A meme is defined as a cultural item spread via the internet in the form of image, video, phrase, etc. Meme’s are often altered in a creative or humorous way, although some instances involve serious matters such as political affairs. There are many types of memes and they have even predated the internet. The word meme was created when figuring out if there was a measurable unit describing how ideas spread and evolve through generations. This shows that memes are more than just a funny image in our age of internet culture, they exist as ideas and element of culture passed from one individual to another. Here is an example of a “meme” that has been discovered in different cultures all over the world, such as France, England, Syria, and Italy.

Art is defined as the expression of human creative skill and imagination, memes are a clear display of human creativity and imagination in a visual form. They are a documentation of our modern lifestyle, our values, and our struggles. They encapsulate so much emotion and ideology that they can undoubtedly be considered art.

Without memes a large portion of our internet culture would go without documentation. They do a unique job of connecting people from all types of culture which is why they are so often shared. Humans are extraordinarily social beings, this makes memes very significant in our development as humans understanding the world around us.

A prime example of memes connecting our understanding of everything around us has been shown when the first picture of a black hole on April 10th, 2019 was taken. This was a breakthrough in our technology that was spread throughout the world through not only media but memes.

This meme shows the magnitude of influence memes has on our social interaction and distribution of information. Without these memes made on the phenomenon of capturing a black hole on camera many people around the world would have not known this revolutionary information.

For my second project, I decided to work on the Fashionista assignment. I chose to do this assignment because I wanted to learn more about clothing design for characters. Coincidentally, around the time we were introduced the DS106 is when Inktober started.

Inktober, occurring every October, is a time period where artists around the globe pledge to draw and ink their artworks everyday for the entire month of October. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to stick to my pledge because I get so caught up in schoolwork, but thankfully, because CT101 is so flexible, I was able to include another addition into my collection of Inktober drawings. In the image below, you can see my Instagram post showing a sketch of a woman wearing a party dress.

Overall, this assignment was really fun and I recommend others to try it out! It’s not everyday you feel like a fashion designer.

The DS106 Assignment bank has multiple options to choose from but I decide to go for Visual Project because I enjoy image manipulation. Of all the different projects, the one that caught my attention is “Pop Star out of Place.” 

The process was quite simple; first I went to google to choose a suitable background that will be very absurd for a pop star performance. Also I looked for a transparent PNG file of a pop star (Miley Cyrus) and a lion. Last week, I was introduced to a nice online image editing software – Photopea. I was thrilled with what I could achieve with the FREE online program.

I set out to recreate the Pop Star out of Place, I believe I accomplished that but at the same time the combination of different images I used on this assignment ended up producing varying stories and interpretations about the scene – that is digital storytelling.

The next project  I would like to try is under Design Assignments in DS106 Assignment Bank. It has to do with branding; creating a logo for a company with an unregistered logo.

For this assignment I have decided to  go with the visual because I feel like its something I already kind of know how to do. If not I would probably figure it out. I have two options and am not sure which one to choose but I would not mind trying them both. If I try a couple of these projects I feel like I might learn some new things I never knew I could do. Doing this allows us to learn new things and discover talents or skills we never knew we had. To the left is creating a silly movie poster and the right is a bucket list.

Links to both Images↓↓

https://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/create-a-silly-movie-poster/

Bucket List

Learning new skills are always important. Every time you learn something new, you find out what you are good at and you are not good at. Over the years I’ve though myself how to draw. I am not the best at it but I think I am okay. I would have never known how to draw if I’ve never tried it.

For the second one that I would like to try and complete I’ve chosen the design assignment.

I chose this because I would like to create something of my own and something I would actually like myself or maybe someone else could relate to or like. For example gaming. This looks like it would be fun to create!!

Create a Magazine Cover

This is my gamers magazine. I game all the time so I was like let me create a gaming magazine.

Why would not Internet memes be arts because ? Like any other art they are from human universe and welcomed into human universe. On the contrary they appear more complete for associating creativity, talent, skills, etc., which make the user fell being an integral part of the Game.

Like any art, internet memes are  cultural elements that attract us all around the Table while we each keep our freedom of coding, decoding and encoding.  What if we interated/assimilated/appropriated it better and quicker funnily?

The internet has become a powerful tool for people across the world and has made a way to emotionally benefit may lives.  However, what I love about the internet are the following :

The Entertainment –  The internet has a unique way of entertaining the viewers such as social media, Social media has provide a platform where we see all types of people from all over the world show off their talents or their life-styles and it just brings everyone all together as one.

The Connections- The internet also allows us to connect with people from across the. world like family , friends, and even work.

Brings Awareness- The internet allows us to share things that are happening across the world, we are able to see things such as police brutality and gender inequality and because of that we are able to bring awareness to those issue causing us to form movements and hashtags.

For the first DS106 assignment, I did one of the gif assignments. It was quite fun to do but it also felt quite monotonous from the other posts we have been doing for class. To do the assignment, I just picked a very timely topic and gave my reaction to it. (See screenshot below.)

Feel free to check it out on my blog!

I saw another gif assignment that I believe will be a bit more challenging for me. This one would entail me creating  gifs from my favorite TV show. I have a few options of tv shows to choose from but I think the challenge will present itself when I have to think of exact moments from my favorite show that’s worth sharing and creating a story out of it. Also, I’ll have to do more intense work to create the gif rather than finding clips from giphy.com and adding text. Let’s see how that goes!

Memes are definitely art. Memes are just as creative as any other art work and they take just as much imagination. Memes are not just art on the internet, some people make products including memes that sell in a lot of different web pages.  Memes require people to have a funny way of looking at life which allow them to create the memes.

Memes are a form of expression for some people, they use memes to express what they feel or think and that is a great way to do that. Art is used to express feelings and thoughts and memes are just like this but people doesn’t think of memes as art because they think that they are just jokes, but that is part of their purpose, they are a way to lighten up people and to bring them joy. The best part of it is that there is a meme for everyone, theres is always one that reaches a specific type of person.

This class has been very great to explore the internet and all the great things that we could find there.

The assignments on the DS106 site opened my eyes to a plethora of ideas I can choose from- which makes me really excited.

The first assignment that I will complete is a gif assignment. Once I saw the options of assignments to consider, I immediately went to the ‘gif assignments.’ I had mentioned in previous posts that I really enjoy gifs and before this class, making them was a struggle. Now that I have the luxury of making gifs so quickly on giphy.com, I do not pass up on the opportunity to make a gif. So for my first DS106 assignment, I will be doing a ‘reaction gif’ assignment. (See screenshot of the image below.)

I particularly enjoy the gif assignments because it allows me to incorporate my writing- which I enjoy doing. For this particular assignment, the instructions only require one reaction gif but I believe I will do more than one because of how fun they are to make. (Once completed, I will link the assignment in this post so the assignment will be easy to find.)

For future assignments I’d like to do, I’m thinking about doing video assignments. I actually found a specific one that caught my eye. (See screenshot of the image below.)

I had mentioned that I have a youtube channel with my sisters but my role is just to be in the videos. I am not a part of the editing process and all the logistics that would come with that. So, I think video assignments would be something I’d like to dabble with and learn more about. This decision isn’t just for youtube but with the career I want- broadcast journalist- there is no doubt that these skills would benefit me.

I’m not sure how many of these assignments I think I’d have to do for it to become second-hand nature to me but I’m willing to do as much as I have to do to become proficient with this.

I think memes are art because it has an author and a very important intention behind it (entertain and make people laugh). Also, I consider that art is a way of expressing feelings, and memes make it. There are memes that make you laugh, that make you reflect, that make you think, among others.

I believe that memes are art, but personally I think it should be categorized as the sub-branch of something (I don’t know what specifically). I mean, we cannot compare a DaVinci work which was made from zero with creativity, technique, and hard work to a meme where I can look for an image from the internet and add text to it.

The new trend of seeing and making memes is mostly in young people, but as time passes, a larger group of people are entering this culture.

I think it can be good for art and also a good way to communicate. Memes, like a work of art, can express emotions and feelings that can be equal to or much stronger than a photograph or a painting.

Art is defined as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.” To reinforce the meaning of art, memes are created from one’s imagination as a visual representation of an image or video that is often accompanied by a text to provoke the human emotions of witty, amusing, and humorous. On this basis, memes qualify as an art form that connects with the emotions of participants who engage in it. In correlation, meme’s that relate to a majority of participants are often rapidly shared by internet users. Therefore, this relationship among users and memes has become fundamental to the success in the growth of memes and to the creation of meme culture.

Often times, memes are packed with witty humor that makes fun of oneself or a person, place, or situation. This light-hearted teasing enhances user experience and makes the internet a joyful platform to interact with. Memes also allow users to form connections with one another by similar interests and experiences that are generally reflected.

Lastly, in times where people are plagued with worry regarding health, job security, and stress of politics the world can seem quite gloomy. Fortunately, with the creation of memes, it allows people a bit of relief in uncertain times. Memes create an environment that allows users to become a part of an online community, especially thanks to content creators who continue to produce updated, relevant and entertaining material for users to share.

My opinion of CT 101 thus far…

Resources:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/art

https://makeameme.org/meme/when-its-time-37736fcca0