Internet Memes as Distributed Design (Mar 9)

designmatters Lecture Series
The LOLcat, the/b/tard, and the Well-wrought Urn : Internet memes as distributed design

Tuesday, March 9 at 5:30pm in the Siebel Center Auditorium
Room 1404, Siebel Center 201 N. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801

[The first of two Julian Dibbell events this month related to the InfoStructure group.]

ABSTRACT
From Rickroll to Fail blog to Numa Numa guy, the ephemeral bits of textual and visual culture known as Internet memes have taken up residence in the margins of our online lives and will not go away. This talk attempts to understand why, outlining the rudiments of a basic memetic literacy and exploring the social and aesthetic practices that bring memes into existence, keep them in circulation, and make them so improbably compelling.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Julian Dibbell is an internationally recognized author, speaker, and technology journalist who specializes in information technology. He is a contributing editor for Wired magazine. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Wired, Le Monde, TIME, Harper’s, Rolling Stone, Details, The Nation, and many other publications. His 1993 article for the Village Voice, “A Rape in Cyberspace,” is the most cited, reprinted, and assigned essay ever written on identity and the Internet. In 2004, he co-founded the game research collective Terra Nova. Jullian Dibbell is George A. Miller Visiting Professor at the College of Media and the Center for Advanced Study of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign during Spring Semester 2010.

ABOUT THE SERIES
Designmatters3 is a lecture series to promote design thinking that integrates design, business and technology in the creation of innovative products, services and experiences. Organized by the School of Art + Design, sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Colleges of Engineering and Fine and Applied Arts; School of Art + Design, Technology Entrepreneur Center; College of Business, Department of Human Factors, Autodesk. and the MS in Technology Management Program.

All designmatters3 events are free and open to the public.

For more information - Contact: Traci Pines: tpines@illinois.edu