Tag Archives: Key Terms

Digital Gaming Culture

Digital gaming culture: As implied by its title, digital gaming culture is the alternate reality that exists within the realm of digitized video games. In the context of this article, the author asserts that this culture shifts power relations to put women in a vulnerable position in comparison to men. Digital gaming culture refers not only to the hypersexualization of victimization of women within video games, but also the existence of the trend/belief that men are better than women at actually playing video games. This culture emphasizes gender stereotypes by portraying women largely as objects of sexual desire with little focus on positive skills that women maintain. However, it is not all negative. Digital gaming culture, on the flip side, can also create realities in which men and women can assume any identity they want through the creation of custom characters, etc. The “Women and Games” article also cites an interview recording in which many women state that gender-neutral games allow for a space where equality is achieved through competition and skill, i.e. if women are better than men at certain video games they feel more powerful than they do outside of virtual realities and inside of the reality of human society.

Taken from “Women and games: technologies of the gendered self”

Context Collapse

How we present ourselves relies on context, who we are with and where we may be. Talking into a webcam, especially for the first time, can be awkward as “vloggers” often spend several hours at a loss for words. As Michael Wesch pointedly stated, “That’s there. That’s somewhere else. That’s everybody. On the other side of that little glass lens is almost everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you have ever heard of, and even those you have never heard of. In more specific terms, it is everyone who has or will have access to the internet – billions of potential viewers, and your future self among them.”[i] Like a “black hole sucking all of time and space,” looking into a web camera can result in vloggers being unable to size up their audience.


[i] Wesch, Michael. “Context Collapse.” Digital Ethnography. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.

 

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is the concept that the defining character trait of humans, intelligence, could be simulated by a machine. We are all familiar with what it ‘looks like’ with all the sci-fi movies and tv shows. It can be a scary thing to think about an intelligent search engine online like Google. As far as intelligence goes the Google engine is the smartest phenomena to smack the internet and it’s users into submission. Recent advancements in the field of A.I. have allowed computer systems to converse and the most advanced systems even have facial recognition. Google is the cyber hegemon. Imagine what it could do with speech and interactive facial recognition? Frightening. Google compiles so much of our personal data under the guise of providing accurate and useful information. If Google could ‘speak’ would it answer questions like: Will humans be obsolete someday?; or -Am I beautiful? THINK ABOUT IT. A. I. is catching up. And as a biological species we physically cannot expand our intelligence as quickly as a computer can be upgraded. Luckily though, A.I. isn’t too too smart yet.

bender

A.I. chat

 

-Marty

 

 

Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism is name given to the process by which we ascribe human feelings, form and/or motivations to anything that is not human. On the internet, this commonly takes the form of a  meme in which an animal expresses a human emotion. These images are usually a result of a coincidental capturing of the animal in a position that resembles human emotion (a la the badger ‘frowning’ in the included image). Other times, the meme might be playing off of impressions already in place in popular culture (Bachelor Frog is a frog due to its allusion to the ‘Prince Charming’ myth, frogs being generally gross, etc). Perhaps it is easier for the average internet user to empathize with a neutral animal given human emotions, than a human who they can judge and categorize based on any number of physical & social markers.

Templatability

Templatability refers to the feature of having a set structure that is easily manipulated to fit new situations. This allows for content creators to comment upon new situations while alluding to already popular memes on the internet, mainly through image macros or snowclones. In addition, having a set form to work off of makes the process of content creation much easier for users, increasing the fecundity of the templated meme. According to Sean Rintel, this makes the feature of templatability  “the heart of online memes.”

Multiple sites, including “Meme Generator” or “Rage Comic Builder“, make this process even easier by storing templates and making them intuitive and available to those with no access to editing software. They are so easy to produce, in fact, that Rintel notes that they are some of the first methods of expression used to respond to a crisis (for better or for worse.)

Works Cited:

Rintel, Sean.  ”Crisis Memes: The Importance of Templatability to Internet Culture and Freedom of Expression.” Australasian Journal of Popular Culture 2 (2). <http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=202/>

Image Macro

An image macro is an expressive template involving the pairing of image with a caption/catchphrase.  The meaning expressed correlates with the emotion or idea that the picture displays, often resulting in very iconic images becoming memes (i.e. “Scumbag Steve” or “Overly Attached Girlfriend”). The text that is superimposed over the image is usually in large capitalized bold letters, and the phrasing usually follows an easily identifiable and modifiable structure (also known as a snowclone) (Rintel, Crisis Memes).

Some well-known groups of image macros would be LOLcats, Advice Animals, Rage Faces, and Demotivational Posters.

Works Cited:

“Image Macro.” Know Your Meme. Cheeseburger Network, n.d. Web. <http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/image-macros>.

Rintel, Sean.  ”Crisis Memes: The Importance of Templatability to Internet Culture and Freedom of Expression.” Australasian Journal of Popular Culture 2 (2). <http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=202/>

Scalability

According to Manovich, scalability is one of the most basic cases of the variability principle in which different versions of the same media object can be generated at various sizes or levels of detail. The best way to think of scalability is by thinking of an icon that is used to show an image file saved onto your computer. If it is not designated as something else, the computer automatically creates a small image (to scale) of the larger image that was saved. If you look at the icon it will look like a smaller but exact representation of the larger image. Sacalability not only includes software, but also hardware. When hardware is considered to be “scalable” that means it is capable of running newer software than what was originally made for the technology. This serves the purpose of not having to buy new hardware every time new software is released for a particular piece of hardware.

scalability

 

Works Cited:

Manovich, Lev. “Principles of New Media.” The Language of New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2002. 63. Web.

Numerical Representation

Numerical representation is one of Lev Manovich’s five features of New Media. The term refers to the fact that all new media objects are composed of digital code, like binary, which is the primary language that computers use. According to Lev Manovich, this numerical representation has two key consequences:

1) New media objects can be described formally, or mathematically.

2) New media objects can be manipulated using algorithms. In other words, they can be programmed.

Moreover, numerical representation is essentially a universal language that underlies all new media objects, whether they have been originally created on computers, or have been digitally converted from analog forms of media. As a “basic, ‘material’ principle of new media” (Manovich 63), numerical representation is the technological basis for other principles of new media: Modularity, Automation, and Variability. It is even relevant to the process of Cultural Transcoding, because of its role in the “computer layer” of new media, which interacts with the “cultural layer”.

Works Cited:

Manovich, Lev. “Principles of New Media.” The Language of New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2002. 63. Web.

Works Consulted:

Manovich, Lev. “Principles of New Media.” The Language of New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2002. Web.

Snowclone

A snowclone is a recognizable and formulaic sentence frame that references a piece of popular and/or internet culture. The template is often used to comment upon any situation which expresses the sentiment of the original snowclone.  It is not to be confused with languages like LOLSpeak, which have certain grammatical and content rules; rather, it is a more “direct verbal template” (Rintel, Crisis Memes). Snowclones are most often attached to an image macro, but will still be recognizable by the sentence structure if represented on a different image or with no image at all.

An example of this is “one does not simply” meme.  The original is from the Lord of the Rings movie franchise (A), but the snowclone has been used for various other memes (B), recognizable from it’s “one does not simply {X}” structure. It still retains the sentiment of cynical expressions of impossibility, even when divorced from its iconic image macro (C).

(A)           (B)                               (C)

According to multiple reports, the term was first coined by Glen Whitman on the blog Agoraphilia in 2004. Since then, the term has grown within internet scholarship, spawning its own site (http://snowclones.org/) which collects snowclones from around the web.

Citations:

Rintel, Sean.  “Crisis Memes: The Importance of Templatability to Internet Culture and Freedom of Expression.” Australasian Journal of Popular Culture 2 (2). <http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=202/>

Whitman, Glen. “Phrases for Lazy Writers in Kit Form Are the New Clichés.” Web log post.Agoraphilia. Blogspot, 14 Jan. 2004. Web. <http://agoraphilia.blogspot.com/2004_01_11_agoraphilia_archive.html#107412842921919301>.

Remix Definition

We can identify a remix as something that is a combination of memes, or units of cultural information, which leads to the creation of an entirely new product. The most common remixes are music and video mashups, and in some cases people combine both audio and visual elements in their remix. Many artists have supported their fans in creating remixes of their songs, therefore not only encouraging their fans to use their creativity but are also supporting this subculture of entertainment. As Pete Rojas states, “Pop culture in general seems more and more remixed…we’re at a point where it almost seems unnatural not to quote, reference, and sample the world around us” (87). He suggests that the art of remixing has only just begun, and we will continue to fuse remixes into our cultural world.

 

Burns, Kelli S. “From Memes to Mashups: Creating Content from Content,” Celeb 2.0: How Social Media Foster Our Fascination with Popular Culture, p. 75-87.

Consumer and Producer

 

According to the ever popular Dictionary.com a consumer is defined as:

con·sum·er

noun

1. a person or thing that consumes.
2. Economics . a person or organization that uses a commodity or service.
3. Ecology . an organism, usually an animal, that feeds on plants or other animals.

And a producer as:

 

pro·duc·er

noun

1. a person who produces.

2. Economics . a person who creates economic value, or produces goods and services.
3. a person responsible for the financial and administrative aspects of a stage, film, television, or radio production; the person who exercises general supervision of a production and is responsible chiefly for raising money, hiring technicians and artists, etc., required to stage a play, make a motion picture, or the like. Compare director (  def 3 ) .
4. British Theater . (formerly) a director of theatrical productions; stage director.
5. an apparatus for making producer gas.

Now what is so interesting about the internet is that a consumer can also be a producer and vice versa. In fact, it would seem that many producers play the role of consumer for inspiration, entertainment and information. The consumer, inspired by a produced work, can easily decide to be a producer themselves. In this way a producer in regards to the internet shouldn’t be concerns with economic value, but with creating. It can be that simple. Producers create. Consumers of the internet can choose the economic route with things such as online shopping and buying music, yet they can be free from those restraints as well. A consumer is like an attendee in an art gallery. They choose to browse, comment, view, listen, interpret, understand, hate and even destroy in some cases. The distinction between consumer and producer is less defined contrary to what Dictionary.com will tell you.

 

 

 

 

 

“LOLcat”

lol_cat_icanhascheezburger-s350x510-284711

What in the world is a LOLcat?

 

A lolcat is an image combining a photograph of a cat with text intended to contribute humour. The text is often idiosyncratic and grammatically incorrect, and its use in this way is known as “lolspeak” or “kitty pidgin”. “Lolcat” is a compound word of the acronym abbreviation for “laugh out loud” (LOL) and the word “cat”. Another, more simple definition is merely a photo of a cat doing a seemingly-innocuous thing, with large text superimposed.

Citation: Dwight Silverman (2007-06-06). “Web photo phenomenon centers on felines, poor spelling”. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 20a 12-04-01.