Memes

Memes are like modern day commentaries on popular culture. While I have a hard time (library-wise) thinking of good examples of lessons, I can see it being used for a social history, political science, or history in general class where memes can be created like modern day political cartoons. Or even an art class where students have to justify the imagery and text together, and demonstrate how it works cohesively. Almost like the analyzing images project, but with a contemporary flare.

It does bring up a good conversation about the ethical use of information and what images mean and how their meaning can change within a different context. Especially when memes are not cartoons, but instead display a person's face. Does the ethical use change if it is a clip from a movie compared to a personal photo? Does the ethical use change if it is a child actor compared to a child in the streets? It plays very well into Fair Use and remixing guidelines. A downside to memes is that it is extremely hard to cite the original source when it is everywhere, anyone can make them, and images are scrubbed from the internet to create them.

Memes are like emojis where they both share a small amount of visual information that is understood by many. Memes, unlike emojis, share text that the populous can change and adapt making them constantly relevant to current society and can say things that people agree with but may not be saying on their own.

I am not entirely convinced that memes should be taught in the sense of making them, but I do think it needs to be brought into the discussion of Copyright, Fair Use, and Ethical Uses of Information as students are using them beyond the classroom.

Here are my two memes on Information Literacy and Library policy: 

Classroom Use

I would assign this as a standalone assignment. I could see this as part of an assignment, such as assigning a blog post where a meme would be included. I also think I would assign this to older students, (maybe Middle and yes High School) as memes require knowledge of popular culture and sometimes sarcasm which elementary students may not understand. It also involves looking through numerous images which are not all appropriate for students.

If I did assign this, it would have to be included as a teacher collaboration combined with a project and a topic. Since this is mostly geared toward older students (High School) I would not be able to just assign a library assignment, it would have to be connected with a teacher as libraries are no longer specials and required at the upper levels. Students could also choose from several pre-approved options to ensure that they are looking at safe-for-school imagery.

Goal would be to have students demonstrate their knowledge of a subject / topic and apply it through creative means.

New skills:

• Sharing knowledge in a limited word count

• Sharing knowledge tied with imagery

Reinforced Skills:

• Sharing information with peers

• Ethical uses of information

• Considering and identifying the audience for final product

For ESL / Special Needs / Differentiated Plans, students could work in pairs, have a translator, extra time, and / or choose from a smaller set of images to create the meme from. Meme text could be written out or typed and the teacher / librarian could place it in a generator with the chosen image.

Post-assessment would be informal as a meme is subjective based on if a person understands the background context, popular culture, or text references. The memes could be shared with the class and discussed as a group on how well each worked at conveying a message. If it was in a rubric it could include if the meme contained the subject / topic of discussion, if the text and imagery worked well together, and how easy it was to understand.

Sources

Cuse, Carlton, et al. “San Andreas.” IMDb, Amazon, 27 May 2015, www.imdb.com/title/tt2126355/. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.

ImgFlip. “Imgflip - Create and Share Awesome Images.” Imgflip.com, Imgflip LLC, 2018, imgflip.com/. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.

Make a Meme. “Make a Meme - Funny Memes and Meme Generator.” Make a Meme, Make a Meme, 2019, makeameme.org/. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.

The Public Domain Review. “Joseph Ducreux’s Self-Portraits (Ca. 1790).” The Public Domain Review, The Public Domain Review, 27 Aug. 2020, publicdomainreview.org/collection/joseph-ducreux-self-portraits/. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.