Newfags don't remember Lörs lärä : Internet memes on an anonymous imageboard
Pajunen, Salla (2017)
2017
Informaatiotutkimuksen ja interaktiivisen median tutkinto-ohjelma - Degree Programme in Information Studies and Interactive Media
Viestintätieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2017-05-30
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201706091900
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:uta-201706091900
Tiivistelmä
The goal of this thesis is to examine Internet memes on Ylilauta.org, a Finnish discussion forum.
Internet memes are catchy pictures, videos, sound, or text that spread on the Internet from person to person via different channels. One of their features is viral, virus-like, spreading. Internet memes often spread through repetition and imitation, and people often modify them.
Ylilauta is a Finnish, anonymous Internet discussion forum or an imageforum. Another term for this kind of image-focused forum is imageboard and it is used of an Internet forum that has formed a special purpose for images and special kind of anonymous culture. Ylilauta is the Finnish version of the famous imageboard, 4chan.
The research questions studied in this thesis are:
1. What kind of image content circulates on Ylilauta?
2. How or in what kind of ways do people use images on Ylilauta?
3. What kind of meme images get modified or how do users modify them on Ylilauta?
The research method used in this thesis is netnography, also known as virtual ethnography. The research data were collected in November to December 2015, from /satunnainen/, the random discussion board on Ylilauta. Satunnainen is not a topic- based board so the discussion there is various. Discussion threads are collected and images in their context analyzed using a qualitative typology.
The results show that reaction images are an important part of the discussion culture of Ylilauta. Irony is often used, and remixed and parodied content is a big part of participation and meme content production. Also, various memes were found from the data set, for example Röökijäbä, Lörs lärä, Sad frog, and Spurdo spärde.
Internet memes are catchy pictures, videos, sound, or text that spread on the Internet from person to person via different channels. One of their features is viral, virus-like, spreading. Internet memes often spread through repetition and imitation, and people often modify them.
Ylilauta is a Finnish, anonymous Internet discussion forum or an imageforum. Another term for this kind of image-focused forum is imageboard and it is used of an Internet forum that has formed a special purpose for images and special kind of anonymous culture. Ylilauta is the Finnish version of the famous imageboard, 4chan.
The research questions studied in this thesis are:
1. What kind of image content circulates on Ylilauta?
2. How or in what kind of ways do people use images on Ylilauta?
3. What kind of meme images get modified or how do users modify them on Ylilauta?
The research method used in this thesis is netnography, also known as virtual ethnography. The research data were collected in November to December 2015, from /satunnainen/, the random discussion board on Ylilauta. Satunnainen is not a topic- based board so the discussion there is various. Discussion threads are collected and images in their context analyzed using a qualitative typology.
The results show that reaction images are an important part of the discussion culture of Ylilauta. Irony is often used, and remixed and parodied content is a big part of participation and meme content production. Also, various memes were found from the data set, for example Röökijäbä, Lörs lärä, Sad frog, and Spurdo spärde.