Memetics as informational difference: offering an information-centric conception of memes
| Date | 23 December 2021 |
| Pages | 1149-1163 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-07-2021-0140 |
| Published date | 23 December 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Alexander O. Smith,Jeff Hemsley |
Memetics as informational
difference: offering an
information-centric conception
of memes
Alexander O. Smith and Jeff Hemsley
School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, USA
Abstract
Purpose –Information scientists may find value in studying cultural information evolution and information
diffusion through memetics. Information studies in memetics have often found datafication in memetics
research difficult. Meanwhile, current memetic scholarship elsewhere is abundant in data due to their focus on
Internet artifacts. This paper offers a way to close the datafication gap for information researchers by
associating information data with “differences”between memetic documents.
Design/methodology/approach–This work offers a joint theory and methodology invested in information-
oriented memetics. This methodology of differences is developed from a content analysis of difference on a
collection of images with visual similarities.
Findings –The authorsfind that this kind of analysisprovides a heuristic methodfor quantitatively bounding
whereone meme ends and another begins.The authors also find that thisapproach helps describethe dynamics
of memetic mediain such a way that the authors can datafy information or culturalevolution more clearly.
Originality/value –Here the authors offer an approach for studying cultural information evolution through
the study of memes. In doing so, the authors forward a methodology of difference which leverages content
analysis in order to outline how it functions practically. The authors propose a quantitative methodology to
assess differences between versions of document contents in order to examine what a particular meme is. The
authors also move toward showing the information structure which defines a meme.
Keywords Semiotics, Electronic media, Philosophy, Generation and dissemination of information,
Information science, Difference, Evolution, Digital images, Memetics
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
This paper offersan approach for studying cultural information evolutionthrough memetics,
which is the studyof memes. Specifically, memeticslooks at memes as a minimal interpretable
unit of culture,where we see culture as “a lens through which people col lectively encounter the
world,”(Irani etal.,2010, p. 131). That is, a meme is a commoninformational lens throughwhich
people negotiate meaning. We have witnessed a flourishing of memetic study focusing on
Internet memes (Lankshear and Knobel,2019). This existing tradition of memeticsfocuses on
the mediasurrounding memes and platformsand the people who spread contentonline instead
of focusing on the information of the meme itself. Yet, Internet memetics does not study the
evolution of cultural information so much as its relationship to its digital context.
This is a limitation for those wanting to understand what memes are informationally.Current
research focusing on Internet memes considers memetic media as a unique form of
communication which escapes typical communicative norms (Shifman, 2013). However, this
work often appears to reduce these norms to a reductive sort of embodiment of social human
Memetics as
informational
difference
1149
The authors thank Daniel Olson-Bang for commentary on paper organization and commenting on
earlier forms of the document. The authors also thank Jennifer Stromer-Galley for feedback on theory
and research design. The authors thank the reviewers for their helpful comments and insights. Finally,
the authors thank Twitter user “Cool Eric”(@OBiiieeee) and Spaghetti for their roles in propagating the
meme which inspired this paper.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 20 July 2021
Revised 30 November 2021
Accepted 4 December 2021
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 78 No. 5, 2022
pp. 1149-1163
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-07-2021-0140
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