Anatomy of a meme: Epic Beard Man

Below are random media theory thoughts (b.s.) on a recent viral video phenom referred to as "epic beard man". In other words... most people won't care to read this.

Re: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/epic-beard-man

It's interesting to note that the modern phenom of image and video remixing may be part of a higher purpose. Through remixing video becomes codified and formalized as a form of language.

Through viral memes we are identifying / citing / developing a formal video based language combining multiple types of audio and visual information.

This new language is in many respects the same as written, spoken and visual language. However what is most interesting is this phenom in combining different types of language which include literal (i.e. spoken word) and abstract information (i.e. body language) thus becoming a sort of complex meta-language.

If only on a basic level parallel audio visual cues (often pertaining directly to the human condition) are through memes such as "Fail" or the "play it off cat" identified and classified.

It is in a way a game of audio visual "go fish" that teaches us a whole number of things not only about oft repeated patterns but also different universal aspects of the human condition.

What's more there's the fascinating prospect that out of negatives such as the above linked to conflict commonly referred to in the "epic beard man video" and others we can see some evidence that there is potentially a new means for establishing consensus on a cultural / moral code.

To be specific the original maker of the video receives negative feedback that is to some degree from an active organized group campaign called Anonymous regarding her own actions in instigating the fight and and racial tensions. Such statements as "kick his white *ss" and the use of the term "pinky" to describe the white male.

She then feels the need to acknowledge and address through a follow up video those specific issues which others feel are outside the boundaries of some cultural / moral code.

In her response we are seeing how on low level new moral issues / boundaries can be identified resolved and codified.

In viral memes we are seeing a new social phenom. It is the meanings and ramifications of these phenom that I find so fascinating.

Update: On the other hand the visual meme generator is absolutely chuck full of racist comments. :( http://memegenerator.net/Epic-Beard-Man

Why TV Lost

Rarely do you see things put so susinctly. Sometimes I could just kiss Paul Graham, but that would be kind of weird and creepy. :)

He captures the inevitability of the TV vs. Internet war, the sheer obviousness and the magic and slaps it all down in a few hundred words like it was meant to be.

From: Why TV Lost

About twenty years ago people noticed computers and TV were on a collision course and started to speculate about what they'd produce when they converged. We now know the answer: computers. It's clear now that even by using the word "convergence" we were giving TV too much credit. This won't be convergence so much as replacement. People may still watch things they call "TV shows," but they'll watch them mostly on computers.

What decided the contest for computers? Four forces, three of which one could have predicted, and one that would have been harder to.

One predictable cause of victory is that the Internet is an open platform. Anyone can build whatever they want on it, and the market picks the winners. So innovation happens at hacker speeds instead of big company speeds.

The second is Moore's Law, which has worked its usual magic on Internet bandwidth. [1]

The third reason computers won is piracy. Users prefer it not just because it's free, but because it's more convenient. Bittorrent and YouTube have already trained a new generation of viewers that the place to watch shows is on a computer screen. [2]

The somewhat more surprising force was one specific type of innovation: social applications. The average teenage kid has a pretty much infinite capacity for talking to their friends. But they can't physically be with them all the time. When I was in high school the solution was the telephone. Now it's social networks, multiplayer games, and various messaging applications. The way you reach them all is through a computer. [3] Which means every teenage kid (a) wants a computer with an Internet connection, (b) has an incentive to figure out how to use it, and (c) spends countless hours in front of it.

This was the most powerful force of all. This was what made everyone want computers. Nerds got computers because they liked them. Then gamers got them to play games on. But it was connecting to other people that got everyone else: that's what made even grandmas and 14 year old girls want computers.

After decades of running an IV drip right into their audience, people in the entertainment business had understandably come to think of them as rather passive. They thought they'd be able to dictate the way shows reached audiences. But they underestimated the force of their desire to connect with one another.

Facebook killed TV. That is wildly oversimplified, of course, but probably as close to the truth as you can get in three words.

Boxee and the future of the television

From: Boxee Generates Buzz by the NYTimes.com

Boxee is betting that consumers accustomed to the freedom of the Internet will not be interested in a dribble of online services on their televisions but will want more comprehensive access to Web video.

“Consumers and developers aren’t going to put up with the idea of one piece of hardware talking to only a few services,” said Bijan Sabet, a partner at Spark Capital, one of two East Coast venture capital firms that invested a total of $4 million in Boxee last year. “It would be like getting a Verizon phone you can only use to call other Verizon subscribers. It’s not a natural thing.”

Boxee appears to be generating a tremendous amount of buzz. For good reason too.

The people behind Boxee appear to "get it", as is evident by the above quote.

In a world where anyone has access to anything via the internet the game has changed for television and media as well.

It's no longer enough to have some or "most" of media on your TV.

It's no longer enough to have access to some prepackaged set of channels from a cable provider.

It's no longer enough to have access to the popular stuff... or the stuff in english.. or the stuff on youtube.

The television of the future will be able to play any video from anywhere in the world through the internet.

Everyone will have equal access to not only watch but also to publish and share media with everyone else in the world.

No longer will what's on TV be constrained by a cable company like Comcast, a hardware company like Apple, or even the latest greatest kid on the block, Youtube.

The TV of the future must be completely content, language and geography agnostic.

If you want to watch the first landing on the moon... videos from China in a local dialect... a video your sister posted yesterday of her kids making a snowman... you should and you will be able to watch it on your TV.

Wether this content be personal home movies, niche content of any type in any part of the world or any language, or mainstream popular media, whatever your hearts content you should and one day you will be able to watch it on your TV with simply the flip of a button on the remote.

That is the big picture, and until now there has not been any one piece of software or one company that could get you there.

With youtube and a thousand other existing web services are serving every type of content imaginable around the world,

with high-speed bandwidth becoming more ubiquitous everyday,

and finally with the revolutionary bittorrent protocol allowing anyone with even a shred of bandwidth to serve a video to millions...

...the media world is at the cusp of making two more great leaps.

One leap for media will be mobile.

The other leap will be to the living room.

For the next step in revolutionizing media we need piece of software that is Mosaic or Firefox of the internet for media for the TV.

Boxee is the first thing I've seen that *may* very well fit that bill.