Online Virality : Spread and Influence.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schafer, Valérie.

Contributor:

Pailler, Fred.

Luxembourg National Research Fund, Funder.

Series:

Studies in Digital History and Hermeneutics Series

Studies in Digital History and Hermeneutics Series ; v.9

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (282 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Basel/Berlin/Boston : Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2024.

Summary:

The book Online Virality, edited by Valérie Schafer and Fred Pailler (C2DH, University of Luxembourg), aims to provide a comprehensive examination of online virality. It explores the many ways we can think about this modern phenomenon and analyse the circulation, reception, and evolution of viral born-digital content. Virality and content sharing always intertwine material, infrastructural, visual and discursive elements. This involves various platforms, stakeholders, intermediaries, social groups and communities that are constantly (re)defining themselves. Regulation, curation and content moderation politics, as well as affects and emotions (fears, humour, empathy, hatred...), are also at the core of online virality. The publication offers an interdisciplinary overview on online virality by including different types of scientific inputs, such as precise case studies, various methodological approaches (including close and distant reading, visual studies, discourse analysis, etc.), as well as historical and socio-technical analyses. The book is organised around three main topics: Expressions and Genres; Mobilisations and Engagements; Circulation and Infrastructures. The first part explores the semiotics of virality, the diverse and creative forms of expression, specific genres, the relation to other media, and the affective side of virality, such as using humour or provocation. The second part focuses on the political dimension of memes and viral content and their use in the context of controversy or political and ideological opposition. Finally, the third part delves into the often understudied but essential side of virality, by examining the role of platforms and their curation, in short, the infrastructural dimension of virality. These three parts allow us to question such fundamental notions linked to virality as, among others, circulation, reception, economy of attention, instrumentalisation and affect. This volume brings together authors from various disciplines, including semiotics, history, information and communication sciences, computer science, digital humanities, media studies. In addition, the contributors approach the question via case studies that allow for a perspective that is not exclusively US and European-centred. Some chapters explore virality in Brazil, Chile, while the book also examines a wide variety of platforms (YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, video game platforms, etc.).

Contents:

Intro

Acknowledgments

Contents

A Multi-Layered and Interdisciplinary Approach to Online Virality and its Temporalities

Part 1: Expression and Genres

Is Virality a Digital Concept?

The Biggest Meme. Harlem Shake Ten Years After

History Makes Memes. Memes Make History

From "Nazaré Confusa" to the "Confused Blonde Lady": The Role of Brazilian "Zuera" as a Post-Mass Media Genre in Digital Culture

Part 2: Mobilisation and Engagement

Memes, Emotional Engagement and Politics

Virality of #Chadolf #Kitler: Ambivalence in Chiaroscuro

Unexpected Politicians: The Viral Celebrities of Unrest

Memetic Social Resilience? Analysing Memes about Political Violence in Present-Day Belfast, Northern Ireland

Part 3: Circulation and Infrastructures

Reactive Communities and Affective Intensities. A Methodological Proposal to Seize the Formation and Circulation of "Anti-System" Assertions on a YouTube Channel

The Womb, the Banknote and the Trolley. Elements of French Anti-Gender Visual Culture

On the Move: Played Characters Circulations through Online Landscapes and Infrastructures

Playing Hide and Seek with Algorithms in the "Gay TikTok": From Shadowbanning to Platform Affordances

Authors

Index.

Notes:

This eBook is made available Open Access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

3-11-131137-6

OCLC:

1452594653