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Ryan M. Milner

Ryan M. Milner is a writer and professor in the communications department of the College of Charleston in South Carolina. He teaches several courses on modern media technology and digital communications. His primary field of study is focussed on the effects of the internet on society and how people respond differently to emerging technologies.

College of Charleston: Department of Communications sign.

Career

Milner is a published author who has written several books and articles based on his research on internet/meme culture and online communication. He studies how the internet affects people through many different aspects of society.

Milner has been a professor of Communications at the College of Charleston since 2012. The various topics he teaches include digital media, research methods, free speech and podcasting, and media ethics.

Education

University of Kansas logo.

Milner graduated in 2012 from the University of Kansas with a Ph.D. in communication studies. To obtain his Ph.D, Milner had submitted his book "The World Made Meme" in 2012. He later on had it published in 2016.

Publications

Milner's years of research have lead him to produce two published books as well as dozens of articles and journals. He has also done research on video games as a tool of mediated communication and a device of entertainment on the same tier as other types of media such as films, TV shows, and books.

Books

• "The World Made Meme: Public Conversations and Participatory Media" (2016), book.
• "The Ambivalent Internet: Mischief, Oddity, and Antagonism Online" (2017), book.

Articles/Journals

• "Working for The Text: Fan labor and the New Organization" (2009), article.
• "Contested Convergence and the Politics of Play on GameTrailers.com" (2013), article.
• "Pop Polyvocality: Internet Memes, Public Participation, and the Occupy Wall Street Movement" (2013), journal.

Publications Summaries

Books

"The World Made Meme: Public Conversations and Participatory Media" (2016), book.

This book explores the cultural importance of internet memes. Memes can appear in many forms such as images, videos, texts, audio samples, and etc. Everyday, memes are created, combined, changed, and shared by countless people across the internet. Memes serve as a unique tool of communication. They not only are used as a basis for comedy but they are also used to make universal statements that can connect people based on familiarity. In “The World Made Meme”, Ryan Milner analyzes the cultural phenomenon of this contemporary communication. He breaks down the vast tapestry of collective conversation in meme culture.

"The Ambivalent Internet: Mischief, Oddity, and Antagonism Online" (2017), book.

Co-written by Whitney Phillips and Ryan Milner, “The Ambivalent Internet” analyzes the constantly fluctuating tonality of the world wide web. Because the internet is so vast and contributed to by billions of people, it’s impossible to categorize the entirety of the web as either good, bad or anything in between. The authors argue that the tools given to internet users are neutral by default and that these tools will be used differently depending on the individuals intentions. Overall, there is nothing that can be said or done on the internet that will surprise people anymore. Internet culture is typically known for its outrageous and often antagonizing content. With that being said, “The Ambivalent Internet” goes into depth as to why people behave differently on the internet and why it is important for us to understand the intent behind these behaviors.

Articles/Journals

"Working for The Text: Fan labor and the New Organization" (2009), article.

Milner uses the official online forum for Fallout 3 to study fan labor in the sense of how fans feel they have contributed to the development of the game. The study finds that fans were more in favor of the immaterial labor that fellow fans have supplied than the work produced by Bethesda themselves. His research concludes that there may be potential for game companies to benefit from understanding fan labor culture.

"Contested Convergence and the Politics of Play on GameTrailers.com" (2013), article.

As the gaming industry gains more and more momentum every year, more convergence is integrated within the industry. For years, the gaming community has been run by hardcore gamers, but recently the industry has changed to accommodate for the more casual audience. Industry producers and gamers have opposing views on this media convergence. In this article, Milner looks at GameTrailers.com to see both sides of the situation. The goal of many companies within the gaming industry, as with any industry, is to bring in a wider range of consumer base. However, in doing so means having a rift in company resources which has displeased hardcore gamers. The convergence of target audiences in the gaming community had resulted in political contestation.

"Pop Polyvocality: Internet Memes, Public Participation, and the Occupy Wall Street Movement" (2013), journal.

Throughout the entirety of Occupy Wall Street (OWS), participatory media (media in which consumers take an active role in both collecting and sharing information) has had a huge impact on the movement. In this case, many people created memes and took them to social media networks sites typically known for meme sharing. This article analyzes the use of memes in political events and how they were used to argue different perspectives in the OWS movement.

Example of a modern-day meme.

Achievements

Milner has contributed to articles for multiple news outlets such as TIME, Slate, The Los Angeles Review of Books, NBC News, and The New York Times.

In 2017, Milner had an art exhibit featured at Loyola University's School of Communication in Chicago, Illinois. The featured exhibit told the story of the history of internet memes over the past decade (2007-2017). The purpose of the exhibit was to have people see these memes as more than just quick jokes we scroll through on social media. His goal was to make people reflect on these images as a communicative form of satirical commentary on both pop culture and news stories.