DOCSLIB.ORG

Folklore and the Internet: Vernacular Expression in a Digital World

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Folklore and the Internet: Vernacular Expression in a Digital World Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All USU Press Publications USU Press 2009 Folklore and the Internet: Vernacular Expression in a Digital World Trevor J. Blank [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs Part of the Computer Sciences Commons, and the Folklore Commons Recommended Citation Blank, T. J. (2009). Folklore and the Internet: Vernacular expression in a digital world. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the USU Press at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All USU Press Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Folklore and the Internet Vernacular Expression in a Digital World Folklore and the Internet Vernacular Expression in a Digital World Edited by Trevor J. Blank Utah State University Press Logan, Utah Copyright © 2009 Utah State University Press All rights reserved Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322-7800 USUPress.org ISBN: 978-0-87421-750-6 (paper) ISBN: 978-0-87421-751-3 (e-book) Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid-free, recycled paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Folklore and the internet : vernacular expression in a digital world / edited by Trevor J. Blank. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-87421-750-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-87421-751-3 (e-book) 1. Folklore and the Internet. 2. Folklore--Computer network resources. 3. Digital communications. I. Blank, Trevor J. GR44.E43F65 2009 398.02854678--dc22 2009026813 To Charley Camp, friend and mentor Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction Toward a Conceptual Framework for the Study of Folklore and the Internet 1 Trevor J. Blank Chapter 1 Digitizing and Virtualizing Folklore 21 Simon J. Bronner Chapter 2 Guardians of the Living: Characterization of Missing Women on the Internet 67 Elizabeth Tucker Chapter 3 The End of the Internet: A Folk Response to the Provision of Infinite Choice 80 Lynne S. McNeill Chapter 4 The Forward as Folklore: Studying E-Mailed Humor 98 Russell Frank Chapter 5 Epistemology, the Sociology of Knowledge, and the Wikipedia Userbox Controversy 123 William Westerman Chapter 6 Crusading on the Vernacular Web: The Folk Beliefs and Practices of Online Spiritual Warfare 159 Robert Glenn Howard Chapter 7 Ghosts in the Machine: Mourning the MySpace Dead 175 Robert Dobler Chapter 8 Public Folklore in Cyberspace 194 Gregory Hansen Appendix Webography of Public Folklore Resources 213 compiled by Gregory Hansen References 231 About the Contributors 254 Index 257 Acknowledgments First and foremost, thanks are due to the incredible staff at the Utah State University Press for their unwavering support, enthusiasm, and dedication to this project from its inception. I am indebted, in particular, to John Alley, executive editor of the Utah State University Press, for his ongoing correspondence, guidance, and suggestions throughout the project’s lifespan. I wish to also thank the American Folklore Society (AFS), which hosted early versions of several essays contained in this book at annual conferences as well as on AFS discussion forums. As the most prominent folklore organization in America, the society has been a tremendous partner in testing out ideas, sharing information amongst scholars, and garnering support for the project. I am also thankful for the camaraderie and sharing of ideas that have taken place at the annual meetings of the Hoosier Folklore Society, Pioneer America Society: Association for the Preservation of Artifacts and Landscapes, and the Western States Folklore Society, whose conferences have greatly contributed to the growing awareness of the possibilities for the collaborative study of folklore and the Internet in recent years. Numerous people have provided stimulating discussion and postu- lations, often suggesting helpful approaches to managing the book proj- ect and its content. I am especially grateful to Donald Allport Bird, Simon Bronner, John Dorst, Bill Ellis, Gregory Hansen, Robert Glenn Howard, Lydia Fish, Jay Mechling, Elizabeth Tucker, and William Westerman for their insights. And particularly to Charley Camp, to whom this book is dedicated; I am most appreciative of his nurturing mentorship, friend- ship, and encouragement in influencing my decision to join the folklore discipline. He is both a scholar and a gentleman, and I am indebted to him for all of his support over the years. Of course, many colleagues, friends, and family offered incredible amounts of support throughout the book’s production. To my parents, Bruce and Anita, and my sister Natalie, I am grateful for the chats that have helped to get my mind off of the never-ending piles of papers that ix x inhabit my living space. I am also fortunate to have worked with my esteemed colleagues at the Department of American Studies, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; in particular I would like to thank Warren Belasco, Kathy Bryan, Jason Loviglio, and Ed Orser for their mentorship and friendship. At Indiana University’s Folklore Institute a special thanks are in order for my colleagues Inta Carpenter, Henry Glassie, Jason Baird Jackson, Jon Kay, John McDowell, and Pravina Shukla; in the department of History, Ellen Dwyer, Matt Guterl, Ed Linenthal, and Eric Sandweiss; and in the School of Education, Dionne Danns, Andrea Walton, and Donald Warren. The staff at Folklore Forum, especially Curtis Ashton, Kate Schramm, Kristiana Willsey, and Ed Wolf are owed a thank-you for their encouragement and work on the impor- tant volume 37 of the journal, which was the special issue dedicated to the Internet. I am also indebted to my friends Ronald L. Baker, Dawn Bowen, Ginny Buckner, Rebekah Burchfield, Susan Eckelmann, Gary Alan Fine, Katherine Forgacs, Laura Garcia-Houser, Angelina Sanfilippo, Rebecca Geitz, Aaron Glatt, Ryan Gray, John Heflin, Angela Johnson, Artimus Keiffer, Jimmy Kerner, Mike “Cleg” Kapp, Kara Lairson, Justin Levy, Mark Liechty, Dane McConnell, Nan McEntire, Lynwood Montell, Mark Montgomery, Selina Morales, Chris Mulé, Dorothy Noyes, Chris Post, Scott Roper, Jim Seaver, Wayne Smith, Michael Stuckey, Michael Symonds, Sabra Weber, Priscilla Wysong, Rebecca Yingling, and Adam Zolkover for their support, suggestions, and friendship. Last, but certainly not least, all of the contributors to this volume are due tremendous credit for their diligence in meeting our tight deadlines, revisions, and production goals. All were true professionals and have made this experience very rewarding. Introduction Toward a Conceptual Framework for the Study of Folklore and the Internet Trevor J. Blank In his essay “Toward a Definition of Folklore in Context,” Dan Ben- Amos asserts: “If the initial assumption of folklore research is based on the disappearance of its subject matter, there is no way to prevent the sci- ence from following the same road” (1971, 14). In similar fashion, Alan Dundes began his presidential plenary address to the American Folklore Society in 2004 with a grim outlook on the future of the discipline by con- tending that the “state of folkloristics at the beginning of the twenty-first century is depressingly worrisome” (2005, 385). Such alarm-sounding statements merit our attention, but the fact remains that this has been a recurring assertion within this academic discipline for some time (Oring 1998). Richard Dorson lamented in 1972 that in “a few more years, there will be no more folklore, and ergo, no need for any folklorists” (41); but as Dorson “responded by looking elsewhere and [subsequently] found folklore in the media and a folk in the city” (Kirshenblatt-Gimblett 1998, 302), we too must respond by looking elsewhere when such feelings of impending doom surface in folklore scholarship. Folklore is a self-conscious discipline, and speculation on the future of folkloristics—the academic study of folklore—has been pessimistic at best. In a similar vein, Richard Bauman and Charles L. Briggs note that tradition “has been reportedly on the verge of dying for more than three centuries, [yet] . continues to provide useful means of producing and legitimizing new modernist projects, sets of legislators, and schemes of social inequality” (Bauman and Briggs 2003, 306). Despite all of the 1 2 Trevor J. Blank doom and gloom, folklore “continues to be alive and well in the modern world, due in part to increased transmission via e-mail and the Internet” (Dundes 2005, 406). It is time that folklorists look to the Internet, not only to expand our scholastic horizons but also to carry our discipline into the digital age. The formulation of the World Wide Web network has its roots in the Cold War tensions of the mid-twentieth century. The earliest incarna- tions were spawned in the form of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), created mainly in response to the Soviet Union’s launching of Sputnik. Beginning in 1958, ARPANET served the military and academic researchers as a means of communication and as a command tool for defense operations. E-mail technology was created in 1970, and by the 1980s people were interacting online through bulletin boards (discussion groups), MUDs (multiuser dungeons), and the WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link), a social network composed of Internet users from across the globe; later, Internet Relay Chat (IRC) followed (Hafner and Lyon 1998).1 The modern Internet emerged with the creation of the World Wide Web in 1989 by English computer scientist Timothy Berners-Lee. The development of HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and web browser technology allowed the Internet to expand from an exclusive academic forum into the worldwide phenomenon it is today. In 1992, the Internet was opened to the public domain. At the beginning of the 1990s there took place a fundamental trans- formation of the Internet . as the web became the center of the Internet and web browsers became the most common way of access- ing it, transformations in the communication processes established over the Internet also took place due to the specific characteristic of the web and its browsers.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Higgs Windows to New Physics Through D= 6 Operators: Constraints
    November 19, 2013 Higgs windows to new physics through d = 6 operators: Constraints and one-loop anomalous dimensions J. Elias-Mir´oa;b, J.R. Espinosab;c, E. Massoa;b, A. Pomarola a Dept. de F´ısica, Universitat Aut`onomade Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona b IFAE, Universitat Aut`onomade Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona c ICREA, Instituci´oCatalana de Recerca i Estudis Avan¸cats,Barcelona, Spain Abstract The leading contributions from heavy new physics to Higgs processes can be cap- tured in a model-independent way by dimension-six operators in an effective Lagrangian approach. We present a complete analysis of how these contributions affect Higgs cou- plings. Under certain well-motivated assumptions, we find that 8 CP-even plus 3 CP-odd Wilson coefficients parametrize the main impact in Higgs physics, as all other coefficients are constrained by non-Higgs SM measurements. We calculate the most relevant anoma- lous dimensions for these Wilson coefficients, which describe operator mixing from the heavy scale down to the electroweak scale. This allows us to find the leading-log correc- tions to the predictions for the Higgs couplings in specific models, such as the MSSM or composite Higgs, which we find to be significant in certain cases. arXiv:1308.1879v2 [hep-ph] 17 Nov 2013 1 Introduction The resonance observed at around 125 GeV at the LHC [1] has properties consistent with the Standard Model Higgs boson. More precise measurements of its couplings will hopefully provide information on the origin of electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) in the Standard Model (SM). All natural mechanisms proposed for EWSB introduce new physics at some scale Λ, not far from the TeV scale, that generates deviations in the SM Higgs physics.
    [Show full text]
  • Eugenio Maria De Hostos Charter School
    Charter Schools Institute State University of New York EUGENIO MARIA DE HOSTOS CHARTER SCHOOL FINAL CHARTERED AGREEMENT Sec. 2852(5) Submission to the Board of Regents VOLUME > OF REDACTED COP 74 North Pearl Street, 4m Floor, Albany, NY 12207 tel: (518) 433-8277 fax: (518) 427-6510 e-mail: [email protected] www.newyorkcharters.org OMU NO. 1646-0047 Form 990 Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax Under section 501(c) of the internal Revenue Code (except black lung benefit 97 trust or private foundation) or section 4847(a)(1) nonexempt charitable trust TMaFotmla 0*#*m**of@*Tmm*y OpMtoPutofle torn* Rtwnw Swvica Hetr. reorganization may have to uso a copy rfthb return to salty stata reportw InmpmcUon A For tha 1997 calendar year, OH tax year period beginning /^^r^. / , 1997, and ending Af*,*-ts.A*B I . 19 ?g B Chock* C Ntm* of organization MentmcaBon number UMIRS O Change of iddren taMor ^e.*. W4~ >c D Initial return printer Numbar and atroat (or P.O. box if mall la not daUvarad to street addreaa) Room/suits DP*. DfinaJ return City or town, stata or country, and ZIP+4 D Amandad return Inttrue- F Check »- D if exemption application (raqulrad aJao for Stata reporting) /V£&S a pending Q Type of organization—*>^ Exempt under section 501 (c)( 3 ) + (Insert number) OR • • section 4947(aK1) nonexempt charitable trust Note: Section 501(c)(3) exempt onjanfeanoni and 4947(a)(1) nonaxempt charitable trusts MUST attach a completed Schedule A (Fom 990). H|a) la thia a group return filed for affiliates? .• Yes IS No I If either box In His checked "Yea," enter fouwllgit group exemption number (GEN) • j/.J.d (b) If "Yea." enter the number of efflUatee for whlchthia return la filed:.
    [Show full text]
  • Giant List of Folklore Stories Vol. 5: the United States
    The Giant List of Stories - Vol. 5 Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay Skim and Scan The Giant List of Folklore Stories Folklore, Folktales, Folk Heroes, Tall Tales, Fairy Tales, Hero Tales, Animal Tales, Fables, Myths, and Legends. Vol. 5: The United States Presented by Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay The fastest, most effective way to teach students organized multi-paragraph essay writing… Guaranteed! Beginning Writers Struggling Writers Remediation Review 1 Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay – Guaranteed Fast and Effective! © 2018 The Giant List of Stories - Vol. 5 Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay The Giant List of Folklore Stories – Vol. 5 This volume is one of six volumes related to this topic: Vol. 1: Europe: South: Greece and Rome Vol. 4: Native American & Indigenous People Vol. 2: Europe: North: Britain, Norse, Ireland, etc. Vol. 5: The United States Vol. 3: The Middle East, Africa, Asia, Slavic, Plants, Vol. 6: Children’s and Animals So… what is this PDF? It’s a huge collection of tables of contents (TOCs). And each table of contents functions as a list of stories, usually placed into helpful categories. Each table of contents functions as both a list and an outline. What’s it for? What’s its purpose? Well, it’s primarily for scholars who want to skim and scan and get an overview of the important stories and the categories of stories that have been passed down through history. Anyone who spends time skimming and scanning these six volumes will walk away with a solid framework for understanding folklore stories.
    [Show full text]
  • Because the Internet Full Album Download Because the Internet Full Album Download
    because the internet full album download Because the internet full album download. Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property. What can I do to prevent this in the future? If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware. If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices. Another way to prevent getting this page in the future is to use Privacy Pass. You may need to download version 2.0 now from the Chrome Web Store. Cloudflare Ray ID: 66c576f08837848c • Your IP : 188.246.226.140 • Performance & security by Cloudflare. Because the internet full album download. Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property. What can I do to prevent this in the future? If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware. If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices. Another way to prevent getting this page in the future is to use Privacy Pass. You may need to download version 2.0 now from the Chrome Web Store. Cloudflare Ray ID: 66c576f1482fdac0 • Your IP : 188.246.226.140 • Performance & security by Cloudflare.
    [Show full text]
  • COMMEMORATION MY MEMORIES of ALAN DUNDES a Belated
    Acta Ethnographica Hungarica, 53 (2), pp. 451–456 (2008) DOI: 10.1556/AEthn.53.2008.2.16 COMMEMORATION MY MEMORIES OF ALAN DUNDES A belated necrology On Wednesday, March 30, 2005, at 4.30 p.m., Alan Dundes, the greatest American folklorist of the last half century collapsed in mid-sentence while holding his graduate seminar. He died in the ambulance. As the first reports of his death all noted: it was a typical and worthy death for the outstanding professor who loved to teach. Dundes was born in New York on September 8, 1934. He received his BA and then his MA in English philology at Yale (1955 and 1958), and continued his doctoral studies in Bloomington as a folklorist. His PhD dissertation (1962) was a monograph on the morphology of North American Indian tales. By then Dundes was already publishing regularly and everyone knew the very knowledgeable, dynamic and innovative young man with the brilliant tongue. He went almost immediately (in 1963) to the anthropology department of the University of California, Berkeley. He was an excellent lecturer and hundreds attended his lessons or waited for years for the chance to do so. He received awards as an outstanding professor and teacher, as well as the most coveted American and European folklore prizes. Although he did not like to be involved in associations, to organise congresses and journals, his activity in these areas was also substantial. He trav- elled a lot in his earlier years but later he was a guest lecturer and keynote speaker at conferences only within the United States (although he was difficult to reach).
    [Show full text]
  • Reading Practice Quiz List Report Page 1 Accelerated Reader®: Thursday, 05/20/10, 09:41 AM
    Reading Practice Quiz List Report Page 1 Accelerated Reader®: Thursday, 05/20/10, 09:41 AM Holden Elementary School Reading Practice Quizzes Int. Book Point Fiction/ Quiz No. Title Author Level Level Value Language Nonfiction 661 The 18th Emergency Betsy Byars MG 4.1 3.0 English Fiction 7351 20,000 Baseball Cards Under the Sea Jon Buller LG 2.6 0.5 English Fiction 11592 2095 Jon Scieszka MG 4.8 2.0 English Fiction 6201 213 Valentines Barbara Cohen LG 3.1 2.0 English Fiction 30629 26 Fairmount Avenue Tomie De Paola LG 4.4 1.0 English Nonfiction 166 4B Goes Wild Jamie Gilson MG 5.2 5.0 English Fiction 9001 The 500 Hats of Bartholomew CubbinsDr. Seuss LG 3.9 1.0 English Fiction 413 The 89th Kitten Eleanor Nilsson MG 4.3 2.0 English Fiction 11151 Abe Lincoln's Hat Martha Brenner LG 2.6 0.5 English Nonfiction 61248 Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved BooksKay Winters LG 3.6 0.5 English Nonfiction 101 Abel's Island William Steig MG 6.2 3.0 English Fiction 13701 Abigail Adams: Girl of Colonial Days Jean Brown Wagoner MG 4.2 3.0 English Nonfiction 9751 Abiyoyo Pete Seeger LG 2.8 0.5 English Fiction 907 Abraham Lincoln Ingri & Edgar d'Aulaire 4.0 1.0 English 31812 Abraham Lincoln (Pebble Books) Lola M. Schaefer LG 1.5 0.5 English Nonfiction 102785 Abraham Lincoln: Sixteenth President Mike Venezia LG 5.9 0.5 English Nonfiction 6001 Ace: The Very Important Pig Dick King-Smith LG 5.0 3.0 English Fiction 102 Across Five Aprils Irene Hunt MG 8.9 11.0 English Fiction 7201 Across the Stream Mirra Ginsburg LG 1.2 0.5 English Fiction 17602 Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie:Kristiana The Oregon Gregory Trail Diary..
    [Show full text]
  • Fatal Accident in Southwick
    TONIGHT Mostly Clear. Low of 19. Search for The Westfield News The Westfield “THE FIRST DUTY OF A LEADER TODAY IN WESTFIELD News Search for The Westfield News IS TO MAKE HIMSELF BE LOVED Westfield350.comHISTORY: The Westfield NewsWITHOUT COURTING LOVE O BE . T “TIME IS THE ONLY 1841 Towne (Poor) Farm Serving Westfield, Southwick, and surrounding Hilltowns LOVED WITHOUT ‘PLAYING UP’ WEATHER CRITIC WITHOUT established on Russell Rd, TO ANYONE - EVEN TO HIMSELF .” TONIGHT AMBITION.” Search for The Westfield- ANewsNDRE MALRAUX Westfield350.comPartly Cloudy. The Westfield JOHN STEINBECK Low of 55. News Serving Westfield,www.thewestfieldnews.com Southwick, and surrounding Hilltowns “TIME IS THE ONLY WEATHER CRITIC WITHOUT VOL.TONIGHT VOL.87 NO. 86 30 NO. 151 TUESDAY,TUESDAY, FEBRUARY JUNE 6, 2018 27, 2017 AMBITION.” 75 Cents 75 cents Partly Cloudy. JOHN STEINBECK Low of 55. www.thewestfieldnews.com VOL.Fatal 86 NO. 151 TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017 School redistricting 75 cents accident in and design plans Southwick presented at By GREG FITZpaTRICK Correspondent SOUTHWICK – A fatal car crash School Committee occurred in Southwick on Monday morn- Jane Sakiewicz, personnel By AMY PORTER WESTFIELD FIRE CHIEF ing. The Southwick Police Department director for the City of Westfield. Correspondent MARY REGAN received a report at about 5 a.m. of a sin- (Photo by Amy Porter) WESTFIELD – The transition team that has been working since gle motor vehicle accident on Feeding September on redistricting gave presentations at Monday’s School Hills Road, near the area of Great Brook Committee meeting on the plans for the K-4 elementary schools, the Drive.
    [Show full text]
  • Audible Leftovers A&E Critique Corner Her Because the Internet
    Arts&Entertainment Audible Leftovers A&E Critique Corner Her Because the Internet BY JULIE ANDERSON high-minded and conflicting. But this BY KELLY CHURCH it was very easy to get lost in his character. frank, authentic sense is definitely Childish As not much of a Johansson fan, I ost people know Donald Glover o longer are we in the age of Gambino’s signature style. struggled to connect with the character. I for his career in acting and, simply going steady. Romantic Because the Internet can be viewed found her voice not as soft, vulnerable and most notably, his character on relationships now consist of more as a concept album of sorts. The album is approachable as it should have been, so it Mthe NBC comedy Community. Fewer know Nstages than just in a relationship or not in broken down into sections, starting off with did not match her personality. him by his music career as rapper Childish a relationship. Maintaining relationships instrumental or sound effect tracks less than Amy Adams, a seemingly more Gambino. But with his latest album, Because with others is hard enough without having a minute long each. Then, all of the actual appropriate voice for Sam, was cast as the Internet, debuting impressively on many to worry about what to label it. songs are ordered like chapters in a book Theodore’s best friend instead. I imagined a album charts, Glover’s notoriety might soon Her channels our era of increasingly within these sections. voice slightly more maternal for a character change. complicated relationship statuses through Childish Gambino features some other that was supposed to be all-knowing.
    [Show full text]
  • APPLIED FOLKLORE Richard M Dorson Three Senses of Applied Folklore Seem to Be Currently in the Air. One Considers That Folk Wisd
    APPLIED FOLKLORE Richard M Dorson Three senses of applied folklore seem to be currently in the air. One considers that folk wisdom and folk krow-how can be culled out from the mass of folklore tradition and put to use, i.e. applied, in the sophisti- cated culture. An example would be the utilization by modern medical * science of time-honored folk remedies or recipes that actually work. A second is the application of folklore concepts and content to teaching and research in other fields. The folklorist "applies" his stock of know- ledge to illuminate, say, arid stretches of history. The third sense has to do with ;;he obligation of the folklorist to ameliorate the lot of the folk. This is the sense in which applied folklore is invoked in the de- bate now underway between activists who feel a strong twinge of guilt at making, if not fame and fortune, at least some reputation and professional recognition out of the folk whose lore they extract and publish, and ivory- tower do-,lothing scholars like myself. The twinge of social conscience and impulse to contribute one's expertise for the betterment of underprivileged man are certainly commendable. One scholarly discipline after another -- sociologg;, political science, anthro- pology -- has agonized over applied versus pure research, and it is inevit- able that folklorists, working so closely to the grass roots, should suffer the same recriminations and respond to the same idealisms. I contend that it is no business of the folklorist to engage in social reform, that he is unequipped to reshape institutions, and that he will become the poorer scholar and folklorist if he turns activist.
    [Show full text]
  • Wikipedia and Medicine: Quantifying Readership, Editors, and the Significance of Natural Language
    JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH Heilman & West Original Paper Wikipedia and Medicine: Quantifying Readership, Editors, and the Significance of Natural Language James M Heilman1, BSc, MD, CCFP(EM); Andrew G West2, PhD, MS Eng 1Faculty of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada 2Verisign Labs (Verisign, Inc.), Reston, VA, United States Corresponding Author: James M Heilman, BSc, MD, CCFP(EM) Faculty of Medicine Department of Emergency Medicine University of British Columbia 2194 Health Sciences Mall, Unit 317 Vancouver, BC, V6T1Z3 Canada Phone: 1 4158306381 Fax: 1 6048226061 Email: [email protected] Abstract Background: Wikipedia is a collaboratively edited encyclopedia. One of the most popular websites on the Internet, it is known to be a frequently used source of health care information by both professionals and the lay public. Objective: This paper quantifies the production and consumption of Wikipedia's medical content along 4 dimensions. First, we measured the amount of medical content in both articles and bytes and, second, the citations that supported that content. Third, we analyzed the medical readership against that of other health care websites between Wikipedia's natural language editions and its relationship with disease prevalence. Fourth, we surveyed the quantity/characteristics of Wikipedia's medical contributors, including year-over-year participation trends and editor demographics. Methods: Using a well-defined categorization infrastructure, we identified medically pertinent English-language Wikipedia articles and links to their foreign language equivalents. With these, Wikipedia can be queried to produce metadata and full texts for entire article histories. Wikipedia also makes available hourly reports that aggregate reader traffic at per-article granularity.
    [Show full text]
  • The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It the Harvard Community Has
    The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Jonathan L. Zittrain, The Future of the Internet -- And How to Citation Stop It (Yale University Press & Penguin UK 2008). Published Version http://futureoftheinternet.org/ Accessed July 1, 2016 4:22:42 AM EDT Citable Link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:4455262 This article was downloaded from Harvard University's DASH Terms of Use repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms- of-use#LAA (Article begins on next page) YD8852.i-x 1/20/09 1:59 PM Page i The Future of the Internet— And How to Stop It YD8852.i-x 1/20/09 1:59 PM Page ii YD8852.i-x 1/20/09 1:59 PM Page iii The Future of the Internet And How to Stop It Jonathan Zittrain With a New Foreword by Lawrence Lessig and a New Preface by the Author Yale University Press New Haven & London YD8852.i-x 1/20/09 1:59 PM Page iv A Caravan book. For more information, visit www.caravanbooks.org. The cover was designed by Ivo van der Ent, based on his winning entry of an open competition at www.worth1000.com. Copyright © 2008 by Jonathan Zittrain. All rights reserved. Preface to the Paperback Edition copyright © Jonathan Zittrain 2008. Subject to the exception immediately following, this book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Urban Legend
    Urban legend “Urban tale” redirects here. For the rock band, see Urban 1 Origins and structure Tales. For other uses, see Urban legend (disambiguation). An urban legend, popular legend, urban myth, ur- The term “urban legend,” as used by folklorists, has ap- peared in print since at least 1968.[3] Jan Harold Brun- vand, professor of English at the University of Utah, in- troduced the term to the general public in a series of popular books published beginning in 1981. Brunvand used his collection of legends, The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends & Their Meanings (1981) to make two points: first, that legends and folklore do not occur exclusively in so-called primitive or traditional so- cieties, and second, that one could learn much about ur- ban and modern culture by studying such tales. Many urban legends are framed as complete stories with plot and characters. The compelling appeal of a typical urban legend is its elements of mystery, horror, fear or hu- [4] The "Bunny Man Bridge”, a legend tripping destination. mor. Often they serve as cautionary tales. Some urban legends are morality tales that depict someone, usually a child, acting in a disagreeable manner, only to wind up in trouble, hurt, or dead.[4] ban tale, or contemporary legend is a form of modern folklore consisting of fictional stories, often with macabre elements deeply rooted in local popular culture. These legends can be used for entertainment purposes, as well 2 Propagation and belief as for semi-serious explanations for random events such as disappearances and strange objects. As Jan Brunvand points out[5] antecedent legends includ- Despite its name, an urban legend does not necessarily ing some of the motifs, themes and symbolism of these originate in an urban area.
    [Show full text]