Media - Winner
Lauren Schmalz
My name is Lauren Schmalz and I grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with my parents, brother Jon and dog, Sadie. I am a junior at West Virginia University. I am a Communication major with an emphasis in Social Media and a minor in Public Relations. In my freshman year, I joined the Alpha Phi Sorority and it has given me 100 sisters to lean on here on campus. These girls are my family away home. My favorite classes are my communication classes because the professors are so enthusiastic and motivate me to work to the best of my ability. A new hobby of mine is to travel. I recently traveled to Italy, Amsterdam, Paris and London. I hope to visit many more countries in the future! The picture of myself was taken in Venice, near the gondola that I just had a ride in.
How ought we use images?
Only about 30 years ago, people shared images primarily
in the form of a photo in a wallet or an album.
That is not the case today. There are so many ways to share an
image. You have recoloring, editing, reshaping, making and creating
gifs. One of my favorite uses of sharing pictures is through the use of
memes. In the novel Memes in Digital Culture, Shifman defines memes as
a way for individuals to express their emotions or feelings in a single picture
with few words. Shifman also enlists Richard Dawkins original definition of the
word “meme” in 1976, stating that memes are small units of culture that are
spread to people by copying and imitating.
Memes provide a way to express oneself whether it’s through a humorous post, a political statement or comment on current events. Memes give you a chance to share a message with a small community who understand you and your world. Often times, an audience will change the meme and forward it on putting their own “spin” on it. That is half the fun of sharing new memes.
There are so many messages you can create with a single picture in the form of a meme. For the upcoming political election, you can make a statement regarding a candidate. You can make it clear that you despise Hilary Clinton or love “Bernie”. A meme often pokes fun of someone’s appearance, i.e. Donald Trump’s hair. You can also insert pictures of yourself and friends to create jokes regarding things you have in common, i.e. movies, sports, actors, etc. You have control over how an image is presented and how you wish to share it. Memes can be posted on Facebook and shared with friends, and your friends now have the ability to find the original picture and change it up any way they like.
So, the next time you see an interesting picture, add it to the world of memes.
Shifman, L. (2004). Memes in Digital Culture. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.