‘Who is /ourguy/?’: Tracing memes to study online subcultures

Abstract

In fast-paced attention economies, Internet memes and catchphrases that manage to ‘stick’ have arguably come to form anchor points in rapidly changing discourse: from discussions on ‘wokeness,’ clashes between ‘boomers’ and ‘zoomers,’ to catchphrase-laden conspiracy theories. This talk discusses how we may repurpose these objects as nodal points for research into online subcultures. In specific, I discuss several case studies of where I follow how memetic phrases proliferate on and around the far-right 4chan/pol/ forum, an infamous space that has been at the root of many political memes. I outline how these methods may reconfigure our ideas memes as objects of study, as well as challenge some assumptions and procedures embedded in digital methods research.

Speaker Biography

Sal Hagen is a researcher affiliated with the Digital Methods Initiative and OILab of the University of Amsterdam. His PhD research concerned the collectivity of radical imageboard groups, which he examined through quali-quantitative, data-driven methods. As part of this, he works on research tools to study online platforms and digital culture, notably through 4CAT (4cat.nl).

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