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Explore the evolution of digital communication, from the invention of the QWERTYUIOP keyboard to the rise of selfies. Discover the humor and changes in society, technology, and language along the way.
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Digital Humor by Alleen Pace Nilsen andDon L. F. Nilsen
Brian Willams Rapson Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YCeIgt7hMs&feature=youtube_gdata_player
MY BLACKBERRY’S NOT WORKING: http://www.flixxy.com/my-blackberry-is-not-working.htm
The QWERTYUIOP Principle It is commonly believed that the QWERTYUIOP keyboard was invented in order to slow down the typist and keep the keys from jamming. Actually, only the first part of this belief is true. QWERTYUIOP was invented not to slow down the typist but rather to speed up the keyboard by keeping the keys from jamming. When typewriters were first invented, the letters that were used most often frequently jammed together, so the QWERTYUIOP keyboard was designed to separate these letters from each other. Nevertheless, today, whenever something is designed to slow us down rather than speed it up, this design is said to be following the QWERTYUIOP principle.
Everybody is now a news photographer for Hurricanes, Meteors, Floods, Police Actions…
Texting With a cell phone, we are able to escape the moment. This increases our social audience, and allows us to transcend. But is it always a good thing?
We’ve gone from talking to texting --at the game --and at dinner
Memes Memes allow us to combine pictures with text. The text in the top part of the meme gives us the historical context. The text in the lower part of the meme gives us the ironic spin.
A New York Times photo of students in BYU’s computer animation program Can you spot the photo-bomber?
Changes in society, religion, and technology cause anxieties that inspire new movements. • FRANKENSTEIN became popular when scientists began experimenting with real bodies. • In the 1800s American “Tall Tales” were humorous extensions of the strange things people found as they moved west. • And in the 1970s, urban legends made fun of people facing new and scary technologies, including microwave ovens, organ transplants, and a lack of privacy. • Zombies are now popular because of medical advances, aging populations and fears of biological warfare and pandemics.
The Vine Application • Vine is an application that allows users to take and post short video clips. • The teller of verbal jokes has the luxury of taking their time in order to provide the information needed to understand the joke. This is especially true in a shaggy dog story. • But Vines are 7 seconds long, so they require careful cutting and editing. • They also require the use of stereotypes, so that the information can be presented quickly. • Editorial cartoons also follow the 7-second rule for the same reasons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHcXmR5f-_4 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFL9omud1hQ • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpoWTcLOfhI
As new concepts emerge, we recycle old words and phrases from fantasy and science fiction. Godzillagram = a huge packet Munchkins = teenage techies Wabbit = a mischievous program Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mode = an indefinitely repeating program 42 = the meaning of life, truth, and everything A Trojan Horse = a program infiltrating a computer UTSL = Use The Source Luke (from Star Wars) Obi-Wan-Error = Off by One code from HAL (IBM) in 2001, A Space Odyssey Tree Killers = paper wasters from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Code Police or Net Police = thought police from Orwell’s 1984
People can be addicted to Facebook, Twitter, Vine, Tumblr and especially Video Games.
More Call and Response on Facebook ELLEN DEGENERES: “In Your Facebook”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvjIs-fBFok MARK ZUCKERBERG FACEBOOK AD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls7wCgbmXYM
Example of a gender-based computer joke: “No wonder you can’t write. You’re not plugged in.” (Eschholz-Rosa-Clark [2009]: 105)
Peter Steiner’s 1993 cartoon in the New Yorker showed two dogs in front of a computer. One is remarking “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” • Even Steiner was amazed at how popular it became. • It not only reflected, but helped shape world-wide attitudes.
We like making fun of computers. I have a spelling checker. It came with my PC. It plane lee marks four my revue Miss steaks aye can knot sea. Common spell-check mistakes include: Untied States, Worth nothing that, and Fraud for Freud.
THE THE IMPOTENCE OF PROOFREADING (TAYLOR MALI): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_rwB5_3PQc
Because headlines are so short, they often contain ambiguities
These sentences are ambiguous; computers don’t provide “real world knowledge” • A cheesecake was on the table. It was delicious and was soon eaten. • SIGN IN A CHURCH: For those of you who have children and don’t know it, we have a nursery downstairs. • NEWSPAPER AD: Our bikinis are exciting; they are simply the tops. • It’s time to make smoking history!