I found the word, Meme, used to describe a blog and it may be a good way to illustrate why people use blogs. Coined in 1976 by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene, “meme” is a derivation of ancient greek, related to “mime” and analogous to “gene”. Just as a gene transmits biological attributes from one organism to another, a meme is a unit for passing cultural ideas, symbols or practices from one human being to another through imitable forms of expression. Some examples Dawkins gave were melodies, catch-phrases and fashion. Blogs could be viewed in this way as part of “cultural evolution” with their own natural selection determined by popular interest. They have, in a very short time, become woven into the fabric of international human interaction.
No comments:
Post a Comment