Abstract
This article explores the uncharted territory of reflexive internet humor about networked computers. A combined quantitative-qualitative analysis of 250 texts sampled from popular websites yielded a map of the main themes underpinning this massive corpus of humor. We analyzed them in relation to three grand theories of the nature of humor - superiority, release, and incongruity - locating each theme on a matrix deriving from the theories: (i) a superiority axis, running between the powerful and weak players in the networked environment; (ii) an incongruity axis, running from the purely human to the strictly technical, and (iii) a release axis reflecting degrees of tension generated by the former two dualities. Our analysis suggests that humor about networked computers extends to a comment on the nature of humanness in a bewildering age of artificial intelligence. The communication of this reflexive comment may be shaping a global community of computer users.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1348-1367 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | New Media and Society |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2010 |
Keywords
- ICT-humor
- Luddism
- Microsoft
- computers
- geeks
- human-machine interface
- humor
- internet
- jokes
- tech support