Paper short abstract:

Networked communication facilitates competing assertions of vernacular authority. This paper considers how social and technological forces influence the emergence of these localized digital practices as well as the challenges of dealing with image manipulation and trolling in digital ethnographic research.

Paper long abstract:

This paper argues that the fluid nature of networked communication facilitates the existence of ongoing, competing assertions of vernacular authority. Internet memes are especially attuned to circulating these multiple authorities due to its highly spreadable and customizable nature. Although we don't normally think of the singular "authority" as multiple or conflicting, the vernacular is inherently multiple, and, as such, creates the possibility for multiple authorities. Networks make it increasingly commonplace for competing notions of vernacular authority to not only develop but also to collide.

In these moments of collision, when expectations for vernacular practice and authority are breached, users respond to the vernacular with the vernacular. This paper looks at how one meme ("Who Needs Feminism?") varied as it was adopted by different web communities. As the meme circulated across both feminist and anti-feminist communities, users created local variations in order to reassert their vernacular authority and, in doing so, exert control over vernacular speech and identity. This paper engages with the social and technological forces that influence the emergence of these localized digital practices while also considering the challenges of dealing with deceit, image manipulation, and trolling in digital ethnographic research.