Win or Fail, the selfish meme
I’ve been reading Susan Blackmore’s “The meme machine” over the past week, it’s interesting stuff with an introduction by Richard Dawkins, no less.
The concept of a meme has interested me for a long time now, well before I knew it even had a name, well before it actually did have a name. Mr Dawkins coined term “meme” in his book, The Selfish Gene. He did so because, he explains in the foreword, he needed a word and it’s close enough in sound and linguistic form to “gene” as to lend itself to similar manipulations. Genetics, Memetics, etc.
As a kid I noticed things, how language seemed infectious, how jokes seemed to grow wings. Indeed, as is described in the book, imitation, habits, skills, behaviours, heck even footballers on the TV seemed to say “you know” every second sentence. These damned “word viruses” got really tedious, didn’t anyone else noticed this? Who the heck came up with the idea of a flux capacitor anyway?
What of the physical memes of the 80s? Rubik’s cubes, BMX bikes, Slinky, Simon, Astro Wars, Pac Man…..
These days we have internet equals and indeed superiors to all of these things. From Mr Splashy Pants to Rick Rolling, memes are everywhere and nowhere. We’ve mapped the genome but can we map the memome? Probably, up to a point. The rate at which these things multiply is incredible. Just consider the variables for one minute….
Memes can refer to themselves, or other memes, so you’d need a relational database to map them with many-to-many connections. They can also be highly personal, one of the reasons they spread is because they strike a chord, it’s all in the timing. So we might even need to record mood, time, place, other people’s reactions.
Whilst waiting for my wife this morning I started scratching down some notes, this is what I came up with (in ten minutes) :
Meme types
- viruses (eg. language)
- practical (eg. knowledge and skills transfer)
- funny
- rewarding/uplifting
- relational
- physical
Meme groups
- language
- cultural
- entertainment
- skill based
- educational
People have tried to record memes, track them down, possibly with guns…
- people create dbs of quotes from famous people
- people write books and articles
- people post things to blogs?!
- people accidentally create new memes in the process of recording old ones!
Certain unsightly individuals have even tried to roll their own…
- many have tried and failed btw! Their failure is noted by a meme called “FAIL!”
- some are calculated (placed in quotes and speeches)
- some are accidental (oops moments, or misguided inclusion)
What I’ve noticed about the genetic make up of a great meme…
- an element of fun
- an element of ownership
- an element of connection (factual or personal)
- a referral from a good source
- a serious or touching response
- a need or reason to pass it along (motivation)
- a back story
- a bit of ‘me’
Guess the type of meme :
- ipod
- dot dot dot
- paper chains
- afternoon tea
- this little piggy…
- the hartlepool monkey
I’ll end on a recommendation for Susan’s book, Richard’s book too, and a self referential meme…
“monkey see, monkey do”
…now off you go and write a blog post, or do some “googling” for memes.
When the 80s were in the future
This video : Microworld presented by William Shatner reminded me so much of my introduction to computers as a kid in the 80s. Like most UK kids of the time, the BBC’s Micro live TV series inspired me to find this kind of stuff fascinating. Looking back at Micro Live now it seems incredibly geeky! I just love the fact that Fred explains wimp, a mouse and the workbench desktop. It all seems innocent enough, but then he excitedly grabs the motherboard and starts pointing at chips on the board, explaining how custom chips are what makes the Amiga so different.
Since watching things like this as a kid it’s little wonder I’m always curious about what’s on the inside as much as what’s on the outside. I’m sure a lot of my peers are similarly curious every time a new laptop, tablet or smart phone arrives to market.
On Micro Live the language was always plain English and yet somehow paradoxically technical in nature. Presentations would often baby-step the intro and then leap into the nitty gritty within minutes. Maybe it was because of time constraints, or possibly even the impatience of the writers and presenters to get to the cool stuff, but I’d wager it’s really down to something else. TV programmes had a remit to educate, and had to cater to all ability levels, so I imagine the baby-steps intros were written in to facilitate this.
I find it fascinating to watch these things over and think about how things have changed. The consumer hunger for technically advanced computing products has totally changed the way we’re all introduced to and learn about new devices. What can it do? rather than How does it do?
Considering what’s accepted as boringly normal now, the things they’re talking about in the Micro Live clip like “multitasking” and “digital” recording of sound are features of every device I own. My smart phone has more capability than any machine Micro Live ever featured by a long way, and some! If only I could time travel, I’d be keen to show Fred its amazing multi-tasking, multi-colour display and digital sound capabilities!
Smartphones & Matrix Barcodes
Not so long ago, mobile phones were a device for talking to people while you were on the move; a mobile telephone. Simple! Now mobile phones have become something else – Smartphones. A multi-function device capable of all kinds of clever things including email and internet access.
Smartphones have changed the way we communicate with those around us and as a result of this, we now communicate to much wider audience than we did just a handful of years ago. Just look at the posts on your FaceBook account and see how many updates are made from mobile devices (Android, Blackberry, iPhone etc).
Recent figure show that smartphones make up 32% of phones owned by adults in the UK and most youngsters have them too, meaning there are a lot of people out there with access to these different methods of communication (Voice, SMS, Email and Internet).
What Next?
Matrix Barcodes (2D barcodes)
Ok, I can hear you all scratching your heads but you’ve probably already seen them on all kinds of things; from magazines to loaves of bread.
What are they?
They’re an extension/derivativ
e of the old bar codes that supermarkets use to scan your shopping. There are several flavours available but the one that appears to be gaining global acceptance is the QR Code (Quick Response).
The QR code was invented by Denso-Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Company, for use in the motor industry for tracking parts. But it is its use with smartphones that it’s beginning to make its biggest impact; as a smart link between paper based (or other hard surface) and the internet.
Imagine you’re a tourist in a foreign city and notice them on lamposts. You scan one and it sends your smartphone to a tourism website with information about that part of the city, nearest hotels, restaurants/bars etc. or even historic information.
Or in your local newspaper has a feature on your favourite restaurant. Scan and it’s a special offer.
The possibilities are endless.
Many smartphones have barcode scanning applications either pre-installed or as a download. Google’s “Google Goggles” also scans them. If you’ve not got one installed, just go to your Marketplace and search for “QR Code Scanners”, you’ll be surprised at home many there are.
So, now you know what Matrix Barcodes and specifically, QR Codes are, go find them and use them. 
Enigma code breaker’s work saved
The beeb are reporting Alan Turing’s life work has been saved from the clutches of a foreign collector, at the 11th hour. There’s some irony to be had from that sentence. Turing was more than instrumental in solving the infamous Enigma machine which the Nazi’s used to transmit secret messages during WWII, and just in the nick of time.
Apparently a last minute donation from The National Heritage Memorial Fund secured the papers for the UK national archives, following an internet campaign by IT journalist Gareth Halfacree, who managed to raise £23,000 from public donations.
I agree with The Inquirer’s angle on this. It’s a bit of a shame that one of the big computer companies didn’t stump up some of the cash for this, it surely wasn’t just a UK thing, the ramifications of an un-cracked Enigma code are pretty much globally unthinkable.
3D bio printing – three dimensions of weird
According to physorg clever boffins have invented a bio-printer capable of printing marterial/cells in 3D! Not only does the future hold all kinds of weird and diverse objects via 3D printing, it also holds replacement organs, repairs, enhancements and all manner of Zaphod Beeblebrox weirdness.
3D printers print by depositing material line by line and then vertically layer by layer. They have been used to make sculptures and repair sculptures, to make three-dimensional objects out of plastics and polymers, and even to print food.
Professor James Yoo, from the Institute of Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) his group is developing a system that will allow them to print skin directly onto burn wounds.
Retro or no-go, send an email fax
A quick one, to be filed under strange but true for sure. I received an email today from a company offering me a service which transfers any email into a fax in real time and sends it out. Wow. Sure it’s possible this email was actually sent from the 1980′s when faxes were as popular as Teen Wolves and Charlie Sheen, but really?
Quite often we’re asked by disinterested call centre staff, the ones given the onerous task of “checking your information for our database”, if we have a fax number, to which we usually respond “no, we have email these days”.
Just the thought of the mangled mess someone would receive if sent a HTML email through their fax machine makes me shudder. What next? Is someone going to offer a service to conveniently transfer all my mp3s to wax cylinder?
Mr music, good luck with that!
According to The Guardian, the music industry has “realised” it’s beating a dead thing with a particularly large stick, when relying on old ways of marketing to teenagers. In the past pre-releases of singles have made their way to radio stations well in advance of the CD or mp3 download being available for purchase. In many cases, the only way to obtain an early release of a track was to download it from a file-sharing network, which apparently the record industry doesn’t appreciate (take note kids!).
So, in order to right the balance on this issue they’ve decided to make the recordings available for purchase at the same time as sending things off to the radio stations … pure genius. Might I also suggest making download mp3s a heck of a lot cheaper? Maybe even free in some cases for promotional purposes? Whilst I’m at it, might I also suggest artists are allowed to release stems so remixers can get involved and enjoy music from popular artists in new ways? Oh wait, I’m a radical…sorry.
For the full article, read it here.
Tweeting turns you into a twit?
With the advent of social networking it seems more and more of us are posting an awful lot of information about our day to day activities online for all to see.
This is all fine and well as long as you don’t go giving away personal details, after all, you never know who might be reading your blog or twitters, as Stephen Fry found out recently after a trip to Oxford University. Being over the moon at being granted access to Bodleian Library, he promptly posted a picture of his library card on Twitter as proof without first changing the default password, as a result, an awful lot of people were able to gain access to his account with hilarious results.
The full story can be read here.
A coffee break makes you work better?
There appears to be much debate going on regarding the efficacy of drinking tea and coffee whilst at work, some arguing that taking time out of your work day to make a hot drink is wasting time and therefore costing the company money, whereas others disagree and claim drinking a caffeinated beverage can improve performance and helps people deal with a less than physically active work enviroment.
The full story can be read here.
Avast, thar be pirates abound!
Apparently in the UK we’re rather keen on illegal music downloads, downloading around 1.2 billion tracks in 2010, according to the BPI (British Phonographic Industry). This has allegedly cost the music industry 984 million pounds.
The full story can be read here.