As Module 4 describes, communication exists in an ecosystem, and a written work is rarely if ever a lone artifact—it is a complex of genres, purposes, and audiences that one would be hard pressed to find a single origination and impossible to imagine where it could lead. We should see our work within multiple contexts because we never know where it will go and what it will mean to our audience.
The networked publics with ready access to tools of invention make understanding text ecosystems even more important. Memes are one way that exemplifies Bolter and Grusin’s twin logics of remediation: hypermediacy and immediacy. We can take complex topics and composite image, sound, and text to send a message. Websites like Quote Investigator and FactCheck.org’s Meme Checker can help us figure out whether something is true or not, but there is often more to a story than just simple true/false statements.
In this activity, you will be exploring ecosystems using the Internet. There are two parts to this: a full class project and a solo project. This is practice activity meant to test your Google and scholarly skills in preparation for the ecosystem map that you will be doing on your own writing. In addition, this activity is meant to give you the opportunity to confirm, challenge, complicate a meme.
Basics of an ecosystem map
The simplest way to begin an ecosystem map is to look at a single node (or artifact) and consider the context. Then, look for where it came from. Is it “true”? Did it actually happen? Can you verify a single source, or did it come from other sources? Be careful when doing an analysis to think of the “hypermediacy” of an artifact. Does the image, sound, and text belong to the same source? Next, try and go back further or branch to another source. After you have a “present” node and one or more past nodes, consider a “future” node. What elements of an artifact might be used in the future? In what ways could it be further deconstructed or added to? What genre features would need to change?
The Activity
- You will be on one of two teams. Your job: map this meme that I created. You have 20 minutes. One strategy is to split up tasks, but you can all just do it all at once as well.
The deliverable is a brief presentation to the class. Feel free to use the white board or whatever tool you find easiest.
We will chat about your findings for 10 minutes
- You will be responsible for producing a “rough” ecosystem map for ONE meme of your choosing. However, you aren’t technically working alone, so feel free to talk to your peers, share notes and strategies, and generally contribute to a noisy space of invention and action.
8Fact’s Instagram is an easy place to do this activity. While not all the images are good for this activity, many allow you to do this activity with little stress. However, you are free to find another meme to map. Recognize that most culture/funny memes will not give you a whole lot to talk about.
The deliverable is a short blog post that uses hyperlinks for your sources and describes the artifacts that it is drawing from. You can use images, but you are not required.