Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Chapter 9-Memes, Affinities, and Cultural Production


In this chapter, we learn about memes. Memes are contagious patterns of cultural information that get passed from mind to mind and directly generate and shape the mindsets and significant forms of behavior and actions of a social group. The chapter states that psychological and cognitive conceptions of memes tend to pay closer attention to decision-making processes prior to action. Memes are more about some that is memorable than what is useful. The three key characteristics of successful memes are fidelity, fecundity, and longevity. The suggestion at the end is very encouraging for teachers. It says that studying online memes that aim at promoting social critique can help educators to rethink conventional approaches to critical literacy. Any type of media that can be incorporated into literacy is a bonus because there has been a huge push lately to surround all teaching around literacy. 

I have never heard of memes until I read this chapter, but I think that it is something that is a great tool for educators. It is important to keep out students up to date on cultural information. This can help with retention by passing along this information from mind to mind. Another advantage to this is that is in involved with social groups and we know that there are those students who struggle with social interaction and public speaking. Having students create a meme about a specific topic would help build confidence because they have covered all the important information. Overall, while there has been little research shown on the effectiveness of memes in the classroom, it is important to expose our students to new types of media.

2 comments:

  1. Jordan...I agree, not much utility has been identified; however, who doesn't love a good bit of comic relief or examples of relevant cultural trends?

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  2. I would also argue that in making something funny it actually shows a kind of comprehension and synthesis that comes through in the meme. When it is thoughtfully made, that is. Sure, there is little research on using memes in classrooms as yet, but I do think they can add humor, spice, and motivation to an activity or presentation. Not everything that is important in school shows up in or as test scores.

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