Topic Interests

 Hello everyone!

The readings we did for the week have inspired me to consider several topics for a research proposal. One thing I'm interested in studying is the use of memes as rhetorical digital texts/compositions, perhaps along with a focus in how they are made and interpreted and by/for whom. I am also interested in researching how memes evolve. I also am interested in digital advertising as rhetoric and the environmental/network/ material/technological objects through which people interact with digital ads. How do either of these digital media enable us to interact with others or with brands or with our own technology better? How do they affect what we know, learn, think, do, and value? I'm still in the formative stages. I haven't yet given much thought to how I would structure or test a hypothesis regarding these topics, or even what my hypothesis should be. Seems like a literature review is in order before learning how I could make a contribution to the study of either memes or digital ads. Let me know what you think!

Comments

  1. AdellKirkmanAugust 29, 2022 at 2:28 PM

    (For some reason, I can only post a comment from my personal Gmail.) Mike, memes are a very interesting phenomena specific to the time we live in, and when you think about it, memes are a very unique form of expression. They involve graphic elements from one context, warped to fit the written word in such a way that the graphic takes on a completely different meaning. I think you have a lot of potential where memes are concerned.

    I'm not sure how you would measure people's interaction with digital advertising. Did you have something specific in mind? Would your research be more quantitative or qualitative? Either way, there are a not of avenues to take your ideas with advertising.

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  2. florence08September 1, 2022 at 2:26 PM

    Hi Mike,

    Great initial thoughts here!! Both the rhetoric(s) of memes and/or digital ads are worthy subjects for further exploration, especially as you examine how they affect audiences, how they gain traction, and so on. For instance, a possible angle for memes might be to analyze how certain issues are being framed online (e.g., hashtags), dissect the content's implication/meaning/slant, or consider the number of shares/retweets/videos, etc. based on a rhetorical framework.

    And yes -- start plowing through some scholarly articles for ideas (I'll also introduce the Lit. Review writing assignment #1 next week) and once you're ready to identify your direction -- whether content analysis, qualitative, and/or other types of research method -- let me know and maybe we can set a brief conference to talk about it, ok? Am here.... =))

    Dr. B

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