"I daresay you haven’t had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There[21]. This thesis examines an artificial proto-culture of e-Puck robots to examine which factors affect the transmission of memes, in the form of sounds imitated back and forth between the robots, to determine which factors promote or inhibit meme diversity and spread. Meme theory posits that the development of cultural artifacts such as ideas, myths, religions, etc. arises naturally from cultural information transfer by imitation. It has been suggested that 'copybots’, robots programmed to imitate each other, would eventually lead to the emergence of something recognizable as culture[13]. This thesis describes part of a research project which sought to use e-Puck robots to implement a copybot based system to examine this proto-culture emergence. The group implemented an Artificial Culture lab for experiments using the e-Puck robots. Here the focus is on the imitation of sound patterns (the memes) within a group of e-Pucks to examine which factors promote or inhibit meme diversity and spread. Other parts of the research group examined the imitation of movement patterns, human perceptions (and preconceptions of robots), and abstract societal level modeling. Within is described a simulator and a series of experiments on the imitation of sounds using that simulator that examine the factors affecting meme transmission in homogeneous populations and evolving heterogeneous populations. These experiments show that they key factor in promoting meme diversity and spread is simply the frequency with which imitation occurs. They also show that memory size plays a smaller role and selection strategy (for choosing which meme to imitate) plays a lesser role still. "If you’ve done six impossible things this morning, why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe." Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe[1].

This dissertation explores the process of meaning transformation in digital participatory culture by examining the replication, mutation and circulation that iconic news images undergo in cyberspace through Internet memes. With triangulation of visual historical analysis, visual rhetorical analysis and iconographic tracking, the project argues that members of remix culture weaponize the digital derivatives of the famous images through manipulation to renegotiate history, dispense social justice in the absence of other recourse and engage in political activism. Such transformations, as this project shows, are likely to weaken the rhetorical powers of iconic images to define collective memory, a role they have played for decades. With the use of Internet memes, members of the public can now re-remember history outside the iconic accounts, producing their own interpretations of events that contribute to public discourse. Internet memes that exist alongside their iconic visual counterparts democratize the process of meaning making and remembering in remix culture, promoting polyvocality in favor of singular versions of the past. Such fragmentation of master narratives highlights the changing role of iconic pictures in the process of signification thanks to technology. Keywords: Iconic images, Internet memes, signification, digital participatory culture, collective memory.

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Memes are a popular phenomenon in internet culture, despite this fact, meme marketing has not received a lot of attention within the field of marketing research. Therefore, this thesis studies the effect meme marketing has on brand recall and sharing intention using a meme template with an unknown brand. The thesis was a quantitative study, and two questionnaires were conducted. One of the questionnaires was a meme advertisement and the other one was a questionnaire with a “serious” advertisement, the results from the studies were then compared. The thesis relied on previous research and methodology by Yang (2022) who studied meme marketing’s effect on brand recall and sharing intention. The results indicate that meme marketing has a positive effect on sharing intention compared to serious marketing. The results also indicate that meme marketing’s effect on brand recall is positive. However, the effect on brand recall was not statistically significant, but close. This thesis contributes to the understanding of meme marketing’s effect on brand recall and sharing intention compared to serious marketing. / Memes är ett populärt fenomen i internetkulturen, trotts det har inte meme-marknadsföring fått mycket uppmärksamhet inom den akademiska sfären. Denna uppsats studerar därför effekten av meme-marknadsföring och har använts sig av en populär ”meme-mall” för att studera brand recall och sharing intention. Denna uppsats var en kvantitativ studie där två enkäter genomfördes. En av enkäterna behandlade rolig meme-marknadsföring och den andra var en enkät om marknadsföring som inte är avsedd att vara rolig. Resultatet från respektive enkät undersöktes och jämfördes. Studien bygger på forskning och metodik av Yang (2022) där hon studerade meme-marknadsförings effekt på brand recall och sharing intention. Yang (2022) använde sig av två enkäter där en enkät innehåll meme-marknadsföring och en med” seriös” marknadsföring. Meme-marknadsföring tycks ha en positiv effekt på brand recall och sharing intention i jämförelse med ”seriös” marknadsföring. Dock var effekten på brand recall inte statistiskt signifikant. Denna uppsats har bidragit med förståelse och kunskap om meme-marknadsförings effekt på sharing intention och brand recall jämfört med ”seriös” marknadsföring.

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This study seeks to understand how horror urban legends undergo changes over time and the possible reasons for their alterations. Past researchers have yet to analyze the shifts that have occurred within the retellings of these dark tales, and through this analysis, light will be shed onto what truly affects the media's storytelling behavior. Building upon meme theory, this study will use narrative and historical context analyses to uncover the objectives, narrative elements and temporal environments surrounding 10 replications of three horror urban legend memes over the past century. This research will uncover how these memes have mutated over time and inform the world as to how context plays a role. A total of 30 horror urban legend artifacts (10 per meme) were analyzed using qualitative research methods in order to uncover the similarities and differences that appeared in the replications of each of the memes. Also, the contemporary thoughts, attitudes and values of the various time periods in which each of the retellings existed were analyzed to understand how historical events and movements may have led to a change in the story. The findings revealed that social movements played a large role in the alteration of horror urban legend memes, particularly in regards to the second wave of Feminism. Additionally, the findings showed that memes that heavily portrayed racism were altered in more recent decades to include leading actors and characters of various ethnic backgrounds. Because of these findings, this research aligns with and expands upon the work completed by Joel Best and Gerald Horiuchi (1985). / Master of Arts / This study looks at how three icon horror urban legends have changed over the past century. Specifically, this study analyzes "Bloody Mary," "Sleepy Hollow" and the "Wendigo" in order to track the changes each tale has gone through, in addition to uncovering what might influence their change. Researchers have yet to understand this occurrence, and this study will serve as a way to answer why the media would be interested in revisiting and reviving older stories. Remakes of movies and TV shows are found in abundance within society, so this research will help assign a reason as to why ancient tales are dug back up from the grave. Using meme theory, this study examines how a story is able to be retold, remade and eventually changed by analyzing 10 remakes per urban legend, with each remake coming from a different decade between the 1920s and the 2010s. The findings reveal that history plays a role in the remaking and altering of previous tales, mainly due to the older versions of horror urban legends no longer being relevant or culturally appropriate. Occasionally, the older adaptation of a story will have material or revolve around a subject matter that is no longer acceptable within a more modern society, such as women being shown only as a damsel in distress. Because of this, in order for the story to not be forgotten, it must be remade and altered to align with where the world is today.

In this thesis I develop a contemporary history of memetics, or the field dedicated to the study of memes. Those working in the realm of meme theory have been generally concerned with developing either evolutionary or epidemiological approaches to the study of human culture, with memes viewed as discrete units of cultural transmission. At the center of my account is the argument that memetics has been characterized by an atypical pattern of growth, with the meme concept only moving toward greater academic legitimacy after significant development and diffusion in the popular realm. As revealed by my analysis, the history of memetics upends conventional understandings of discipline formation and the popularization of scientific ideas, making it a novel and informative case study in the realm of science and technology studies. Furthermore, this project underscores how the development of fields and disciplines is thoroughly intertwined with a larger social, cultural, and historical milieu. / Master of Science

Formulamos um modelo matemático determinístico baseado no princípio de ação de massas, em analogia aos trabalhos que estudam a dinâmica de doenças infecciosas em Epidemiologia. Analisamos a dinâmica do espalhamento de rumores levando em conta a simetria no número de contatos diretos entre suscetíveis e infectados pelo rumor e estudamos as implicações de uma campanha publicitária educativa na dinâmica do modelo. Posteriormente, propomos uma simplificação do modelo e desconsideramos o contato entre os indivíduos suscetíveis e infectados supostamente mais resistentes às novidades. Discutimos suas implicações no espalhamento do rumor e a conexão com os parâmetros que descrevem o comportamento social. / We have developed a deterministic mathematical model based on the mass-action principle, in analogy to the works that study the dynamics of infectious diseases in Epidemiology. We analyzed the dynamic of rumors spreading, taking into account the symmetry of contacts among susceptible and infectious individuals and studied the implications of an educative broadcasting advertising in the model. Afterwards, we proposed a simplification ot the model excluding the contact among susceptible and infected individuals supposedly more resistant to novelities. Their implications to the spread of rumor and its connection with parameters describing social behavior are discussed.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2018-11-29T13:15:27Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Lidiane Mallmann_.pdf: 11923133 bytes, checksum: fbfeb1841ad82810774805d4b5a52d86 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-29T13:15:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lidiane Mallmann_.pdf: 11923133 bytes, checksum: fbfeb1841ad82810774805d4b5a52d86 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-08-29 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta dissertação trata de imagens e multiplicação de sentidos na interface do Instagram. Esta imagem sobre a qual nos debruçamos é atravessada por aparelhos, por softwares de manipulação de imagens e dispositivos disponíveis a usuários de redes sociais online ou não, e que, de alguma forma, tornarem-se manipuladores de imagem multiplicando seus sentidos. O trabalho inclui uma discussão a respeito do universo social e cognitivo pensado nas imagens e suas passagens (PEIXOTO, 1993), passando por uma exploração arqueológica de manipulação de imagens (BENJAMIN, 2012) assim como uma discussão sobre a natureza digital e metamórfica das imagens (MACHADO, 2007; MANOVICH, 2002, 2006). Distinguimos conceitos como imagem meme, imagem memética e processos meméticos para poder teorizar os diversos estágios destas imagens e poder pensa-las como processos audiovisuais. O corpus escolhido é o que chamamos de “caso Garotinho”, onde cartografamos a imagem meme da resistência a ser preso do ex-governador do Rio de Janeiro Anthony Garotinho e algumas das multiplicações de sentidos que resultaram da atualização desta imagem meme. Como metodologias usamos a cartografia (DELEUZE, GUATTARI 1995; KASTRUP, 2015; KILPP, 2010;) e o scanning (FLUSSER, 2011). Destes métodos chegamos a seis coleções de imagens reunidas por afinidades. As coleções (BENJAMIN, 2012) dão a ver algumas dinâmicas fundantes dos processos meméticos e da tecnocultura audiovisual (MONTAÑO, 2015) mediada por software (MANOVICH, 2011). / This dissertation deals with images and the multiplication of meanings on Instagram interface. This image which we are concerned with is affected by devices, image manipulation softwares and available devices for social media users, online or not, whose became, somehow, image manipulators multiplying their mean. The work includes a discussion about the social and cognitive universe thought in the images and their passages (PEIXOTO, 1993), passing for an archeological exploration of image manipulation (BENJAMIN, 2012), as well as a discussion about the digital and metaphoric nature of the images (MACHADO, 2007; MANOVICH, 2002, 2006). We distinguished concepts as meme image, memetic image and memetic processes to might theorize the different stages of those images and might think them as audiovisual processes. The corpus chosen is what we called “caso Garotinho”, where we mapped the meme image of the resistance of Rio de Janeiro ex-governor Anthony Garotinho from his prison and some of the meaning multiplications that resulted from the update of this meme image. As methodological methods we used the cartography (DELEUZE, GUATTARI 1995; KASTRUP, 2015; KILPP, 2010) and the scanning (FLUSSER, 2011). From these methods we reached six collections of images reunited by affinities. The collections (BENJAMIN, 2012) reveal some founding dynamics of memetics processes and audiovisual tecnoculture (MONTAÑO, 2015) mediated by software (MANOVICH, 2011).

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo compreender a constituição sociodiscursiva de uma cadeia de gêneros no meio digital. O corpus utilizado nesta pesquisa consiste em um recorte da cadeia de gêneros denominado Bela, Recatada e do Lar, constituída por três nós: a reportagem Marcela Temer: Bela, Recatada e do Lar, publicada pela Revista Veja em abril de 2016; a campanha de Memes surgida como resposta à representação de mulher, realizada pela revista; e os tweets-resposta que avaliaram a participação dos homens na campanha. A fundamentação teórica a partir da qual se conduziu a pesquisa foi a Análise Crítica do Discurso de base faircloughiana (1989; 2010; 2011; 2013), somada a diálogos com conceitos do Círculo de Bakhtin (1979, 2003) e com as reflexões teóricas de Shifman (2013), Castells (2015), Saffioti (1987), Wolf (1992), Souza-Júnior (2011), Lévy (2000) e Elias (2014) a respeito das redes sociais, de gênero e de Meme. Em termos do aparato descritivo, cada nó da cadeia requisitou diferentes categorias de análise: para a reportagem, a descrição foi realizada por meio da Referenciação e da Categorização (Koch, 2014) e da transitividade (Halliday, 2004[1985])); para os Memes, recorreu-se à Interação entre o verbal e o visual (Unsworth, 2006); e para os tweets, utilizou-se a Avaliatividade (Martin e White, 2005). Através da descrição da reportagem, observamos uma representação de mulher subalterna às questões públicas e sexuais, que passa a ser ressignificada nos Memes quando mulheres e homens constituem uma campanha; na descrição dos Memes, apontamos relações lógico-semânticas de divergência, quando protagonizados por mulheres, e de concordância, quando protagonizados por homens, e, por fim, na descrição do twites que remetiam à participação de homens na campanha, observamos avaliações negativas majoritariamente, comprovando uma hegemonia discursiva feminista no Twitter. A análise sociodiscursiva, auxiliada pela descrição linguística dos nós da cadeia, comprovou a transformação de um discurso de resistência feminista em uma hegemonia nas redes sociais, verificada pela avaliação da participação de homens na campanha. Além disso, também foi possível promo ver um debate, ainda que inicial, de uma metodologia para pesquisa com gêneros discursivos em cadeia. / This dissertation aims to understand the sociodiscursive constitution of a genre chain in the digital environment. The corpus consists of a clipping of the genre chain named \"Bela, Recatada e do Lar\", constituted by three nodes: the article \"Marcela Temer: Bela, Recatada e do Lar\", published by Veja Magazine in April 2016; the Memes campaign emerged as a response to the women\'s representation in the magazine; and tweets-response that evaluated the participation of men in the campaign. The theoretical basis for this research was the Critical Discourse Analysis by Fairclough (1989; 2010; 2011; 2013), in addition to dialogues with Bakhtin Circle concepts (1979, 2003) and theoretical reflections of Shifman (2013), Castells (2015), Saffioti (1987), Wolf (1992), Souza-Júnior (2011), Lévy (2000) and Elias (2014), regarding social, gender and Meme networks. In terms of the descriptive apparatus, each node of the chain required different categories of analysis: for reportage, the description was based on the Reference and Categorization (Koch, 2014) and the Transitivity (Halliday, 2004 [1985])); for the Memes, the interaction between the verbal and the visual (Unsworth, 2006); and for tweets, the Evaluability (Martin and White, 2005). Through the description of the report, we noted a representation of subalternative woman to the public and sexual questions, that happens to be resignified in Memes, when women and men constitute a campaign; in the description of the Memes, we pointed out logico-semantic relations of divergence, when carried out by women, and agreement, when carried out by men, and, finally, in the description of the tweets that refer to the participation of men in the campaign, we observed negative evaluations mostly, proving a feminist discursive hegemony on Twitter. The sociodiscursive analysis, a ided by the linguistic description of the nodes of the chain, proved the transformation of a discourse of feminist resistance into a hegemony in social networks, verified through the evaluation of the participation of men in the campaign. In addition, it was also possible to promote a debate, even if initial, of a methodology for research with discursive genre chain.