Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id OAA14825 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 9 May 2000 14:23:25 +0100 Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D31CEB15C@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: a memetic experiment- an eIe opener Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 14:21:23 +0100 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
With respect, this idea ignores 75 or more years of media studies that have
been trying to identify the pecularities of media effects.
I believe memetics may offer a perspective on this, but there's no way in
which your proposal would work because the uptake of memes is
context-sensitive, both in the sense of the environment in which a meme
emerges, and second in terms of the people who are exposed to the meme.
This is exactly why most theories of advertising and marketing etc. are so
flawed because they assume that if you construct a message with
characteristic 'a' and disseminate it to audience member 'b' you will get
the desired effect 'c'. But it obviously doesn't work like that. There is
little evidence that there is something inherent in any media text which
makes it more or less likely to succeed in general terms, mainly because the
audience is not an amorphous mass of automatons, but people with both
overlapping and contradictory attitudes, knowledge, etc. etc.
Vincent
> ----------
> From: Bruce Jones
> Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Sent: Tuesday, May 9, 2000 1:52 pm
> To: 'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'
> Subject: RE: a memetic experiment- an eIe opener
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Chuck Palson [SMTP:cpalson@mediaone.net]
> > Subject: Re: a memetic experiment- an eIe opener
> >
> > Bruce Jones wrote:
> >
> > > Let me see if I can put a different spin on this!!
> > > If we take eie to be a new measurement tool
> >
> > I am totally lost here. I thought you started with just trying to invent
> a
> > new
> > word that would express a new concept of relationship. Now you tell me
> > it's a
> > measurement tool. Help!
> >
> Why not?
> Take any piece of literature, advertisement, slogan, or philosophy and
> measure it in some way to see if it is going to catch on. Advertising
> has
> been doing it for years with catchy little sayings... "Winston Tastes Good
> .....", "Where's the beef.", "Do It", "See the USA....", etc. What about
> "Frankly Scarlet I don't give .....", "As God is my witness, I will never
> .....", Give me Liberty or ....", "Never have so few....". These are, of
> course, very much a localized cultural thing.
> So let's take The Communist Manifesto written in 1845 in England, Mien
> Campf
> written in 1924, the Bible, Koran, and other religious texts that began
> being written when writing began. What makes these so strong? Obviously
> it
> was an emotional appeal that worked but what was (If I may keep the idea
> of
> an eie measurement for a while longer) the "eie index"? What was the self
> serving aspect of each of these that kept it going and lead to the things
> they became, have become, and represent?
> If this can be quantitated can we not then apply it to a business
> document,
> philosophy, term paper, or advertisement as a predictor of success?
>
> So again ....... Why not?
>
> Bruce Jones
> >
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
> For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
>
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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