Workshop at CAIS (Center of Advanced Internet Studies), in Bochum. 24 July 2019. Part 1: Studying Hashtag Engagement through Digital Networks (and Methods!) Janna Joceli Omena Part 2: Situating Internet Memes as Mediators & Techno-Social Multiplicities Elena Pilipets

1. Networks, Hashtags, Memes: A Quali-Quantitative
Approach for Exploring Social Media Engagement

2. Studying Hashtag Engagement through
Digital Networks (and Methods!)
Situating Internet Memes as Mediators &
Techno-Social Multiplicities

3. Studying Hashtag Engagement through
Digital Networks (and Methods!)

4. Digital methods propose a medium specific research and pay special attention to the
natively digital objects
in the computational sense
written for the medium,
rather than migrated to it
[Rogers 2013; 2015]
What are the methods of the medium?

5. 1. Hashtag engagement as issue networks
__> 3-L perspective
2. Knowledge combination for reading networks
__> A degree of technicity
__> Platform Grammatization
__> How to read digital networks?
__> Practical exercise
3. Hashtag Networks and the circulation of image
__> The case of Brazilian presidential elections 2018

6. Image retrieved from https://neilpatel.com/br/blog/como-usar-hashtag/
Situating Hashtag Engagement
Hashtag engagement as
collectively formed actions
mediated/imposed by social
media platforms
Omena, Mintz & Rabello (forthcoming).

7. Hashtag Engagement as
ISSUE SPACES
AND MEANS OF
RESEARCH.

8. Image retrieved from https://neilpatel.com/br/blog/como-usar-hashtag/
What does the word engagement in “hashtag engagement” refers to ?
˚ ˚ Engagement as actions, metrics
and research indicators
˚ ˚ Hashtag engagement as culture
of use, platform-affordade metrics,
and data sample indicator (e.g.
frequency of use)
+ Responds to the platform
metaphor (Gillespie, 2017)
Omena, Mintz & Rabello (forthcoming).

9. Hashtag Engagement
EMBEDDED UNDER
PLATFORM DATABASES;
object and method;
MEDIUM-SPECIFICITY
See Gerlitz & Rieder, 2018; Marres 2017

10. Platform grammatization
Platform infrastructure
APIs → multiple forms of storing and
further accessing hashtag data
+ n. of times a profile
mention a given tag
+ tag co-occurrences
+ most popular/recently
published tagged content
Culture of Use
+ news
+ activism
+ brand strategies
+ political polarization
+ politics
+ reactions to platform policy
+ demonstrations
+ automation practice
See Gerlitz & Rieder, 2018; Omena, Mintz & Rabello, forthcoming.
Repurposing Hashtagging
+ critically accounting for the
relationship between
hashtags and their forms of
grammatization
+ Tackling the complexity of
hashtagging to address the
problem of the methods
applied to understand
“hashtag engagement”

11. A degree of technicity
Practical forms of knowledgeTechnical forms of knowledgeNotion of “function”
Technical objects (social media) and how they relate with us
See Simondon, 2009; 2017; Omena, 2016; Gerlitz & Rieder, 2018; Omena, Mintz & Rabello, forthcoming paper; Rieder, forthcoming book.

12. Query Design/
Grammars
Data capture
API/Scraping
Extraction Software Output files Analysis Software ApproachPlatform
Scraper
API ?
Instaloader
Phantom Buster
Gephi
Vision APIs
MemeSpector Script
ImageSorter
Inkscape
Hashtag Neworks
How to combine the knowledge of platform grammatization with the notion of tehcnicity ?
Hashtags
TumblrTool
.tab, .csv,
.gdf files
Table adapted from Rieder, 2015.
How does social media research with digital methods works?
[layers of technical knowledge]

13. Three-layered perspective for studying hashtag engagement
hashtag related- uses, content and actors----------—>
Omena, Mintz & Rabello (forthcoming).
+ distinguishes high-visibility vs. ordinary
+ modes of engagement via temporal framing
----------—>
+ grasping the grammars of hashtags
+ (frequency of use I mentioning ı co-occurrences)
----------—>
+ visual and textual content
+ (diversity + richness of narratives)
----------—>

14. Protests in Brazil, March 2016.
Hashtag Engagement I Instagram Captions I Co-term Network I Pro-impeachment vs. anti-coup
Omena, Mintz & Rabello (forthcoming). Digital Methods for Hashtag Engagement Research. Social Media & Society, Special Issue - Studying Instagram Beyond Selfies, January 2020.

15. Protests in Brazil, March 2016.
Instagram Captions I Hashtag Engagement I Pro-impeachment vs. anti-coup
Omena, Mintz & Rabello (forthcoming). Digital Methods for Hashtag Engagement Research. Social Media & Society, Special Issue - Studying Instagram Beyond Selfies, January 2020.

18. 1. Hashtag engagement as issue networks
__> 3-L perspective
2. Knowledge combination for reading networks
__> A degree of technicity
__> Platform Grammatization
__> How to read digital networks?
[__> Practical exercise
3. Hashtag Networks and the circulation of image
__> The case of Brazilian presidential elections 2018

19. Digital Networks provides robust but narrow view of collective life
Topological reading
Venturini, Jacomy &Jensen, 2019
Quali-quanti methods
Venturini & Latour, 2010; Moats & Borra, 2018
Navigational practice
Hermeneutics & heuristic values
Oligoptic vision of society
Latour & Hermant, 1988
Erase micro/macro borders
Venturini & Latour, 2010
Digital Methods
Follow the medium + be aware of platform grammatization
combined with the praxis of data capture and analysis

20. 1. a conceptual metaphor
(space of connections)
2. an analytic or computation technique
(e.g. the mathematics of graphs)
3. a set of data
(or the relational dataset)
4. a socio-technical system
[Venturini, Munk and Jacomy, 2015, pp.4-5]
Digital Networks as

21. i) Network afforded by technical interface (APIs) ii) Network afforded by digital data
Page Like Network
→ FACEBOOK GRAPH API
Actor-image Network
→ DIGITAL DATA AFFORDANCES
Possible types of digital networks

22. i) Network afforded by technical interface (APIs) ii) Network afforded by digital data
Page Like Network
→ FACEBOOK GRAPH API
Actor-image Network
→ DIGITAL DATA AFFORDANCES
Possible types of digital networks

23. #femboy image-label Network (August 2017)
INSTAGRAM
12.542 images published between Jun. 2015 and Aug. 2017.

26. #EleNão #EleSim Hashtag-Image Network
Tumblr, September 15 to October 3 2018.
TUMBLR

27. Approaching digital networks:
Change/evolve over time
i) Web Platform (s)
(social media + search engines + etc)
ii) Data gathering
(strategies + query design)
iii) Data analysis
(Gephi I Node XL I Vision APIs I Hyphe)
→ research design + techniques + methods
A more stable/definitive vision
What simultaneously precedes and takes
place with and through the analytical process
of studying digital networks.
1. Mapping disparities
2. The narrative affordances of the
graphical representation
3. The hermeneutic and heuristic values
[navigational practice]
→ repurposing technical knowledge for
reasoning about research
← Follows the platforms’
unstable ways of being →

28. →MAPPING DISPARITIES
How to read digital networks?
1. What can we take from a good understanding of platforms’ databases (e.g. API
documentation) and their models of data capture, organisation, and availability?
→ a grasp of platform grammatization
→ the awareness of data points availability
→ how connections are made
→ regimes of data access

29. →MAPPING DISPARITIES
How to read digital networks?
1. What can we take from a good understanding of platforms’ databases (e.g. API
documentation) and their models of data capture, organisation, and availability?
→ a grasp of platform grammatization
→ the awareness of data points availability
→ how connections are made
→ regimes of data access
2. How to combine the grasping of platform grammatization with the praxis of
data capture and analysis?
Query Design/
Grammars
Data capture
API/Scraping
Extraction Software Output files Analysis Software ApproachPlatform
[layers of technical knowledge]

30. Different platforms suggest different
ways of reading digital networks.

31. The problems are….

32. Living process: network characteristics, web platforms, network type, what is at stake in the spatialization? what grammars?

33. →THE NARRATIVE AFFORDANCES
OF THE GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION
How to read digital networks?
How to interpret the topological space afforded by networks?
→ understand the graphical representation
→ be aware of how connections are made
→ understand the logic of force-directed algorithms

34. Graph (discrete mathematics) = a set of:
nodes (vertices)
edges
_Nodes and Edges reflects
the affordances of Platform
Grammatization or Digital Data
_Connections mediated by
technical interfaces

39. INTERPRETING
THE NARRATIVE
AFFORDANCES
OF THE SPATIALISATION
OF DIGITAL NETWORKS

40. → Work under the logic of repulsive and attractive forces
Fruchterman & Reingold, 1991; Jacomy et al., 2014
→ “Calculate the layout of a graph using only information contained
within the structure of the graph itself, rather than relying on
domain-specific knowledge” Kobourov 2013
→ Aesthetically pleasing (minimize edge crossing)
Fruchterman and Reingold, 1991; Kobourov 2013; Jacomy et al., 2014
FORCE-DIRECTED LAYOUTS
ForceAtlas2
Jacomy , Venturini, Heymann & Bastian, 2014
→ In theory: follows a power law and preferential attachment
→ In action: the position of the node respond to regular repulsion vs.
repulsion by degree
→In practice: provides a narrative thread that has fixed layers of
interpretation but multiple forms of reading
Omena & Amaral 2019 (forthcoming)
CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.

41. Omena and Amaral 2019 . Uma abordagem para estudar redes digitais. In: Métodos Digitais:
Teoria ed. Prática, ed. Janna Joceli Omena, ICNOVA ; Lisbon - Portugal (forthcoming)
The narrative thread of ForceAtlas2
CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.

42. Stick within
the platform
PORN
Flows out of
the platform
Flows out of
the platform
Image-domain Network 2019
The Circulation of images generated by botted accounts
TUMBLR & INSTAGRAM
DMI Summer School 2019. Bots and the black market of engagement.. Analysis by Janna Joceli Omena, Jason Chao, Elena Pilipets, Bence Kollanyi, Bruno Zilli, Giacomo Flaim, Horacio
Sívori, Kim van Ruiven, Lieke Rademakers, Mengying Li & Serena Del Nero.

43. Mainstream Porn
DMI Summer School 2019. Bots and the black market of engagement.. Analysis by Janna Joceli Omena, Jason Chao, Elena Pilipets, Bence Kollanyi, Bruno Zilli, Giacomo Flaim, Horacio
Sívori, Kim van Ruiven, Lieke Rademakers, Mengying Li & Serena Del Nero.
CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.

44. DMI Summer School 2019. Bots and the black market of engagement.. Analysis by Janna Joceli Omena, Jason Chao, Elena Pilipets, Bence Kollanyi, Bruno Zilli, Giacomo Flaim, Horacio
Sívori, Kim van Ruiven, Lieke Rademakers, Mengying Li & Serena Del Nero.
Hot Pics
CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.

45. →THE HERMENEUTICS AND HEURISTIC VALUES
How to read digital networks?
What are the values of the methodology for exploring
and interpreting digital networks?
→ visual network analysis and its foundations
_abide by three unwritten principles “according to which nodes are (1) positioned according with their
connectivity; (2) sized proportionally to their importance; and (3) coloured or shaped by their category”
Venturini, Jacomy & Jensen, 2019
_analysis to move between the micro and macro levels
Venturini et al. 2017
CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.
Latour 2010; Latour et al. 2012; Venturini et al. 2015; 2017; Venturini et al. 2019

46. What to look at networks?
AND ITS PARTS
THE WHOLE
THE NARRATIVE THREAD
node position + connection
→ central and bridging actors
→ activity + influence + popularity + information flow
→ cluster formation and composition
→ controversies + program vs. anti-program
see Rogers, 2018; Arich & Latour, 1992
CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.

47. CAIS Colloquium, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.
What counts in the analytical process?

48. What counts?
What should we ignore or delete?
https://thesocialplatforms.wordpress.com/2018/10/22/elenao-vs-elesim/
#EleNão vs. #EleSim Image-hashtag Network
CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.

49. What is visible but irrelevant?
X
#climatechange co-tag network from February 3
to June 26, main nodes removed: climatechange
and globalwarming. Node size: count.
(962 nodes and 88007 edges)
CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.

50. What is visible but irrelevant?
Movimento Brasil Livre and Vem Pra Rua Brasil page like network (depth 2), March 2015.
Node size: degree. Colours: clusters. Data extraction by Netvizz and vizualization by Gephi.
https://www.academia.edu/21690346/15_de_Mar%C3%A7o_O_Brasil_foi_pra_rua_-_D
e_novo_._Estudo_dos_protestos_nas_redes_sociais
Who generated
more debate?
(people talking about)
What is hidden but important?
CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.

51. #nãovaitergolpe Co-Tag Network (March, 2016)
Emphasis on Clusters Highlighting what is relevant
What needs to be described and highlighted?
CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.

52. First explore & describe the network,
then define & justify & highlight
the analytical decisions.

53. Omena and Amaral 2019 . Uma abordagem para estudar redes digitais. In: Métodos Digitais:
Teoria ed. Prática, ed. Janna Joceli Omena, ICNOVA ; Lisbon - Portugal (forthcoming)
CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.

54. PRACTICE
http://bit.ly/workshopCAIS
1. Choose a platform:
Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Youtube
2. Extract data
3. Gephi
Network afforded by a technical interface

55. Web Platforms Software Extraction Software Analysis/Visualization Text Analysis
Facebook
Instagram
Tumblr
YouTube
Spotify
Twitter
App Stores
Websites
Netvizz (Facebook App)
Instaloader
InstagramScraper
TumblrTool
Spotify Artist Network
YouTube Data Tools
Netlytic
Google Similar Apps
Itunes Store
IssueCrawler
https://youtube.tracking.e
xposed/
https://hyphe.medialab.sci
ences-po.fr/
Gephi
ImageSorter
Raw
TextAnalysis
Spotify Artist Network
Netllytic
IssueCrawler
CatWalk
Python Scripts(André Mintzz):
Memespector
image-network-plotter
or
https://densitydesign.gith
ub.io/dd-image-tagging/
GRAPH RECIPES
https://github.com/tommv/Force
DirectedLayouts
An option to generate co-term
networks:
CorText
Create your own network:
Table 2 Net
tagcrowd.com
http://labs.polsys.net/tool
s/textanalysis/
labs.polsys.net/tools/tag
cloud/
wordij.net
jasondavies.com/wordtr
ee/
textometrica.humlab.um
u.se
cortext.net

56. PRACTICE
http://bit.ly/workshopCAIS
1. Query Facebook → “Bochum”
2. In Facebook go to Netvizz App
3. Module: Page Like Network
→ https://findmyfbid.com/
4. Extract data
5. Gephi
Network afforded by a technical interface

57. PRACTICE
http://bit.ly/workshopCAIS
1. Query Instagram → “Bochum”
2. Go to https://tools.digitalmethods.net/beta/instagramLoader/
3. Extract data
4. Gephi
Network afforded by a technical interface

58. PRACTICE
http://bit.ly/workshopCAIS
1. Query Tumblr → “Bochum”
2. Go to: http://labs.polsys.net/tools/tumblr/
3. Extract data
5. Gephi
Network afforded by a technical interface

59. PRACTICE
http://bit.ly/workshopCAIS
1. Query YouTube → “Bochum”
2. Go to: https://tools.digitalmethods.net/netvizz/youtube/
3. Extract data
5. Gephi
Network afforded by a technical interface

60. PRACTICE
1. Google Images
https://tools.digitalmethods.net/beta/googleImages/
2. Download images
TabSave (Google Chrome Extension)
3. Harvest URLs
https://tools.digitalmethods.net/beta/harvestUrls/
4. Table2Net → let´s build a network! :)
https://medialab.github.io/table2net/
5. Gephi
Network afforded by digital data

61. 1. Hashtag engagement as issue networks
__> 3-L perspective
2. Knowledge combination for reading networks
__> A degree of technicity
__> Platform Grammatization
__> How to read digital networks?
__> Practical exercise
3. Hashtag Networks and the circulation of image
__> The case of Brazilian presidential elections 2018
CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.

62. Hashtag Networks and the circulation of image
The case of Brazilian presidential elections 2018
He, yes = Bolsonaro, yes!He, no = Bolsonaro, No!
See: https://thesocialplatforms.wordpress.com/2018/10/22/elenao-vs-elesim/

63. WHAT HASHTAG NETWORKS
CAN TELL ABOUT
POLITICAL POLARIZATION?
[before Brazil’s presidential elections on 7 October 2018]

64. CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.
Hashtag Networks
The case of Brazilian presidential elections 2018
KEY FINDINGS
#EleNão I #EleSim
→ Mirror the public debate and its peculiarities, highlighting also dominant actors
→ Unveil the visuality attached to particular issues
#EleSim
→ Indicate the adoption of automated systems to the spread of content across platforms

65. CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.
Hashtag Networks
The case of Brazilian presidential elections 2018
STEP-BY-STEP: Co-occurrence tag network
→ Data collection advanced by TumblrTool, query: #EleNão I #EleSim
→ For the analysis of co-occurrence tag networks
1. Gephi: to spatialise and analyse the network
2. Excel: to search for tag/clusters related images
3. Inkscape: improve the final visualization of the network

66. #EleNão co-tag Network
aggressive language

67. #EleNão co-tag Network
Pro-Bolsonaro hashtags co-mentioning #EleNão;
these tags very likely rely on automation.

68. The limited vision of seeing text (hashtag) and visual content separately:
Aggressive hashtag towards Bolsonaro,
but a satirical/comic visuality but the depiction of black women protesting
→ Aggressive textual content may suggest different articulations of visuality, position and attitude.
→ The analysis of co-tag networks provides a good entry point for perceiving an issue space,
but a robust vision can only be achieved when combining the visualities attached to the hashtag network.

69. CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.
Hashtag Networks
The case of Brazilian presidential elections 2018
STEP-BY-STEP: Image-Hashtag Network
→ Data collection advanced by TumblrTool, query: #EleNão I #EleSim
→ For the analysis of Image-Hashtag Network
1. table2net: to build the network
2. DownthemAll (FireFox plugin): to download the images
3. Gephi: to spatialise and analyse the network
4. Imagenet Plotter (python script by André Mintz): to plot the bipartite network
(image-hashtag) spatialized by Gephi
5. Inkscape: improve the final visualization of the network

70. #EleNão I #EleSim Image-hashtag Network

71. WHAT is THE SITE OF
IMAGE CIRCULATION?
Which Tumblr images most circulated
across different URLs?

72. CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.
Image Circulation
The case of Brazilian presidential elections 2018
KEY FINDINGS
#EleNão I #EleSim
→ The imagery of #EleNão I #EleSim has similar visuality: we see humour, fallacies (or
misinformation) and the endorsement of public figures in the images that circulate across
platforms.
→ Instagram and Twitter are definitely the platform in which #EleNão and #EleSim
political debate took place.
#EleSim
→ Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro were the actors responsible for generating the images
that most circulated across web platforms (images that hit at least 5 and at maximum 10
different URLs)

73. CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.
Image Circulation
The case of Brazilian presidential elections 2018
STEP-BY-STEP
→ Data collection advanced by TumblrTool, query: #EleNão I #EleSim
→ For the analysis of Image Circulation
1. DownthemAll (FireFox plugin): to download the images
2. MemeSpector (python script by André Mintz): to call Google Vision API (web entities)
3. Excel: to filter the images that most circulated across platforms
4. ImageSorter: to plot the images with high degree of circulation
5. RawGraphs: to visualise the main domains + actors
6. Inkscape: improve the final visualizations

74. IMAGE CIRCULATION
CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.

75. CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.

76. IMAGE CIRCULATION
#EleSim
humour, fallacies (or misinformation)
and the endorsement of public figures
----------—>

77. IMAGE CIRCULATION
#EleNão
humour, fallacies (or misinformation)
and the endorsement of public figures
----------—>

78. IMAGE CIRCULATION
#EleNão
humour, fallacies (or misinformation)
and the endorsement of public figures
----------—>

79. IMAGE CIRCULATION
#EleSim
IMAGE CIRCULATION
#EleNão
?

80. IMAGE CIRCULATION
CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.

81. WHO are THE ACTORS
RESPONSIBLE FOR
GENERATING THE IMAGES THAT
MOST CIRCULATED
ACROSS PLATFORMS?
CAIS Workshop, July 2019 I Omena, J.J.

82. Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro were the actors responsible for generating the images that most circulated across web
platforms, those images that hit at least 5 and at maximum 10 different URLs.

83. Food for Thought
If the flow of social media grammars are not
static, if digital platforms are living mechanisms,
why shouldn´t we learn from that and place
Internet-based studies accordingly?

84. References
Gerlitz, C. & Rieder, B. (2018). Tweets are not created equal. Investigating Twitter's Client Ecosystem. International
Journal of Communication, 11, 528–547.
Latour, B., Jensen, P., Venturini, T., Grauwin, S., & Boullier, D. (2012), ‘The whole is always smaller than its parts’.
The British Journal of Sociology, 63, 590-615.
Latour, B. (2010). Tarde’s idea of quantification. In M. Candea (Ed.), The social after Gabriel Tarde: debates and
assessments (pp.145-62). London: Routledge.
Marres, N. (2017). Digital sociology. Bristol: Polity Press.
Janna Joceli Omena, Jason Chao, Elena Pilipets, Bence Kollanyi, Bruno Zilli, Giacomo Flaim, Horacio Sívori, Kim van
Ruiven, Lieke Rademakers, Mengying Li & Serena Del Nero. Bots and the Black Market of Engagement. Digital
Methods Wiki available at https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/SummerSchool2019Botsandtheblackmarket
Omena, J.J. and Amaral, I.(2019, forthcoming). Um modelo para estudar rede digitais. In: Métodos Digitais: Teoria e
Prática, editado por Janna Joceli Omena, ICNOVA; Lisboa, Portugal.
Omena, J.J.; Mintz, A.; Rabello, E. (2020). Digital Methods for Hashtag Engagement Research. Social Media and
Society, special issue ‘Studying Instagram Beyond Selfies. (forthcoming)
Omena, J. J., Rabello, E., Mintz, A., Ozkula, S., Sued, G., Elbeyi, E. & Cicali, A. (2017). Visualising hashtag engagement:
imagery of political polarization on Instagram. Digital Methods Initiative Summer School Wiki, University of
Amsterdam. Amsterdam,.
Rogers, R. (2019). Doing Digital Methods. London: Sage.
Rogers, R. (2018). Otherwise Engaged: Social Media from Vanity Metrics to Critical Analytics. International Journal
of Communication 12, 450-472.
Rogers, R. (2013). Digital Methods. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Simondon, G. (2017). On the mode of existence of technical objects. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.
Simondon, G. (2009). Technical Mentality. Parrhesia Journal , 7, 17-27.
Venturini, T; Jacomy, M & Pereira, D. (2015). Visual Network Analysis. SciencesPo Media Lab working paper.
Retrievedfromhttp://www.tommasoventurini.it/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Venturini-Jacomy_Visual-Networ
k-Analysis_WorkingPaper.pdf
Venturini, T.; Jacomy, M.; Bounegru, L.; Gray, J. (2017). Visual Network Exploration for Data Journalists.
Forthcoming in Eldridge II, S. & Franklin, B. (eds.), The Routledge Handbook to Developments in Digital Journalism

85. Danke ☺
Collaborators:
Inês Amaral
Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
→ Omena & Amaral 2019 . Uma abordagem para estudar redes digitais. In: Métodos Digitais: Teoria ed. Prática, ed.
Janna Joceli Omena, ICNOVA ; Lisbon - Portugal (forthcoming)
André Mintz
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
&
Elaine Rabello
Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
→ Omena, Mintz & Rabello (forthcoming). Digital Methods for Hashtag Engagement Research. Social Media &
Society, Special Issue - Studying Instagram Beyond Selfies, edited by Alessandro Caliandro and James Graham.

86. ALPEN-ADRIA UNIVERSITÄT KLAGENFURT, AUSTRIA,
DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES
Part 2
elena.pilipets@cais.nrw
elena.pilipets@aau.at
Situating Internet Memes as Mediators
& Techno-Social Multiplicities
Center for Advanced Internet Studies I Bochum, Germany I 24 July 2019.

87. THE FFECT OF QUEERING T MEMES THROUGH PLATFORMS MEM
?

88. MEMES SPREAD THROUGH USER APPROPTIATION. SPREADABILITY ≠ VIRALITY

89. MEMES SPREAD THROUGH USER APPROPTIATION. SPREADABILITY ≠ VIRALITY

90. #www
THE FFECT OF QUEERING T MEMES THROUGH PLATFORMS MEMINTERNET
BUT WHAT IF WE THINK
MEMES AS MEDIATORS?

91. Using unspecific imagery as a strategy of facilitating user engagement over time: Persistent liking and
posting activity around mainstream memes and popular internet wisdoms.
Image Plot of 999 timeline images from “Fans of Tumblr” Community Page on Facebook, retrieved in
December 2018: x-axis: time; y-axis: likes (Netvizz+ImageG/ImagePlot).
500-1700Likesperpost
2017 2018

92. MEMES ARE MORE THAN VISUAL
INTERTEXTS OF AMBIGUOUS
STANCE WITH MULTIPLE ORIGINS.
THEY ARE DATA-INTENSIVE
MEDIATORS.
AS THEY SPREAD ACROSS THE
INFRASTRUCTURES OF DIGITAL
ATTENTION ECONOMY, THEY
TRANSFORM THE INFORMATION
THAT THEY TRANSPORT. PILIPETS 2019 a,b forthcoming

93. #www
THE FFECT OF QUEERING T MEMES THROUGH VALUE MEMESATTENTION
SPREADABILITY
network culture (Terranova 2004) platform society (van Dijck/Poell/de Waal 2018) like economy (Gerlitz & Helmond 2013) price of attention (Paasonen 2018)
virality as media ideology (Rushkoff 1994) virality as counterimitation (Sampson 2012) virality as media assemblage (Parikka 2016)

94. #www
SPREADABILITY
REPEAT NETWORK CIRCULATE GO VIRAL
technologies of production subcultural ecologies platformed sociality
accumulative
affective
ambivalent
performative
hybrid
imitative

95. Exploring memetic scenarios of #female presenting nipples on Tumblr through ImageSorter,
874 images retrieved through Tumblr Tool.
Buzzfeed News 2019

96. #www
SPREADABILITY
REPEAT NETWORK CIRCULATE GO VIRAL
technologies of production subcultural ecologies platformed sociality
accumulative
affective
ambivalent
performative
hybrid
imitative

97. FROM VIRALS TO MEMES
(and back again)
I
I
VIRAL CIRCULATION

98. 1000 most recent pics for #bots on Instagram, retrieved
in July 2019 (INSTALOADER + Table 2 Net + Gephi)
#ai
#будьсобой
#gem4me
#smart_wallet
#успех
#триумф
#всемдобра!
#жизньпрекрасна❤
#foryou
#dream
#family

99. “I am brave”, “I am strong”, “I follow my dreams”: The use of esoteric motivational memes by
a Russian smart_wallet bot on Instagram
https://wiki.digitalmethods.net/Dmi/SummerSchool2019Botsandtheblackmarket

100. GOING BEYOND THE DISTINCTION
OF MEMES AND VIRALS: THINKING
SPREADABILITY IN TERMS OF
MEDIATED (DIS)CONNECTIONS OF
AFFFECT AND MEANING.
THINKING VIRALITY IN TERMS OF
SERIATION AND NETWORKED
REPETITION RATHER THAN USING
THE METAPHORS OF
UNCONTROLLED SPREAD.
PILIPETS 2019 a,b forthcoming

101. irritation
entertainment
MEMES
popular culture
digital networks
▶︎
▶︎
▶︎
assemble images & text
through techno-social practices
of appropriation (performative)
can go viral and transform as
they circulate across a series of
on|offline environments (hybrid)
spread mainstream content
through subcultural reuse
and vice versa (ambivalent)
RECOGNITION
APPRO
PRIATIO
N
provocation
circulation timeliness
communication
VIRALS
LIKES
SHARES
spread rapidly as images,
messages and #tags (accumulative)
are circulated cross-platform by
human and nonhuman actors who
click, like and share (imitative)
▶︎
▶︎
▶︎ can become memes or stay
unchanged as they move between
contexts (affective)
elena.pilipets@aau.at LNF2018elena.pilipets@aau.at LNF2018

103. Source Peter Lee Godchild,
FACEBOOK: “ISIS fighter seeking
asylum, Macedonian border”
74.000 shares/ 70.000 likes
September 3
Source AP: Free Syrian Army commander
Laith Al Saleh, Kos, August 17
Neutral reuse of the AP image by THE ATLANTIC: Free
Syrian Army commander Laith Al Saleh, Kos, August 17
Source M1 story in RT news report:
“Hungary TV report suggests that
terrorist are now present in most
European cities” September 9
Source BBC:
Facebook variation of the
image debunked September 7
Neutral storytelling: “This man is
former Free Syrian Army
commander Laith Al Saleh...”
Claim: “This man is a terrorist
posing as a refugee,
infiltrating Europe...”
Counterclaim: “This man is a
refugee fleeing persecution of
Syrian government...”

104. > Track the circulation of the images from The Atlantic,
BBC, and RT through a Google Reverse Image search
> Triangulate the resulting three lists with the original list of
ranked image sources for the query “Laith al Saleh”.
The Atlantic BBC RT
A list of
ranked
25 image
sources
for “Laith
al Saleh”
combined
list of 100
image
sources

105. combined
list of 100
image
sources
Merge
into one
network
> Analyse left-wing debunking & right-wing fear-mongering as two resonant forces
in the “terrorist posing as a refugee” issue space
> Use Google Scraper to identify the presence of the main actor in the resulting
visual issue space. Which image sources (do not) mention Laith Al Saleh?

106. > Use Google Scraper to identify the presence of the main actor in the resulting
visual issue space. Which image sources (do not) mention Laith Al Saleh?
0 mentions
1-20 mentions
> 100 mentions

107. HOW CAN WE RETHINK THIS VISUAL ISSUE SPACE WITH REGARD
TO ITS (COUNTER-)IMITATIVE DYNAMICS?
2. “This image is a meme.
Don’t believe everything you
see on social media...”
3. “The man in the image is a
terrorist posing as a refugee,
infiltrating Europe...”
1. “The man in the image is a
refugee fleeing persecution of
Syrian government...”
1+2 1+2+3
100 sources in the ”terrorist
posing as refugee” image
space retrieved through
Google Reverse Image
Search + Triangulate Tool +
Table 2 Net + Gephi)

108. “This image is a meme. Don’t
believe everything you see on
social media...”
“The man in the image is a
terrorist posing as a refugee,
infiltrating Europe...”
“Laith al Saleh”: A meme? Why no mentioning?

109. RIGHT-WING SPHERE
domain
image
text

110. amesnews.com.auamesnews.com.au
blogs.buprojects.ukblogs.buprojects.uk
blogs.spectator.co.ukblogs.spectator.co.uk
defence24.pldefence24.pl
doppleronline.cadoppleronline.ca
fr.sputniknews.comfr.sputniknews.com
francetvinfo.frfrancetvinfo.fr
gdnonline.comgdnonline.com
huffingtonpost.co.ukhuffingtonpost.co.uk
humanrightsactivists.wordpress.comhumanrightsactivists.wordpress.com
independenindependen
memes.commemes.com
mimikammimikam
mondcivitan.infomondcivitan.info
odatv.coodatv.co
predicthistunpredictpast.blogspot.compredicthistunpredictpast.blogspot.com
reddit.comreddit.com
shifter.sapo.ptshifter.sapo.pt
slideplayer.comslideplayer.com
smashinglife.co.uksmashinglife.co.uk
stuttgarter-zeitung.destuttgarter-zeitung.de
supajam.cosupajam.co
thecommentsection.orgthecommentsection.org
timesofmalta.comtimesofmalta.com
vice.comvice.com
ashingtonpost.comashingtonpost.com
isisisis
refugeerefugee
showshow
syriansyrian
memesmemes
notnot
manman
salehsaleh
posingposing
armyarmy
facebookfacebook
foughtfought
europeeurope
commandercommander
freefree
presspress
crisiscrisis
nono
fightfight
terroristterrorist
fighterfighter
laithlaith
rebelrebel
internetinternet
thousandsthousands
viralviral
statestate
sharedshared
fakefake
alal
seekersseekers
aleppoaleppo
leaderleader
antirefugeeantirefugee
membermember
profiledprofiled
monthmonth
islamicislamicmilitantsmilitants
timestimes
refugeesrefugees
findfind
claimingclaiming
asylumasylum
warwar
daysdays
claimedclaimed
tenstens
militantmilitant
socialsocial
mediamedia
imagesimages
lieslies
picturespictures
migrantmigrant
europeaneuropean
unionunion
imageimage
ideasideas
iceice
cubecube
assaultassault
riflerifle
groupsgroups
twittertwitter
nownow
islandisland
recentrecent
apologisedapologised
spreadspread
homehome
citycity
koskos
goodgood
faithfaith
peterpeter
leelee
agencyagency
casecase
plastererplasterer
civilcivil
profileprofile
alsalehalsaleh
helpfulhelpful
migrationmigration
bullshitbullshit
bbcbbc
publishedpublished
shownshown
roundsrounds
lotlot
sharingsharing
probablyprobably
racistracist
memememe
terroriststerrorists
beforeandafterbeforeandafter
mademade
claimsclaims
fearfear
fleeingfleeing
syriasyria
wayway
postpost
pastpast
showsshows
policepolice
yearsyears
shotshot
easteast
borderborder
crossingcrossing
soldiersoldier
farrightfarright
concernedconcerned
supposedsupposed
timetime
postedposted
britainbritain
greecegreece
dontdont
recentlyrecently
guyguy
backback
fightingfighting
postsposts
seesee
identifiedidentified
floodedflooded
factfact
takentaken
rebelsrebels
completelycompletely
truthtruth
stopstop
desperatedesperate
appearedappeared
calledcalled
falsefalse
informationinformation
reachreach
onlineonline
possiblepossible
europeseuropes
commentatorscommentators
continentcontinent
proofproof
fightersfighters
pairpair
nearnear
menmen
netherlandsnetherlands
handhand
personperson
wrongwrong
yearyear
goodchildgoodchild
tshirttshirt
whywhy
apap
atlanticatlantic
apologizeapologize
foundfound
daeshdaesh
arrivingarriving
identityidentity
reportedreported
seemsseems
governmentgovernment
beautifulbeautiful
friendsfriends
countrycountry
readread
groupgroup
allegedalleged
falselyfalsely
setset
accusedaccused
publicpublic
migrantsmigrants
LEFT-WING SPHERE

111. “Isis Cube”-meme in a Facebook post by Britain Furst (British satirical community page; on the left), posted on September 16, 2015 with 8.006 likes,
7.306 shares and 1.275 comments by 1.113 users, including 31 image responses (with the most popular (1131 likes) variation on the right). BOTH
IMAGES FEATURED ON VICE AND BUZZFEED

113. MEMES AS PLATFORM-
SPECIFIC OBJECTS
NETWORKED REPETITION
I
I

116. Combined Tumblr co-tag network for “Conchita” and “Conchita Wurst” (undirected graph with 54 nodes and 1196 edges,
size encodes average weighted degree and colour modularity, extracted with the DMI Tumblr tool, made with Gephi)

118. A bricolage of imitation patterns and scenarios of use related to the most circulated images tagged with “Conchita
Wurst” (on the left, 93699 notes, 11 May 2014) and “Conchita” (on the right, 26183 notes, 10 May 2014) on Tumblr
(extracted through Tumblr tool and analysed through image pattern screenshots made with ImageSorter)

119. Relations of proximity and distance in accordance with the repetition/variation of 556 “Conchita”-images in photographic
scenarios of use: Body-centered Remediations (“Face”, “Stage”, “Brand”, “Celebrity”, “Body”) Mundane Imitations
(“Selfies”, “TV Screens”, “Objects”, “Other”)

120. Relations of proximity and distance in accordance with the repetition/variation of 556 “Conchita”-images in memetic scenarios
of use: Reflexive Commentary (“Sarcasm”, “Platform-specific”, “News”, “Quotes”) Intertextual Play (“Cartoons”, “Irreverent”,
“Photo-based”, “Politics”, “Gifs”)

121. Conchita’s
Eurovision victory
on Tumblr (most
liked and shared
visual content
with the tags
“Conchita Wurst”
and “Conchita”
over six days
extracted with the
DMI Tumblr tool,
* stands for GIF;
structured and
coloured in
accordance with
the count of notes
on Tumblr: red—
increased; blue—
high; yellow—
average; grey—
low engagement)

122. distraction
RHYTHM
ALTERATION
attention
GIFS
LOOP
M
OVEM
ENT
animate and reproduce
visual content in graphics
interchange format (rhythmic)
run in a loop and evoke
ambivalent sensations through
repetition (iterative)
▶︎
▶︎
▶︎ repurpose movement to
capture, amplify and shift
attention (captivating)
elena.pilipets@aau.at LNF2018

123. EXPERIMENTING WITH GIFS AS MEDIATED
THICK DESCRIPTIONS:
How can we repurpose GIFs to create
“snapshots” of events unfolding in the
flow of social media content?
Note: It is about a platform and media-
specific view on how users relate to
the issue in question!
TO UNDERSTAND GIFS WITHIN THE
ATTENTION ECONOMY OF NETWORKED
AFFECTIVE TECHNOLOGIES GO FOR
ß
TO PLAY WITH SOME GIFS GO FOR à

124. http://bit.ly/workshopCAIS

125. ß Create a GIF-Moodboard by using RAWGraph’s Treemap layout: https://rawgraphs.io/
Explore and structure your dataset using Google Sheets à

128. UNDERSTANDING THE PARTICULARITIES OF GIF- MOODBOARDS AS
MEDIATED THICK DESCRIPTIONS:
- Shifting the focus away from singular images to platform-specific
scenarios of circulation and media-specific scenarios of use (see
GORIUNOVA 2014, HIGHFIELD 2016)
- Approaching the deidentified results of how visual social events are
“audienced” in different ways as they unfold in the flow of social
media content (see ROSE 2016, ROSE & WILLIS 2018)
- Analysing GIF Moodboards as “composite accounts” , mediated
“snapshots” or material-semiotic “remix phenomena” within a
specific temporal framework (see MARKHAM 2012, MARKHAM &
GAMMELBY 2018)
- Treating all images reproduced for research purposes in their
ephemeral & sensitive involvement with the metadata they provide
(HIghfield & Leaver 2016; Warfield et al. 2018)

129. 1. Download ALL THE IMAGES J from a list of URLs
using e.g. TabSave (Google Chrome Extension) à
TO SEE HOW THE IMAGES RELATE TO
ONE ANOTHER WITHIN THE PATTERNS OF
IMITATION/DEVIATION & OVER TIME
3. Use ImageSorter to open the image folderà
2. Install ImageSorter from HERE à
4. Have fun with the analysis!

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