins, Shifman, Wiggins and Bowers I have come to better understand the history behind something I have always found as entertainment. Having no clue the study of memetics originated in 1976 through the book The Selfish Gene by biologist Richard Dawkins. This is quite interesting because we see this emergence of memes only recently, or at least that is when they exploded. Scholars suggest that there is no room for this virtual hilarity in the academic setting, but is there?

Why are these so popular? I believe they have become a new way to express ourselves, a new way to be parodize what is happening in pop and world culture. Let's take the famous and beautiful Ryan Gosling. Due to his ability to be innocent and play the loving and manly roles in great movies he has become the poster man for all preppy and scholarly memes. If this is a way to gain attention why is academic literature not tapping into this way to make learning fun for adults? Shifman suggests that memes must be imitated, remixed, and rapidly diffused, a perspective we could share and carry further to modify.

Wiggins and Bowers define Internet memes as as the spreadable media that have been remixed or parodied as emergent memes which are then iterated and spread online as memes. These memes progress and persist due to dynamic interaction among members of our participatory digital culture. Clearly these memes have emerged as our new form of SNL, or YouTube channel so why have they been almost banned from academia.

If you take a look at many of the University of South Alabama Sakai sites you will see that there are memes used to "break the ice" between online teachers and their prospective students. Personally I have seen multiple ones about public speaking, award shows, and history. Johnson states that memes use us to alter their environments so that their chances for replication are enhanced. If we as academic students and researchers are trying to spread information and teach others about our chosen subjects, why not use something that spreads like wildfire. Let's be honest, within fifteen minutes of Jameis Winston falling down for no apparent reason in the play-off game there were a multitude of memes and videos created to poke fun at the slip-up.  

I am not saying that using memes is altogether the best and most effective way to teach higher education, but I am saying that it doesn't hurt to open up the doors and windows to the coming future or education. In closing, if you have a message to send, or need to get a good laugh just create or look up memes and you are sure to get a good laugh.