Ironic memes” and digital literacies
Exploring identity through multimodal texts
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6443479 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Vinicio Ntouvlis (0000-0002-0219-7674, University of Vienna, corresponding author), Jarret Geenen (Radboud University, Netherlands) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 1193-1211 |
| Publication date | 2023-08-18 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Media & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/14614448231189801 |
| OpenAlex | W4385980676 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 33 |
This study examines so-called “ironic memes,” a seemingly inscrutable genre of memetic Internet content, as meaningful digital multimodal text. Considering Internet memes’ semiotic construction patterns and their social functions, this study connects these two concerns, asking: How is the provocatively “nonsensical” design of ironic memes organized and connected to the construction of (group) identities online? Adopting a digital ethnographic approach, we employ a combination of multimodal discursive methods in order to jointly analyze semiotic design patterns and the social actions underlying them. The analysis suggests that, despite their nonsensical appearance, ironic memes rely on distinct design strategies that contribute to the construction of (group) identities rooted in digital literacies. Specifically, ironic memes constitute generic hybrids where semiotic practices are associated with personas that are “less literate” in Internet memeing. Our findings indicate that digital literacies can feature as central in the construction of superdiverse identities through digital text-making and text-sharing
Aesthetics · Art · Ethnography · Human–computer interaction · Identity (music · Linguistics · Multimodality · Persona · Semiotics · Sociology · The Internet · World Wide Web · Anthropology · Computer Science · Digital Communication and Language · Digital Games and Media · Humor Studies and Applications
Durkheim and the Internet
Mediated Discourse
Social Linguistics and Literacies
Multimodality
The Sociolinguistics of Globalization
Participatory Culture, Community, and Play
A Review of the “Digital Turn” in the New Literacy Studies
Memeing Against Mainstream. An Analysis of Dank Memes and the Pictorial (Counter-)Practices of Meme Culture
A Brief Introduction to Impact
SRSLY?? A typology of online ironic markers
Buy memes low, sell memes high
Making sense? The structure and meanings of digital memetic nonsense
The Discursive Power of Memes in Digital Culture
What is meant by hybridity? An investigation of hybridity and related terms in genre studies
There’s no place for lulz on Lolcats”
Semiotics of spreadability
Digital superdiversity
Internet memes as contested cultural capital
It Gets Better”
Memes as genre
Internet memes as internet signs
The 21st-century hipster
Internet memes as multimodal constructions
Super-diversity and its implications
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2025 (2) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |