I found this out while in Shanghai! Look Time.com names the Know Your Meme site as one of the top 50 Websites of 2009. When the show first launched early last year I listed my fave episodes. I knew that it was going to become a popular site even back then!

.

So kenyatta produces a show called Know Your Meme. The entire show documents popular internet memes.  Memes are like genes, but instead of holding and replicating genetic information, memes are units of cultural information. The show’s style is like Jon Stewart’s Daily Show but instead of reporting on the whole world, they report on the internet.Yes the internet is a CONFUSING WORLD! How do we make sense of all the popular youtube videos and lolcats and emails about YoDawg? That’s why we need a show called Know Your Meme!

The on-screen team consists of Kenyatta, Jamie, and Ellie. And the behind screen magic consists of great internet researchers, editors, and camera people.

Now if you are wondering what what is the significance and wonder of documenting online ideas - then you must do two things right now:

1.) watch some video on Know Your Meme

2.) read Kenyatta’s interview, Life After Memes,  on Pop Tech. He discusses memetic activity as cultural practices. He also challenges Susan Blackmore’s notion that memes are bigger than people and actually control people. Kenyatta’s article essentially makes the point that memes do not control society, memes at the end of the day require people to have a life on the internet.

I just received this notice today in my email that my Dahon Mariner d7 may have problems and that I need to stop riding it! OHMYGOD WTFF!! I LOVE MY MARINER!!!!!!

Nothing bad has happened to me in it so I wonder what is going on?

Well here are pictures of how estatic I was when I bought my mariner. The two videos below show how I can fold and unfold it in under 30 seconds, and then take it out of car and go to a cocktail party in heels. I will keep you posted when i found out what’s going on! These are pictures from my flickr set about my folding bike.

Watch me fold and unfold my dahon mariner in less than 30 SECONDS!

Watch me take it out of my car!

I too will join this coalition. Lobos unidos contra los homosexuales!

OHMYGOD JOSH KINBERG has finally brough PBS into the real interactive internets cyber of virtual web space! He did it!  Josh you know that you are going to save PBS right? Because of the all tiered space you have made for the local stations to participate- this is going to keep PBS alive!!!  And now I get to watch my fractal piece that I wasn’t able to watch fully the first time around because I was tired and thinking about cultural practices. *and lookie at the NY Times and Wall Street Articles!

joshkinberg:

PBS Video launches today! This is the main project I’ve been working on since I joined PBS last fall, and it’s one of the most ambitious projects ever taken on by PBS Interactive. In many ways, this project has been transformative for the PBS Interactive team and ultimately for PBS as a whole! It’s also one of the projects that I’m most proud to have been a part of.

The first thing you’ll notice is that the site has full-length episodes from many of the iconic shows on PBS (literally some of the best programming on television). This library of full-length content will be growing substantially over time with new content added every week, and eventually the goal is to make as much programming available on the web as possible. This will include local content, full-length documentaries, and extensive archives.

What’s not yet apparent is that this is only the first step of a much larger project that will serve many different constituents at PBS — most importantly our community of 100’s of local stations. There are components that enable stations to publish their own content, share content between stations, and build custom online video experiences. We’re also using the same underlying platform to power video experiences on various PBS producer websites and also PBS KIDS GO!

The whole effort has required a lot of coordination across departments at PBS and could not have been possible without extensive collaboration with local stations and producers.

There’s still a long way to go and a lot of potential yet to be realized, but for the moment it feels really good to achieve this milestone.

Now, go enjoy some “good for you” videos! I suggest starting with this trippy episode about fractals from NOVA

Here’s what other people are saying… Pioneer Press, LA Times, PaidContent, [more links to come]

kenyatta and Jamie came up with the idea of Know Your Meme last year - a show that just reports on Memes with a “scientific” approach .

So with ellie, jamie and a great researcher chris J menning - oh and great editors - this show is one of the best video blogs out being produced out there!

What I think makes Know Your Meme stand out is the insightful writing and damn good research.

I love that kenyatta writes the scripts in a way that do not give simple answers for why something becomes a meme. Chris conducts AMAZINGly thorough research - they don’t these kind of research skills in school. Then kenyatta frame it in the larger context of internet culture. The the kenyatta magic is the best at the end of the meme video - where he gives  the macro perspective of the sociologically meaning of the meme.

After a few months past their start up period - I feel that Know Your Meme has finally found its rhythm and knows to work with their resources. 

And of course the writing wouldn’t matter if there wasn’t such a great crew, a great researcher like chris, great editors and a great company to build off of - rocketboom!

Here are some of my personal favorites since they started last year. Check it out and add this to your RSS feed!