Graduation! Results:

Well I have finally graduated!

My final score was a 2:1 (Second class upper division)

I now finally have a BA.

For information on how to get a copy of my dissertation click here.

For Any further work please go to my Other Blog. 

MEDI 317: Dissertation

Well now that my dissertation has been marked I can offer copies to any interested person.

To request a copy of my dissertation titled 'Copyright and Participatory Culture: the threat they pose to one another.' then please email me at kara_mad@yahoo.co.uk please make sure to title the email 'dissertation request'

Please allow some time for the return email with the attachment of my dissertation to be sent out.

:) Thank you.

MEDI 317 + MEDI 323: Dissertation: Front Cover!

Since these projects are running in tandem it made sense that they influenced each other. Lots of the research has run into each other and inspired different aspects or avenues of the projects. I thought it would be a nice idea to produce the front cover of my Dissertation in the same style as the ‘Dreamscape’ images of my MEDI 323 project. This image is effectively a Dreamscape of the Internet and also all of the topics covered in my dissertation. So whilst it isn’t part of the final series of images I feel it is still an important progression and interesting given the overlap of research.

MEDI 317: Dissertation: More on Memes

So like the famous band Weezer made a song full of memes there is now anouther compilation!

MEDI 317: Extended Dissertation: Internet Research Experiment

Having been part of an internet community since the age of thirteen I thought that I would have a go at creating a topic in the subforum 'Internet Culture and Memes' and see what the actuall inhabitance of the internet thought about it so to speak.

Here are the results:  I ran this poll for ten days so that It would be more controlled. I aim to run more of these polls and collect the data. 

 

MEDI 317: Extended Dissertation: The Root of Meme

Richard Dawkins coined the term meme in his 1976 book, "The Selfish Gene." As conceived by Dawkins, a meme is a unit of cultural meaning, such as an idea or a value, that is passed from one generation to another. A meme is the cultural counterpart to the unit of physical heredity, the gene.

• A Relevant Talk 

A meme spread online could be just about anything that is voluntarily shared, including phrases, images, rumors and audio or video files. An Internet meme might originate and stay online. However, frequently memes cross over and may spread from the offline world to online or vice-versa.

According to Lauren Ancel Meyers, a biology professor at the University of Texas, memes spread through online social networks similarly to the way diseases do through offline populations. Fittingly, viral marketing campaigns often attempt to create a meme.

MEDI 317: Meme Research

What is a meme? Basicaly an idea or a concept that spreads like wildfire through the net and becomes popular. They are sort of like inside jokes for masses. Memes can take the form of pictures, text, video etc but they all often become popular slogans, recognisable very easily by a word or a picture.

This Video by Weezer is FULL of memes:

Some Examples of memes:

Creepypasta: A scary form of Copypasta. These stories are posted over and over again on the internet. The intent is to scare the reader. Some of the most popular creepypastas are infact Pokemon ones, with possibly the most notable being the Lavender Tower Music.

Lol Cats: Probably one of the most poular memes on the net are started by or are in some way involved with Lol Cats. Some people herald lol cats as the start of a new internet subculture, which may be fairly acurate since lol cats has a following its own devoted website and lots of message boards now have subforums for it. It started with a few simple pictures with (it is believed) the so called 'cheezburger cat' being the first. The craze hit the internet like wildfire and in its wake inspired its followers to create 'Caturday' (which entails the posting of lots of cat pictures and lolcat pictures on forums and message boards on Saturdays) and has also spawned its own language known as Lolcat speak or Lolspeak. There is also a project to translate the bible into lolcat.

The lol cat craze has also started other funny animal related stuff in the same sort of format. Such as loldogs and also funny bunny pictures with Sunday being declared 'Bunday' on many forums and message boards.

The core of these memes are the same they mainly consist of a picture of an animal and then a caption typically written in 'lolspeak' to effect humour.

There are also a series of 'Face Memes' that are drawn faces tagged with a catchphrase like "Forever Alone" and "Me Gusta"

Also another popular meme on message boards is "haters gonna hate" which has and can be adapted to almost anything that a fan accepts some people may not like but of which the fan doesn't care. It is typically used to defend someone from or as a retort to 'flaming' or 'trolling' on their sites or message board posts.

MEDI 317: Extended Dissertation: Speed/Free Writing

Free Writing:

3 Minuets:

The internet has been growing and evolving since its birth to become one of the most used and valued commodities of the twenty-first century. It is now integral to way we learn, teach, research and spend our leisure time. As a result of its importance in daily life we are becoming more dependant upon it and are opting to spend time in the Internet as opposed to the real world.

MEDI 317: Extended Dissertation: Planning

MEDI317: Extended Dissertation: First Proposal

Proposed Title: Internet Culture 

Summary: For my Dissertation I would like to look at the entity I know as the internet culture. I want to see how it has evolved out of cultures from around the world and also then how it feeds back into modern culture. Does it create an over culture? Does it draw from an over culture? Could it even be classified as a culture? How do things you do online affect your real life social status? I feel it’s a very valid subject as the internet is vast becoming the most valued resource for recreation and communication.

Things that I think are included in internet culture:

Memes

Social Networks

Blogs

YouTube

MMO’s

Internet  & Anonymity

Internet as a human right?

I would like to research this in-depth as I am interested in what I perceive to be a ‘feedback-loop’ between reality and the effective ‘world’ of cyber space. More and more we are basing our life in and around our computers, with casual social gaming, MMO’s, forums, social networking sites, blogs and YouTube. It’s a really broad topic that I hope will narrow down with research and time. I feel that Its incredibly relevant and current as the effects of the internet grow and spread as it itself grows and spreads. 

Proposed Initial Research Methods and Lines of Enquiry:  

 I intend to study any publications I can find on this matter. I would like to look at professional academic papers and books since I think it would add weight and validity to my subject. However The internet itself is an important tool and I think it may be a good idea to use it as fully as I can. I could use social networking sites and forums to collate opinions of people that actually use the internet. I think it would be useful to watch any documentaries and or films about this subject area since it is so broad.