I am developing a paper on swarm networks and meme warfare together with Travis Wall who is a PhD student of mine. The topic is very interesting in light of the astonishing mobilization of collective intelligence across various internet forums [4chan, and Reddit in particular] during the 2016 US presidential campaign. We are focusing on a single case study – the #draftourdaughters campaign – developing in the final pre-election week on 4chan’s /pol/ forum. Ironically, some of the material we are discussing is quite contentious and therefore picking a journal to publish our piece requires some strategizing.
Swarm networks and the design process of a distributed meme warfare campaign
The 2016 US presidential elections were surrounded by a vast social media campaign, involving the phenomenon of distributed memetic warfare on a scale unseen before. #draftourdaughters was a viral memetic campaign organised and produced by anonymous members of the internet board 4chan, and then deployed to wider audiences on platforms such as Reddit, Twitter and Facebook. Memetic warfare in social media has recently been documented in case studies of the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict (Rodley 2016) and the 2014 Russia-Ukraine conflict (Wiggins 2016). These studies present and analyse the content generated by users, with a central focus on continual content remixing, and generation of semiotic messaging. In contrast, this paper aims to develop a systemic perspective of the mechanics of generation of targeted memes, by analysing the swarm like topology of 4chan’s /pol/ forum (Hine et al. 2016), and the logistics of the swarm’s rapid prototyping, coordination, production, and dissemination of content.
The paper uses as it’s case study the #draftourdaughters campaign, which is documented in its entirety from inception to completion. The anonymous conversations conceptualising the campaign, as well as the rapid prototyping and ideation process informed by the swarm’s quick feedback loop, are analysed with a conceptual apparatus informed by actor network theory, and then mapped to design process research. Concepts native to the open source movement make the foundation of the framework analysing the collaborative dynamics and production of content (Raymond 2001, Robb 2007), further developing open source remix as a fundamental mechanic to content production. Further analysis is performed using concepts from systems theory (Baran 1962), swarming in conflict scenarios (Arquilla and Ronfeldt 2000), and approaches to fourth generation warfare (Lind and Thiele 2015). The behaviour of the swarm in response to an identified goal is mapped to concepts central to design process methodology (Dubberly 2008).
The main focus of the argument is in developing a coherent and systemic perspective on the logistics of distributed memetic production in online spaces potentiating swarm-like behaviour in their user-base. The authors examine this process in its entirety, from the logistics of swarm formation to the rapid prototyping of ideas leveraging short feedback loops, and the collaborative creation of semantically targeted media. Anonymous online spaces such as 4chan are identified as environments fostering a powerful feedback loop of distributed ideation, content production and dissemination. Through examining these phenomena, the paper also provides perspective on the manifestation of collaborative design practice in online participatory media spaces.
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Arquilla, J and Ronfeldt, D 2000, Swarming and the Future of Conflict, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, viewed 9 February 2017, http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/documented_briefings/2005/RAND_DB311.pdf
Baran, P 1962, ‘On Distributed Communications Networks’, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, viewed 9 February 2017, http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/papers/2005/P2626.pdf
Dubberly, H 2008, How Do You Design? A Compendium of Models, Dubberly Design Office, viewed 9 February 2017, http://www.dubberly.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/ddo_designprocess.pdf
Hine, G, Onaolapo J, De Cristofaro E, Kourtellis N, Leontiadis I, Samaras R, Stringhini G, Blackburn J 2016, ‘A Longitudinal Measurement Study of 4chan’s Politically Incorrect Forum and its Effect on the Web’, viewed 9 February 2017, https://arxiv.org/pdf/1610.03452.pdf
Lind, W and Thiele, G 2015, 4th Generation Warfare, Castalia House
Raymond, E 2001, The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary, O’Reilly, Beijing.
Rodley, C 2016, ‘When Memes Go to War: Viral Propaganda in the 2014 Gaza-Israel Conflict’, Fibreculture Journal, Issue 27, viewed 9 February 2017, http://twentyseven.fibreculturejournal.org/2016/03/18/fcj-200-when-memes-go-to-war-viral-propaganda-in-the-2014-gaza-israel-conflict/
Robb, J 2008, Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization, Wiley, Hoboken
Wiggins B 2016, ‘Crimea River: Directionality in Memes from the Russia-Ukraine Conflict’, International Journal of Communication, vol 10, pp-451-485, viewed 9 February 2017, http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/4103
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