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CATEGORIES:hmh46's list
SUMMARY:“Tell them about the cats”: How communication and 
 culture drives value in adopting crypto memecoins 
 - Prof Peter Chow-White\, Visiting Professor Jesus
  College
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250522T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250522T193000
UID:TALK232045AThttp://talks.cam.ac.uk
URL:http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/232045
DESCRIPTION:When Richard Dawkins coined the term “memes” in hi
 s 1976 book The Selfish Gene\, he unwittingly beca
 me a media scholar and peered into the future of t
 echnology and society. He described memes as infec
 tious gene-like bits of culture that spread throug
 h personal social networks. They act as cultural r
 eplicators of ideas\, behaviors\, or styles that s
 pread from person to person. His concept seems tak
 en for granted nowadays and common both in scholar
 ship and popular culture. However\, his memes face
 d derision and dismissal in the academy initially.
  Communication and media scholars did not know wha
 t to do with the concept for the next 25 years unt
 il memes sprung up on the Internet in the 2000s an
 d became a staple in the digital media landscape. 
 While legacy media has become fractured and divers
 ified\, memes have become a common Internet langua
 ge and cultural reference. They are much more than
  simply funny or annoying content. They are media 
 that share affect and common experiences and instr
 uments for creating meaning in our lives. While we
  drive cultural and social value to them through c
 ommunication\, they do not have economic value. Th
 is changed in 2013 with the launch of the first me
 mecoin called Dogecoin. For the first time\, a mem
 e had a dollar value (actually a fraction of a cen
 t at the time). This is interesting in the evoluti
 on of memes and the Internet and introduces a new 
 process of financialization in the form of the tok
 enization of culture. While memecoins seem frivolo
 us and silly\, they present an opportunity to expl
 ore critical elements of blockchain phenomenon out
 side of the typical avenues of Bitcoin and Ethereu
 m\, which can be polemic. In this talk\, I explore
  the relationship between economic value and socia
 l value of memecoins and how this gives insight in
 to how culture and community building drive value 
 in the blockchain space through communication in d
 igital networks. I also touch on the evolution of 
 memecoins and the rise and significance of cat-the
 med memecoins. 
LOCATION:Coleridge Room at Jesus College
CONTACT:May Hen
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