I feel duped but also incredibly naive.
The Harlem shake was the fastest growing meme ever – and is now so over!!! It was a very catchy easy to replicate non offensive fun thing to replicate and many many many have been made including one I myself made with my class.

The reason it became viral was “nothing to do with community and everything to do with commerce” from Maker studio’s who identified it as a likely to ” go viral” and produced their own version and then used social media to spread the word about it.

The marketing companies are ahead of the game again, however being lead by marketing could have been why the idea rose and then died so quickly as it wasn’t naturally forming.

How does this fit with Richard Dawkins meme? Dawkins says “As in the case of genes, fecundity is much more important than longevity” so although it died out quickly the rate of reproduction was the key to the success of this meme.

You didn’t make the Harlem Shake go viral—corporations did – Quartz.

Dawkins, Richard (2006-03-16). The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary Edition–with a new Introduction by the Author (p. 194). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

The current “unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation.” as Dennett (1991) referred to them that are doing the rounds on the Internet are:

1. Recut movie trailers

Brokeback to the future

100. Recut Movie Trailers — The 100 Greatest Internet Memes of All Time | Complex.

2. planking

actually lost people jobs

Doctors and nurses suspended for playing Facebook 'Lying Down Game' | Metro News.

3. Blend it
people blending household objects and filming it

Click here to view the embedded video.

4. Box opening

Click here to view the embedded video.

5. LOL cats

The list goes on but today I read about the idea of crisis meme – like the joke that go around after a disaster or horrific incident, making light of the situation. There have been many,

I want to work on the idea of the individual wanting to be part of the masses, wanting to be part of a group. Looking at where the individual ends and the group begins. About how the individual is happy do something as part of a group or because other are doing it but wouldn’t normally do it And how / or if technology has exacerbate this.

This weeks blog has been rather random, with further exploration of communities to the separation of mind and technology.

I have been spending most time exploring and commenting on other people’s ethnographies. It was so interesting to find out other students areas of interest and to gain a broader perspective of them as a person through their choice of topic, It was also good to see a variety of different creative software used to present the information.

I really enjoyed Candace study on the community within #durbbu and loved the journey it took and it study of the people involved, I would be interested in looking at the journey of #Mscel students and the rise and fall of postings and the development of relationships within course.

I enjoyed the fiat 500 community group Steph Carr, but had problems with the technology and didn’t get to the end of it, which is a shame as it appeared t be a very interesting piece of work

I was very interested in Phil’s #fellrunning and like how the community and sport had grown through Internet involvement promoting user groups and events and also the link with advertising helping to create a greater sense of community

Nikki Bourke – Nirvana/Grunge Rock Youtube was very nicely presented using issuu and is something I will definitely use to present work in the future

I really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments on my work and felt pleased with the response from our #ededc community. The timetoast really helped to develop te idea of the community growing and developing by showing the order of events. However as Steph Carr commented “I wonder whether they are shaping the rules and behaviours because of their own value judgements as to what a forum should look like; or whether they are reacting to feedback from their members.” Unless I could speak with the administrators and moderators 1:1 I don’t think I could get a true idea of how the rules / regulations and developments came about.

This week along with working on the ethnography, I have been thinking a lot about different communities, their ethos, the idea of being part of a community and a communities culture.

Communities in the real world usually share a common interest and ideas and involve actual interactions, where people take on specific roles within the community

Online communities may not meet face to face but also have a shared interest, and different roles

It brought me round to thinking about how information and culture from these communities is shared with one another and I came across Richard Dawkins (1976) concept of the “meme” from the greek word “mimema” which means “something imitated” an idea or behaviour that is shared from one to another, with the rise of the Internet this sharing has become more prolific and people are more aware of ideas and activities through this sharing – note phildevine’s ethnography – the rise in popularity of fell running through its links and ways of passing on information through social networking

“Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation.”
― Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene

This has lead to the creation of new cultures – flash mobs and the current fashion for the Harlem Shake

On February 10, the upload rate of Harlem Shake videos reached 4,000 per day. As of February 11, about 12,000 versions of the popular Internet meme had been uploaded to YouTube, garnering over 44 million unique views. By February 15, about 40,000 Harlem Shake videos had been uploaded, totalling 175 million views.

I wish I could add the video of the one we did with the sixth formers but unfortunatley even though they share everything – I can’t share them!

Click here to view the embedded video.

parkrun are weekly, 5km timed runs around the world, that are open to everyone, free, safe and easy to take part in.

The groups are represented online through a website, but use social media like facebook and twitter to pass on messages about condition, up and coming events, pleading for volunteers and congratulating and inspiring members.

It is very similar to an online community as it involves various worldwide locations with a 100+ participants at each event, some are organisers and volunteers, some are active community members who run and volunteer, some are just runners, some are lurkers and watch but don’t participate or volunteer. It reminds me of an online community in that many people are participating in a shared activity but not necessarily communicating, interacting or responding to one another.

The groups are represented online through a website, but use social media like facebook and twitter to pass on messages about condition, up and coming events, pleading for volunteers and congratulating and inspiring members.

Online communities get real

via BBC NEWS | Technology | Online communities get real.

It is about how people assume online communities will behave and relationships develop within these communities. It was interesting to note how things have changed over time

One of the initial comments that online communities were “much more localised, more honest and less chaotic than original predictions thought” in 2003. However in 2012, I would perhaps describe communities as less localised but more focused

They also found that people were not “creating false online personas” however this has changed and people are becoming more aware of their digital footprint and are beginning to create online identities which are perhaps different to their own.

Mr Davies. “They don’t really want to get married, meet new people, or make money entirely on the internet. Instead they want to make the internet work for them,” he said. Again this is very different to 2003 as now many people do use the internet to find future husbands and wives. Whole businesses have been set up solely online and have made millions

Other findings are however still current “Social software is being used to support real world interaction and is enhancing face-to-face contact” and the suggestion that “”People are finally ditching the two-worlds view, which separates the internet from everyday life and now realise the two are part of one picture” was forward thinking at the time and appropriate.