E.J. White

A Unified Theory of Cats on the Internet

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

"his is the first book that explores the history of how the cat came to be the undisputed mascot of the internet. Internet cats can differ in dramatic ways, from the goth cats of Twitter to the glamourpusses of Instagram to the giddy, nonsensical silliness of Nyan Cat; but they share a common signification of internettiness. And as such, internet cats offer a useful-and playful-way to investigate the communities of practitioners that surround computing and, more generally, to understand how culture shapes, and is shaped by, technology"--

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 168
• Erscheinungstermin: 21. Juli 2020
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 203mm x 128mm x 15mm
• Gewicht: 202g
• ISBN-13: 9781503604636
• ISBN-10: 1503604632
• Artikelnr.: 59509129

Autorenporträt

Elyse White is Associate Professor of Digital Humanities at Stony Brook University, and the author of The Republic of Games (2018) and You Talkin' to Me? The Unruly History of New York English (2020). A self-professed dog person, she's now the human associate of Aaron Purr and multiple foster kittens.

Inhaltsangabe

Contents and Abstracts
Introduction: Introduction
chapter abstract
This chapter establishes the terms of the mystery that the rest of the book
explores: how and why the world came to believe that cats are the "spirit
animal" of the internet. While the triumph of cats on the internet is a
measurable fact, it is also a myth: a signifier that carries remarkable
force in the marketplace of attention. Cats are a symbol of pointless
online sociability; so the reason that we needed a symbol of pointless
online sociability-that its prevalence came as a surprise to all who had
"for so long heard about the coldness and impersonality of the computer"-is
worth keeping in mind. Astonishing to early observers of computing,
pointless online sociability became a major force driving the development
of the internet: not an epiphenomenon, but a root cause.
1The Semiotic History of Grumpy Cats
chapter abstract
This chapter examines the long history of making cats suffer as a form of
entertainment. We no longer massacre cats for fun, but even today, the
torment of cats in fiction is acceptable sport.
2The Great LOLcat Massacre
chapter abstract
One of the first recorded instances of mass trolling on the internet was an
attack on a forum for cat lovers whose regulars were mostly women. That the
women of the cat lovers' forum could seem like outsiders to be pushed from
the internet was the outcome of a long semiotic and cultural history that
demonized cats, as well as a complex series of gender reversals in the
history of computing.
3Extremely Online Felines
chapter abstract
This chapter explores the significance of cats in the subcultures that
helped to set down the social protocols of Web 2.0. The communities that
laid the social foundations of the meme culture saw themselves as
inhabitants of the periphery as opposed to the mainstream; the ascendance
of the cat as the mascot of the internet relied on a view of the internet
as a snarky, alienated alternative to the mainstream. These communities
included many Americans who were fascinated with Japanese culture, which
further drove the popularity of cat memes on their boards; meme culture has
deep roots in japonisme.
4The Three Lives of Internet Cats
chapter abstract
The history of internet cats can be divided into three periods: the webcam
and personal blog era; the meme era; and the celebrity cat era. The rise of
celebrity cats answers a question about internet economics that economists
and media theorists have been debating for decades: whether the internet
will flatten the playing field so that a few superstars no longer reap most
of the consumer demand in a given area. As it turns out-and as Anita
Elberse shows-in the digital marketplace, superstars are more important
than ever: although the long tail is lengthening, in the sense that
unpopular items are finding buyers, superstars are gaining a larger
proportion of total sales.
Epilogue: Late Adopter
chapter abstract
When I started work on this book, I was Not a Cat Person. But I try to be
thorough, so once research was underway, I reached out to a shelter in
Brooklyn and asked to foster a kitten. Reader, I kept him. It's humbling to
like a cat after complaining so much about them. I'll go further and say,
since my dog can't read, that I'm probably a cat person. Having been
reminded so pointedly that I can't predict the turns in my own life, I
should refrain, I think, from pretending that I can say much about the
future of the internet. Yet we can likely be confident that whatever turns
the internet takes, the tubes will remain cat-shaped: frivolous,
subversive, cute, mean, and weird, with communities of users fighting
endless battles over the imaginary heart of the web, and with play and
politics in perpetual mutual reinforcement.