#me vs this fast paced meme society

[yantao-enthusiast]

genuinely forgot the internet meaning of hall pass and thought someone was referring to this character as a literal hall pass like people refer to their favs as things like “my favorite ceiling fan” and it took about five seconds to think “wait. urban dictionary my beloved come here for a sec”

[grazrhet-blog]

*Narrative in a Meme*

In this entry, I will examine the critical questions: What narratives does this artifact tell about me or US culture or a certain group of people? What truths does it promote and what truths does it limit or ignore? Overall, is this narrative positive or negative for society?

To investigate these questions, I examined the meme created by Augustana Memes for Trimester Teens, depicting the comedian John Mulaney and commentary about the way placement of the blue and yellow lawn chairs on campus as opposed to, “making necessary repairs” to older residential halls. The meme is posted on facebook and is captioned with the phrase, “How Augustana spends their money.” According to Merriam-Webster, a meme is an amusing or interesting item, such as a captioned picture or video, that is spread widely online especially through social media. Memes, are ideas spread from person to person within a culture (Meme). As a meme uses language and imagery as well as tells about elements of Augustana’s culture, it is evident that the meme is rhetoric promoting a specific narrative. The artifact shares a narrative that Augustana makes trivial decisions when spending money on projects that are not perceived to be wise or imperative, which ultimately presents a larger, more negative narrative while discrediting the rhetor.

Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch (2012) explain that narratives are stories that describe events using rhetorical elements such as language and characters. The primary narrative discernable in the meme, is that Augustana makes trivial decisions when it comes to spending money. The narrative is constructed using the rhetorical technique of language. The simplistic, yet forceful language speaking for Augustana contributes to the narrative that Augustana makes trivial decisions because it is a blatant, “No!” and, “Yeah!”. The seemingly shallow statements have more to them as the, ”No!” is read as forceful and as if the “necessary” repairs are a foolish recommendation. The more informal, “Yeah!” contrasted with “Yes!” produces a careless, thoughtless portrayal of a decision. Finally, both statements lack any kind of supporting language or phrases that would lead an audience to believe Augustana has reasoning behind the decisions, resulting in the frivolous narrative. The language of the opposition such as “necessary repairs,”  juxtaposed with “putting lawn chairs all over campus,” exacerbate the trivial narrative because the language presents the two options that Augustana supposedly had. The meme’s usage of the word “necessary” presents the thought that the residential hall’ updates are time-sensitive projects and the depiction of “lawn chairs,” create a narrative surrounding leisure which might be associated with the privilege of comfort and relaxation. The cultural ideology surrounding rest and recreation presented here by the meme is that typically all of the necessities should be taken care of first as top priorities and then one is allowed to relax.

Additionally, the narrative is constructed using the rhetorical technique of character employment. The narrative promotes a facetious tone as it employs the character of a famous, trending comedian who is popular amongst the intended target audience - Augustana students. The character is speaking as Augustana and implies that there is something funny or laughable about the decision that Augustana has made. This expands upon the trivial decisions that Augustana makes when spending money because in this message from Augustana, is from a comedian, meaning that the decision is silly by nature of [it’s] John Mulaney’s occupation. The lack of character employed by the opposition speaks volumes with absenteeism. There are symbolic features in the blanket black and white formatting. That design might imply that anything and anyone else may be included in the character of the opposition as there are not any defining features. One size, color, shape, fits all, if you will. The more deliberately broad language coming from this persona builds ethos, just purely because it appeared to have more to say, once again diminishing Augustana’s character and therefore branding Augustana’s narrative as trivial, insignificant, and commonplace.

Constitutive rhetoric explains this type of rhetoric as the construction of “a people” with certain characteristics and duties. Constitutive rhetoric that explores boundaries of inclusion and exclusion. The audience is created to be a group of people that come together and are fragmented from Augustana. The people are supposed to believe that the decision to disperse lawn chairs on the quad was frustrating because there are other projects the money could potentially funded, displeasing because why would the institution ask for money if this is how they intend to spend it, and hilarious because of how seemingly worthless the decision was. The offensive ‘us vs. them’ mentality aggressively leads to the narrative to be negative overall. There is no particular call to action that benefits society in the narrative. There may be a slight ethical understanding to be gained from the narrative, but it is important to consider that on a forum as fast paced as facebook and other social media, this understanding would only occur if the people stopped to consider and explore the ethicality behind asking for money and then how decisions are made to spend that money. However, as previously stated, the nature of social media suggests the audience glanced, was amused or not, and then continued on. Because of the isolation of the people, the lack of a call to action, and the little to no ethical gain, the narrative is negative.

There are both advantages and disadvantages to this narrative. Advantages surround the expansion of the message and disadvantages allude to the larger discreditation of the rhetor. Narratives gain the interest of the audience (Palczewski, Ice, & Fritch, 2012). An advantage of this particular narrative presented by the meme is that is it engaging and amusing to the community. This is evident in the number of interactions the facebook post encompassing the rhetoric received. The post has received 141 likes, 2 comments, and 21 shares to date. These interactions are advantageous because the meme was able to secure attention, which in turn shared messages and themes of frustration, displeasure, and hilarity. On the other hand, there are various disadvantages with meme’s narrative as well. Narratives indicate causation, however, the causation is not always accurate (Palczewski, Ice, & Fritch, 2012). The rhetor might be perceived as misinformed since the institution may have plans in the works to renovate the residential halls. The rhetors may claim inaccurate information discrediting the rhetor’s reputation since that message is now spreading on social media and various other means of communication. The credibility of the rhetor is also in question when looking at the conventions of the communication because of the spelling error on the meme and the grammatical error in the caption. Consequently, the narrative greatly limits the truth.

Continuing the conversation of the sharing of communication and the authority of a speaker, Toder-Alon, Brunel, & Fournier (2014) explore techniques of sharing communication online and by word of mouth and the authority of a speaker when doing so. The study discovers, “it is critical to understand the social nature and content of word of mouth exchanges….a lack of access to the actual content of the communication has contributed to a general lack of understanding...” Therefore, if the rhetor does not have access to proper facts, spreading messages founded in incomplete knowledge only increases misunderstanding. Next, in regards to the speaker’s authority, the study reveals rhetorical method techniques used by communication ‘seekers,’ and ‘givers’ to, “frame social actions, situate performances, and tie to social relations and identities.” Ultimately, the study focuses on message valience, effectiveness, other rhetorical components. The study puts the advantage and disadvantage of the meme’s narrative into a blended discussion that suggests the success of a message is in the mode of sharing it, but also the accuracy of the rhetor - advice giver or seeker. Admirably, the study acknowledges the restriction of the research and the vast amount of additional studies that would have to be done in order to master the understanding of communication methods and techniques entirely as the mediums, purposes, and relationships are constantly in a state of dynamic evolvement.

In summary, the artifact shares a narrative that Augustana makes trivial decisions when spending money on projects that are not perceived to be wise or imperative because of the language and characters used. Because of other rhetorical components and theories, especially the limitations of the message’s truth, the narrative is negative overall and the rhetor is discredited.

Augustana Memes for Trimester Teens. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/AugieMemesForSleepTrimesterTeens/photos

Meme. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meme

Palczewski, C. H., Ice, R., Fritch, J. (2012). Narratives. In Rhetoric in civic life (pp. 117-146). State College, PA: Strata Publishing, Inc.

Toder-Alon, A., Brunel, F. F., & Fournier, S. (2014). Word-of-mouth rhetorics in social media talk. Journal of Marketing Communications, 20(1/2), 42–64. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527266.2013.797756

[dominofromdeadpool-blog]

Digital Media and the Internet

With the ever evolving memes on 9GAG and the gifs on Tumblr, the Internet thrives daily on our ability to express ourselves from the comfort of ours screens.

After a quick Google search, the internet is defined as (lemme just drop the definition here);

a global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols.

It has crawled into our very homes paired with the ever evolving and advancing technological improvements that we’ve seen on the Jetsons (yes, I’m old enough to remember, sheesh). 

The Internet is the platform; Digital Media the content and how it is presented.

However, as Digital Media and the Internet steadily increases in demand within Schools and Businesses, where there is a treasure, there is always an ancient spirit ready to prevent anyone from getting it. I mean, look at Indiana Jones. But seriously, just as there are pros, the cons are surely there as well.

In Schools

From my own experience, Digital Media has been a heaven-sent to the prison reminiscent classrooms of schools

Though I haven’t been much of a tech person growing up - I found pleasure in thumbing through a hard cover book for 3-4 hours straight - Digital Media in schools is a breath of fresh air.

I believe it would instill a sense of creativity and productivity, which has grown increasingly scarce among students, as they are taught information they barely need to actually function in the real world. With Digital Media, it is your work, your ideas and fortunately - fortunately - there are laws to prevent/dissuade others from stealing it.

Despite this blog being homework and I would’ve never conjured the thought to write a blog (...yet), I know I certainly would have done my own research. information is now readily available at our fingertips and now in as many forms as we wish for all learning styles. This encourages us to be proactive with our individual work. And let’s be honest, class seems boring compared to the things we learn on a daily from the internet on our own.

Au contraire (I’m ashamed to say I Googled that lol), there are evidently more distractions with the introduction of the internet and digital media to traditional classrooms. Though a perk to being born in the digital age is the ability to multitask, the short attention span Digi Nates have makes this more counterproductive than productive at all!

I know this will sound contradictory, but hear me out first. As creatives or anyone producing content for the internet, we must remember to stamps our rights onto our work. If not, no matter how good our content is or how much work we put in, it can and most-likely will be stolen. Unless, there is an agenda to help out other students, attaching the appropriate copyright is imperative.

In Businesses

“The benefits of social media for businesses are extensive.”

We all know it’s possibly to build an entire business on Instagram alone and monetize your YouTube account to be paid – among many other options. The driving factors for these to come about are followers…, which I don’t have much of.

Enough of my poor attempts at being social media savvy, a loyal base of followers means that you’ve been doing something right and should continue to do and improve that thing. Keeping them engaged really is the only hard part (after getting them of course!) as they’ll be easily accessible when you want to introduce your new products and/or services. Without the internet and Digital Media, it would not be possible to have an online store without a physical building and keep them coming back with engaging content. The best part is, you don’t need capital (fancy business term for dat moolah)! The most effort should be placed in creating and sharing great content relevant to your target market/audience and your business.

“The ability to access information quickly and easily is a major benefit for businesses.”

The internet makes it easy for access to information to be granted. With automation and resource sharing, the internet and digital media makes it easier and more inviting for patrons to want to make transactions. The smoother, professional and user-friendly your store’s interface and systems run, it will secure your legitimacy as a non-sketchy platform that steals credit card numbers and whatever money that’s left on the card. It also makes it easier for you to organize sales and do market analysis.

Have you ever really wanted a product or service online and amidst the sea of good reviews, there’s a droplet of bad reviews and you go whoopdeedoo there goes my buyer’s confidence? Not quite like that? Okay.

I’m sure if we saw a product online that we wanted and a predominant amount of accounts send complaints like ‘didn’t even get my product’, or ‘horrible customer service, long waiting, product not properly packaged’, we would swiftly find a similar product by someone else with better reviews. Negative reviews can swiftly cause a booming business to sink to rock bottom so it is in every online stores’ interests to ensure that their customers are satisfied or at least duly compensated if some mishap occurs. In this case, whether or not the customer is right, the customer’s word holds far more power than your $2M television advertisements. Nothing personal.

Making accounts online have been made so much easier in this day and age with persons no longer choosing to use their real names. I mean, look at Tumblr – fortunatelygrandcheesecake? Though tis quite the hilarious option, that means others can also impersonate you and your brand. We’ve seen plenty of fan pages on Instagram that closely resemble the celebrity’s personal page and some have even caused controversy. It is evident that though the biggest threat to anyone’s online information are hackers, if they have bad intentions, there are many ways to sink a ship.

Then Vs Now

We can view the evolution of media in terms of ancestors and descendants.

The internet and digital media - modern forms of media - descended from the ancestry of printeries and vocal announcements, actual town criers to vehicular ones with a looped recording.

Fortunately, some of us have been able to witness the world change rapidly before our eyes. Media has now evolved tremendously and advertising and learning has become a cross-media and multi-platform enterprise.

Once upon a time we had to budget in radio announcements, television advertising, printing distribution and billboard displays. Now, we no longer focus heavily on that where our businesses are concerned. In advertising our businesses, we usually first turn to graphic designs and displays to intrigue our customers and catch their eyes as the new generation has very short attention spans. Society has so evolved into such a fast paced world that most strategies are used to capitalize on this.

In our schools, internet and digital media has also helped to slightly prod the evolution of the standard classroom. Many governments have allowed devices as ways to aid in the learning process from kindergarten up to the tertiary level. Even “third world” countries such as my own have stepped up to the plate to innovate how teaching is done. Whilst our grandparents may have known slate and chalk, then our parents knowing notebooks and pencil, we know of laptops and Wi-Fi and those below us, tablets and AI. This helps everyone to tap into their own learning styles, expressing their individuality and producing their optimum level of learning and growth at their own expense.

Honestly though, I still would love to sit in a bean bag chair with a novel written from 1973 by a wide window with the sun shining through the leaves of a tree outside and a steaming cup of cinnamon apple tea beside me. That’s just me I guess.

sources: 

https://bomamarketing.com/2018/06/24/traditional-vs-digital-media-which-should-i-use-in-my-business/

- Article written by Danielle McPherson