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/

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
2. It moves too…
3. What is one you have most recently seen? (share in chat)
5. meme: a self-replicating unit of information Wikimedia Commons image https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Selfish_Gene3.jpg
7. A Pause
9. Original LOLcat? Happy Cat Image (Something Awful, 2003) Text added (2007) leading to http:// www.icanhascheezburger.com https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/happy-cat
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
11. Lord of the Rings (2001) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r21CMDyPuGo
12. Google Image search on one does not simply use a meme
13. The 'Distracted Boyfriend' Meme's Photographer Explains All https://www.wired.com/story/distracted-boyfriend-meme-photographer-interview/
14. The 'Distracted Boyfriend' Meme's Photographer Explains All https://www.wired.com/story/distracted-boyfriend-meme-photographer-interview/
15. The 'Distracted Boyfriend' Meme's Photographer Explains All https://www.wired.com/story/distracted-boyfriend-meme-photographer-interview/
18. http://make.arganee.world/assignments/meme-meme/
19. https://imgflip.com/memegenerator
20. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/oprahs-you-get-a-car
22. Why attend TCC? https://imgflip.com/memegenerator
23. https://imgflip.com/memegenerator Why attend TCC? Tweet meme to @cogdog "TCC is complex…” "TCC distracts me from…” “Everybody gets something from TCC”
24. http://make.arganee.world/assignments/most- fascinating-subject-meme/
26. ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE MEMES
32. WHOLESOME MEMES
37. SOCIAL COMMENTARY MEMES
43. not so GIFerent?
44. GIF 1.0 https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/06/25-year-history-animated-gif-gif-format/326863/
45. These Incredible Animated Gifs Are More Than 150 Years Old https://www.wired.com/2013/12/ these-150-year-old-gifs-are-insane/
46. Movie Scenes http://iwdrm.tumblr.com/
47. Somewhere Between Photo and Video http://cinemagraphs.com/
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
49. EXPLAINER GIFS
50. Microphotographic Cinema Caenorhabditis elegans http://wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CrawlingCelegans.gif
51. What the Eye Cannot See Biomorphosis: http://bit.ly/hummergif
52. Sign With Robert https://giphy.com/signwithrobert/
53. Geometry of Parking https://twitter.com/mathemaniac/ status/801963245137338368
54. SCHOOL REACTION GIFS @davidtedu • https://ideafm.org/
56. MAKING GIFS
58. http://make.arganee.world/assignments/many-gifs-from-one/ HAWAIIAN
59. Copy Link https://youtu.be/un3YEpDFhN8
60. GIF Maker https://giphy.com/create/gifmaker
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