foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. - r. w. emerson

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Meme culture as the old guard knows it is dead. Memes themselves, in their new version of the word and new understanding, are flourishing and will for…well I’m not sure about that, but at least for awhile.

Evolution is a necessarily evil. I stand by the fact that the internet culture I grew up with is dead (no teenager now will ever understand America Online). I believe that a very small amount of people who participate in recent meme culture have a strong desire to understand where it came from. History doesn’t matter, history is not worth the same to younger participants. The social capital exists in the moment. It is fleeting and to gain it, you need to be there and see it unfold before it’s gone.

amandab!: Memes are Dead, Long Live the Meme   (via kenyatta)

There is something so well-worn and frankly old-fashioned about the internet “old guard” mourning the adoption/co-option of its inside jokes, lingo, and platforms by mainstream culture: such nostalgia is probably as old as culture and language themselves, except that digital evolves more quickly than any cultural expression we’ve heretofore seen.

I agree that evolution is inevitable, but it is not evil. And history DOES matter, if only to a precious few. Just as linguists try to understand the evolution of language without judgement about its correct-ness, we will see the emergence of cultural/technological historians who chart the evolution of Internet culture. But as with any form of history, those things which seem important & carries social capital today may not make it into the historical canon. Some things of value will be lost in this process, but, be honest: how many milestones in meme culture really deserve to be canonized?

(via kenyatta)

gifhound: Landmark day in campaign email history: If you received an email from Obama for America today with the subject line “high five!”, then you received an email filled with GIFs from Barack Obama.  If Tumblr is “ground zero for the GIF renaissance” then this Obama campaign email marks an important “first” in the mainstreaming of Tumblr culture. (It’s also another reason why Obama is winning Tumblr.)
gifhound: Landmark day in campaign email history: If you received an email from Obama for America today with the subject line “high five!”, then you received an email filled with GIFs from Barack Obama.  If Tumblr is “ground zero for the GIF renaissance” then this Obama campaign email marks an important “first” in the mainstreaming of Tumblr culture. (It’s also another reason why Obama is winning Tumblr.)
gifhound: Landmark day in campaign email history: If you received an email from Obama for America today with the subject line “high five!”, then you received an email filled with GIFs from Barack Obama.  If Tumblr is “ground zero for the GIF renaissance” then this Obama campaign email marks an important “first” in the mainstreaming of Tumblr culture. (It’s also another reason why Obama is winning Tumblr.)
gifhound: Landmark day in campaign email history: If you received an email from Obama for America today with the subject line “high five!”, then you received an email filled with GIFs from Barack Obama.  If Tumblr is “ground zero for the GIF renaissance” then this Obama campaign email marks an important “first” in the mainstreaming of Tumblr culture. (It’s also another reason why Obama is winning Tumblr.)

gifhound:

Landmark day in campaign email history: If you received an email from Obama for America today with the subject line “high five!”, then you received an email filled with GIFs from Barack Obama. 

If Tumblr is “ground zero for the GIF renaissance” then this Obama campaign email marks an important “first” in the mainstreaming of Tumblr culture.

(It’s also another reason why Obama is winning Tumblr.)

Most People Didn't Have A/C Until 1973 and Other Strange Tech Timelines

What year penetration of a technology reached 50 percent penetration:

  • Electricity: 1924
  • Cars: 1925
  • Radio: 1931
  • Stove: 1937
  • Refrigerator: 1942
  • Telephone: 1946
  • Washing machine: 1964
  • Dryer: 1970
  • Color TV: 1972
  • Air conditioning: 1973
  • Microwave: 1985
  • VCR: 1987
  • Dishwasher: 1996
  • Computer: 1996
  • Cell phone: 2000
  • Internet: 2001
  • Smartphones: 2012 

According to this data, my family have technically been early adopters on all fronts except the microwave. If you knew my family, you’d be laughing too.

(via thenextweb)

“The idea of a meme is itself new. Coined in 1976, the word “meme” – something that spreads rapidly through a culture – was restricted to scientific contexts until the mid-1990s, according to the Nexis database. Since then the usage of the word has exploded, more than tripling in the last five years.
I love when the NYT explains things. Also, apparently Tumblr is a big thing and if you’re good you can get noticed and even get a job! Who knew?
“Increasingly, I think that incompetence is more dangerous than despotism.
John Perry Barlow, of The Grateful Dead and Electronic Frontier Foundation, on the “religious” dispute over whether scarcity equals value in the context of Internet freedom, joining PDF via Skype from Colorado after a heart procedure.
jedsundwall: Paul Ford explaining the web’s nature as a customer service medium and the concept of “why wasn’t I consulted” (WWIC): What sums it up best, to me, is this image published on the blog Kotaku. The image was posted as a comment on a blog post linking to an article about British computer-industry millionaire Clive Sinclair marrying a younger woman. Consider what that cartoon means in that context: It implies that the commenter feels—with some irony and self-awareness, I’m sure—that his opinion, in some way, is relevant to the question of whether Clive Sinclair should marry a particular woman. This is, for many obvious reasons, completely insane. And yet there was an image already sketched and available to that commenter so that he could express this exact sentiment of choosing not to be outraged at a situation he read about on the Internet. WWIC in action. There’s a lot of understanding packed into this. Seems to me this commentary applies as easily to government/politics as to media/entertainment on the Internet. We love to love the ideals of self-expression and participation, codified in our democratic political system and empowered by the web. And we also love to complain about the negative consequences, i.e. how dumb and entitled people are. (I am guilty of both.) Ford’s insights are spot-on, but I wasn’t sure exactly where he was going with it all. Then, thankfully, he closes with this quote from a commenter on MetaFilter: “Don’t blame people for looking bad in systems that aren’t well-designed to make them look good. Self-importance doesn’t come from people wanting to talk. It comes from systems that aren’t good at fitting people comfortably in.” Word.

jedsundwall:

Paul Ford explaining the web’s nature as a customer service medium and the concept of “why wasn’t I consulted” (WWIC):

What sums it up best, to me, is this image published on the blog Kotaku. The image was posted as a comment on a blog post linking to an article about British computer-industry millionaire Clive Sinclair marrying a younger woman.

Consider what that cartoon means in that context: It implies that the commenter feels—with some irony and self-awareness, I’m sure—that his opinion, in some way, is relevant to the question of whether Clive Sinclair should marry a particular woman. This is, for many obvious reasons, completely insane. And yet there was an image already sketched and available to that commenter so that he could express this exact sentiment of choosing not to be outraged at a situation he read about on the Internet. WWIC in action.

There’s a lot of understanding packed into this.

Seems to me this commentary applies as easily to government/politics as to media/entertainment on the Internet. We love to love the ideals of self-expression and participation, codified in our democratic political system and empowered by the web. And we also love to complain about the negative consequences, i.e. how dumb and entitled people are. (I am guilty of both.)

Ford’s insights are spot-on, but I wasn’t sure exactly where he was going with it all. Then, thankfully, he closes with this quote from a commenter on MetaFilter:

“Don’t blame people for looking bad in systems that aren’t well-designed to make them look good. Self-importance doesn’t come from people wanting to talk. It comes from systems that aren’t good at fitting people comfortably in.”

Word.