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A Purposeful Use for Silly Media?

A Purposeful Use for Silly Media?

An invited pre-conference session for the 24th Teaching, Colleges, and Community Online Conference.

Do easily shared social media content like memes and animated GIFs represent the worst elements of internet culture? Are they inappropriate for academic work? Are there purposeful applications for "silly media"? The characteristics of these media forms can help attract attention to concepts. Humor may ease online communications or provide discussion points for in-class presentations. Rather than just re-sharing media others have made, what can you or your students accomplish by creating your own?

Mostly associated with pop culture references, the concept of the meme has its roots in the scientific community. This presentation will suggest ways we can augment online teaching by just adding images to words, not as an aesthetic, but for visualizing examples, applying metaphors, and opening discussion topics.

Like memes, animated GIFs are often used to generate a laugh, a smile, maybe just a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. But considering them as short-form video, their looping structure is effective for demonstrating natural processes or showing hands-on techniques where repetition can aid understanding.

Learn what you and your students might accomplish by creating your own meme images and animated GIFs. These media we see mostly “just to be funny” in social spaces, with your creative teaching idea, might be used in a much more meaningful way.

Links and more resources at https://cog.dog/show/2019/03/20/silly-media/

Alan Levine

March 20, 2019
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Transcript

  1. A Purposeful Use for Silly Media?
    24th TCC Pre-conference Session • March 20, 2019
    https://cog.dog/show/2019/03/20/silly-media/
    Alan Levine
    https://cog.dog • @cogdog

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  2. It moves too…

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  3. What is one you have
    most recently seen?
    (share in chat)

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  5. meme:
    a self-replicating unit of
    information
    Wikimedia Commons image https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Selfish_Gene3.jpg

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  7. A Pause

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  9. Original LOLcat?
    Happy Cat Image (Something Awful,
    2003)

    Text added (2007) leading to http://
    www.icanhascheezburger.com

    https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/happy-cat

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  10. Actually It Was 1905
    “WHAT’S DELAYING MY DINNER”

    by Harry Whittier Frees

    Wikimedia Commons public domain image https://
    commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harry_Whittier_Frees_-
    _What%27s_Delaying_My_Dinner.jpg

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  11. Lord of the Rings (2001) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r21CMDyPuGo

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  12. Google Image search on one does not simply use a meme

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  13. The 'Distracted Boyfriend' Meme's Photographer Explains All
    https://www.wired.com/story/distracted-boyfriend-meme-photographer-interview/

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  14. The 'Distracted Boyfriend' Meme's Photographer Explains All
    https://www.wired.com/story/distracted-boyfriend-meme-photographer-interview/

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  15. The 'Distracted Boyfriend' Meme's Photographer Explains All
    https://www.wired.com/story/distracted-boyfriend-meme-photographer-interview/

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  18. http://make.arganee.world/assignments/meme-meme/

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  19. https://imgflip.com/memegenerator

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  20. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/oprahs-you-get-a-car

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  22. Why attend TCC? https://imgflip.com/memegenerator

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  23. https://imgflip.com/memegenerator

    Why attend TCC?
    Tweet meme to @cogdog
    "TCC is complex…”
    "TCC distracts me from…”
    “Everybody gets something
    from TCC”

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  24. http://make.arganee.world/assignments/most-
    fascinating-subject-meme/

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  26. ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE
    MEMES

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  32. WHOLESOME MEMES

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  37. SOCIAL COMMENTARY
    MEMES

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  43. not so
    GIFerent?

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  44. GIF 1.0
    https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/06/25-year-history-animated-gif-gif-format/326863/

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  45. These Incredible Animated Gifs
    Are More Than 150 Years Old
    https://www.wired.com/2013/12/
    these-150-year-old-gifs-are-insane/

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  46. Movie Scenes http://iwdrm.tumblr.com/

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  47. Somewhere Between
    Photo and Video http://cinemagraphs.com/

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  48. GIF As Short Form Video http://bit.ly/udg-video
    "Creating a GIFBoom Animation" flickr photo by cogdogblog https://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/19514457080 shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license

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  49. EXPLAINER GIFS

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  50. Microphotographic Cinema
    Caenorhabditis elegans
    http://wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CrawlingCelegans.gif

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  51. What the Eye Cannot
    See
    Biomorphosis:

    http://bit.ly/hummergif

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  52. Sign With Robert https://giphy.com/signwithrobert/

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  53. Geometry of Parking
    https://twitter.com/mathemaniac/
    status/801963245137338368

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  54. SCHOOL REACTION GIFS
    @davidtedu • https://ideafm.org/

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  56. MAKING GIFS

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  58. http://make.arganee.world/assignments/many-gifs-from-one/
    HAWAIIAN

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  59. Copy Link https://youtu.be/un3YEpDFhN8

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  60. GIF Maker https://giphy.com/create/gifmaker

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  65. More Silliness
    • Presentation Links

    https://cog.dog/show/
    2019/03/20/silly-media/

    • Affordances of Silly Media
    (workshop)

    https://cog.dog/roo/silly/

    • One Does Not Simply Make
    NetNarr Memes?

    http://netnarr.arganee.world/
    book-of-stuff/memes/

    • NetNarr GIF Reader

    http://gif.arganee.world/
    Alan Levine
    https://cog.dog • @cogdog

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