Memetracking for science!
I’ve wondered before about how one might measure the spread of memes across blogland, and now Scott Eric Kaufman is doing exactly that in preparation for a panel on academic blogging at the MLA. Here’s the post explaining his project in full; here’s the basic explanation:
Most memes, I’d wager, are only superficially organic: beginning
small, they acquire minor prominence among low-traffic blogs before
being picked up by a high-traffic one, from which many more low-traffic
blogs snatch them. Contra blog-triumphal models of memetic
bootstrapping, I believe most memes are—to borrow a term from Daniel Dennett‘s rebuttal of punctuated equilibrium—"skyhooked" into prominence by high-traffic blogs.For my talk at the MLA, I’d prefer being able to quantify this triumphalism with hard numbers. … Since I lack foresight, I’m stuck announcing
my intentions and begging participation.
So here’s my own contribution, since I’m always happy to supply a data point or two, and the prospect of the blogger panel at the MLA fills my heart with joy. Please consider doing the same if you’ve got a blog and would like to help with the project.
And speaking of the MLA convention: it’s right here in Philadelphia, which means I don’t have to pay for a hotel room, and there are people I want to reconnect with and panels I actually want to attend (the blogger one for sure, but also a bunch of poetry-related ones). So I’m going. Anyone else out there reading this who’s also planning on being there?
I’ll be there. That blogging panel is not to be missed. (I’m staying with friends in Philadelphia; if I didn’t have that hookup, I probably wouldn’t be going.)
Yay! I’ll try to find you before or after — I should be able to recognize you by your blog photo. I wonder how many other people from the academoblogosphere will be there?