CLADISTICS ruined my life: intersections of fandom, internet memes, and public engagement with science

Gartley, Luke-Elizabeth

doi:10.22323/2.21050401

Cited by 2 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Elements and actors native to internet culture such as memes and digital influencers were important factors in the process of making sense of the pandemic and in the process of community bonding (Pulos, 2020;de Saint Laurent et al, 2021;Beck, 2022). In addition, the relevance of elements from internet culture as part of science communication has been debated for engaging new audiences (Gartley, 2022), with potential positive impacts on vaccination campaigns.…”

Section: Framing Health Information With Internet Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

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Combating misinformation with internet culture: the case of Brazilian public health organizations and their COVID-19 vaccination campaigns

Marx,

Blanco,

Amaral

et al. 2023

INTR

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Purpose This study investigates the communication behavior of public health organizations on Twitter during the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Brazil. It contributes to the understanding of the organizational framing of health communication by showcasing several instances of framing devices that borrow from (Brazilian) internet culture. The investigation of this case extends the knowledge by providing a rich description of the organizational framing of health communication to combat misinformation in a politically charged environment.Design/methodology/approach The authors collected a Twitter dataset of 77,527 tweets and analyzed a purposeful subsample of 536 tweets that contained information provided by Brazilian public health organizations about COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. The data analysis was carried out quantitatively and qualitatively by combining social media analytics techniques and frame analysis.Findings The analysis showed that Brazilian health organizations used several framing devices that have been identified by previous literature such as hashtags, links, emojis or images. However, the analysis also unearthed hitherto unknown visual framing devices for misinformation prevention and debunking that borrow from internet culture such as “infographics,” “pop culture references” and “internet-native symbolism.”Research limitations/implications First, the identification of framing devices relating to internet culture add to our understanding of the so far little addressed framing of misinformation combat messages. The case of Brazilian health organizations provides a novel perspective to knowledge by offering a notion of internet-native symbols (e.g. humor, memes) and popular culture references for misinformation combat, including misinformation prevention. Second, this study introduces a frontier of political contextualization to misinformation research that does not relate to the partisanship of the spreaders but that relates to the political dilemmas of public organizations with a commitment to provide accurate information to citizens.Practical implications The findings inform decision-makers and public health organizations about framing devices that are tailored to internet-native audiences and can guide strategies to carry out information campaigns in misinformation-laden social media environments.Social implications The findings of this case study expose the often-overlooked cultural peculiarities of framing information campaigns on social media. The report of this study from a country in the Global South helps to contrast several assumptions and strategies that are prevalent in (health) discourses in Western societies and scholarship.Originality/value This study uncovers unconventional and barely addressed framing devices of health organizations operating in Brazil, which provides a novel perspective to the body of research on misinformation. It contributes to existing knowledge about frame analysis and broadens the understanding of frame devices borrowing from internet culture. It is a call for a frontier in misinformation research that deals with internet culture as part of organizational strategies for successful misinformation combat.

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Section: Framing Health Information With Internet Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…, 2021; Beck, 2022). In addition, the relevance of elements from internet culture as part of science communication has been debated for engaging new audiences (Gartley, 2022), with potential positive impacts on vaccination campaigns.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combating misinformation with internet culture: the case of Brazilian public health organizations and their COVID-19 vaccination campaigns

Marx,

Blanco,

Amaral

et al. 2023

INTR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Internet memes, or i-memes, are "a form of visual communication that can appear in different formats: an image, an animated gif or a short video" [Gómez García, 2015, p. 149]. Thus, current memes are digital items with multimodal characteristics transmitted over the internet, which have a socio-discursive activity strongly based on humor [Wiggins, 2019;Gartley, 2022]. They can be considered "a communicational phenomenon typical of digital culture" [Gómez García, 2015, p. 148].…”

Section: Memes: Digital and Multimodal Discoursementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the case of both representations, which are based on analogy, it is more likely that their conceptual dimension is not perceived outside of a particular group, since this requires a more in-depth analysis, which is not characteristic of social networks and communication through memes, based on the speed of their replication. As part of a mass digital culture, memes can remix and produce new meanings in public understanding and commitment to science [Gartley, 2022]. However, as Dynel [2021] cautions, memes are replicated on social media, so their original meanings may be lost or unintentionally distorted.…”

Section: Memes About Preventive Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The rapid spread of memes means that a variety of topics is covered, including science [Zeng, Schäfer & Allgaier, 2021;Gartley, 2022]. The speed at which memes were produced was already conspicuous even before the Covid-19 pandemic started, but the latter further boosted their circulation due to the digital surge in social activity on the Internet [Murru & Vicari, 2021;Dynel, 2021;Priyadarshini et al, 2022].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Science by means of memes? Meanings of Covid-19 in Brazil based on Instagram posts

Francisco¹,

Albuquerque²,

Costa³

et al. 2023

Journal of Science Communication

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This study aimed at analyzing Brazilian memes posted on Instagram about Covid-19, in which scientific concepts were intertwined with the message. The research was based on virtual ethnography and the analysis considered the multimodal structure of memes following principles of the Grammar of Visual Design. Only twelve memes out of a universe of 83 identified (14.5%) presented knowledge about science interdependently with meanings that could be produced. One of the core aspects is the complexity of both representations and scientific concepts in memes about Covid-19. Scientific aspects, humor and irony were associated with social and political criticism through different multimodal interactions.

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CLADISTICS ruined my life: intersections of fandom, internet memes, and public engagement with science

Cited by 2 publications

References 10 publications

Combating misinformation with internet culture: the case of Brazilian public health organizations and their COVID-19 vaccination campaigns

Combating misinformation with internet culture: the case of Brazilian public health organizations and their COVID-19 vaccination campaigns

Science by means of memes? Meanings of Covid-19 in Brazil based on Instagram posts

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