HISTORY
The idea of memes is nothing new. However, these memes on our site are a recent phenomenon with a young history tied to the beginnings of the Internet. Below is a snapshot timeline of notable events.
1970-1990. The Internet was born
The Internet grew out of ARPANET, the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network that created a collection of networkxs connected through inter-networking.
The Web's origins are shown here as a plaque at CERN Library. The idea of the WWW was to merge technologies of computers, computer networking, and hypertext into a powerful and easy to use global information system. Fast forward a few decades, and we have people using their personal computers to access this world-wide information system to create their own memes.
1990-1992+ Satire introduced online
...But taken seriously because people hadn't interacted with it before on this platform.
Many times in Meme's history, its new satire online was fuel to a a flame of accusations or false truths that spread like wildfire. For example, Usenet rec,martial-arts contributor Doug Welch invented a fake Scottish martial art called "Greenoch" because we was tired of people making ridiculous claims about the lethality of their chosen favorite martial art.
Many readers immediately took it seriously; readers were jumping in to fan the flames by claiming that only they, in fact, knew the real true Greenoch.
Eventually Kata (martial arts forms) were posted, weapons described, and the meme for Greenoch became firmly embedded in the Internet.
1990's and 2000's The famous satires hit big
Certain memes and meme types have become famously quoted and modified in the last few years. A popular phrasal template meme depicted to the left is the two-pane cartoon series about "How people view me after I say I'm ____". The memes touch upon stereotypes based on ethnicity, religion, profession, and others. This earliest known type was posted on June 11, 2011 on 9gag. It was voted to Reddit's front page a view days later. Search inquiries around "How people view me" saw a significant increase in June 2011, the same month the first meme was shared. These modified versions continue to spread across humor communities, Facebook, and Tumbler.
2010-2012 Memes explode on college campuses
Meme history is unfolding on campuses as a student led communication trend. University officials have kept their distance on the matter, and the students have been providing the inspiration for these memes as they go viral across college campuses especially across the United States. The meme to the right shows a college senior deciding to do a project that is due tomorrow...tomorrow.
2012 Stanford Class begins University Meme website
This was a breakthrough in Meme history. No one has ever dared to make a meme about these 18 students and their experiences in Communication 182 titled Virtual Communities and Social Media before. The website deserves much praise for making a dent in memes' recent satirical history. The novel idea of presenting a Final in the form of a meme website is an unprecedented masterpiece.
1982 First Emoticon Created
Scott E. Fahlman was coined the inventor of the usually sarcastically used marking. These emoticons have early origins with the Computer Science community at Carnegie Mellon and their online bulletin boards, a primitive network of the day. They used the :-) to mark posts there were not to be taken seriously. The marking spread throughout the lab and University settings.
Meme Definition: An idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person online within a culture.
STANFORD MEMES
And some ity-bity GIF-in, too
The Social Media and Virtual Community Project