How I Plan to get at the Meaning in the Meme

This project, in its deepest sense is one where I will use linguistic anthropology to get at the heart of Anonymous – the human side to the racial slurs, seemingly pointless banter and offensive remarks. I want to show that within the linguistic community of Anonymous (consisting of messageboards like 4chan, as well as other sites like Urban Dictionary, YouTube and Digg where comments or subject matter raised by Anonymous is prominent) is a complex subculture. I want to demonstrate that there is a rhyme and reason to the topics raised on 4chan, and that while much of the language used could be seen as obscene or derogatory, there are deeper and more lighthearted motivations behind the use of this language.
That being said, sorting through the threads on /b/ is a confusing and even dangerous (in terms of viruses, etc.) undertaking. I will likely be observing more than participating, but as time passes, I hope to engage in a few threads to test my understanding of the linguistic cues I’ll be studying. Those who post on 4chan are the experts on this behavior; consequently I’ll be observing their work and doing a bit of “lurking” myself. As for expert material, I want to draw on several areas of interest outside this specific context. I’ll be looking more into my aforementioned research on memes/memetics, reading Goffman and Bateson ideas of frame analysis, and looking at new media scholars’ ideas about secondary orality. This is a broad array of topics, and may in fact be too broad to go into too much detail in any one area. However, I want to paint a picture of the context in which Anonymous speech plays out the way it does. My overall project will be placing Anonymous within their own subcultural linguistic context, with a case study on the development of memes.
The methods I will be using to do this are largely text-based since it is impossible to know who Anonymous imageboard users are in “meat space.” I will be watching messageboards and other websites where Anonymous comments are common. I will take screenshots of conversations where I find linguistic markers that hint at the type of context users perceive 4chan and other messageboards to be. I will also take notes on broader themes I see developing. As I continue to read research done by scholars on the topics described above, I will also look at the development of memes and their documentation by Anonymous on Urban Dictionary, Encyclopedia Dramatica and Uncyclopedia. I want to look for examples of these memes used in face-to-face speech as well, as an example of a type of secondary orality. I also welcome suggestions or comments if anyone has ideas of how to go about documenting the creation of a meme, or understanding the larger linguistic context of Anonymous.