[Researcher as Facilitator]

Studio Meme

• Occurred in the city of Tubac, AZ as part of Tubac Center of the Arts‘ Summer Art Program.
• June 11-July 3rd, 2013.
• Data was collected from 27 learners in the 6-13 year-old range.
• An IRL/Online hybrid.
  • IRL: Besides Studio Meme, learners cycled, one week at a time, through classes on mixed media, sculpture, illustration, acting and self-reflection.
  • Online: During Studio Meme, learners assumed control of one of five laptops each associated with a faux Google account as part of a private Google+ circle.
• Participants engaged the Language of Internet Memes through three distinct, age-appropriate curricula:
  • 6-7 year olds.
    • Emoji Stories
      • What they read:
      • How they read it:
      • Wat they wrote:
      • How they shared:

        

        

        
        
    • Separated at Birth
      • What they read:
      • How they read it:
      • What they wrote:
  • 8-10 year olds.
    • Image Macros
      • What they read:
      • How they read it:

        

        

        
        
      • What they wrote:

        

        

        
        
    • Perception/What people think I do
      • What they read:
      • How they read it:
      • What they wrote:

        

        

        
        
  •  11 to 13 year olds (two rounds due to learner groupings, 3, & number of weeks, 4).
    • First Round
      • Captioned Images
        • What they read:
        • Question: Are Internet Memes art?
        • How they answered:
        • What they wrote with no question to answer:
      • AnimatedGIFs
        • What they read:

          

          Lorna Mills, 2012. Retrieved from https://plus.google.com/100618599873162525277/posts/5DwKK9x9DmT

          

          Julia Heffernan, 2012. Retrieved from http://juliaheffernan.tumblr.com/post/30863290499/aaaaaaaaand-here-is-one-in-space

          
          
        • How they read it:

          

          

          
          
        • How they answered:
        • How they rewrote what they read:

          

          

          

          
          
        • What they wrote anew:

          

          

          

          
          
    • Second Round
      • Remixed content
        • What they read:
        • How they remixed the content generated by others:
          • Stills:
          • Videos
            • What they wrote:
              

              Click for source

              …loading

      • Final assignment:
        • What was your favorite part of the summer camp?
        • What would you change about the summer camp?
        • Non answer
• Instrumentalactants:
  • Chromebook Laptops
  • Google+ Social Network
  • Google+ Chat Window
  • http://frabz.com/meme-generator/separated-at-birth/
  • http://frabz.com/meme-generator/what-i-do/
  • http://wigflip.com/roflbot/
  • http://gifmaker.me/
  • http://apps.pixlr.com/express (Chrome extension)
  • https://www.youtube.com/editor
  • Meme Generator App for Android by ZomboDroid

poe[MEME]s

This was a second set of workshops conducted in July of 2013, this time in conjunction with Tucson Youth Poetry Slam. It introduced young slam poets to the language and practice of Internet Memes and asked them to translate poetry borne out of the discussions into meme forms. The study was cut from the dissertation for space and time but here is a short report on it: poe[MEME]s [PDF].