14 September 2021 at 12 pm
In this session we will focus on the practical elements of making memes and animated GIFs. We’ll walk through a few tools and techniques that will have you sharing your inspirations with your friends, your students and your social media networks. While we build, we will also talk a little bit about the social dimension of this form of media. We’ll discuss how memes are playing an arguably out-sized influence on our contemporary discourse, and also consider a few ways memes can go wrong.
Click here to check out our Workshop Site.
Readings informing our session:
- Michael Branson Smith, “A History of the GIF”. A collection of links, with many early and influential examples.
- Know Your Meme. A “site that researches and documents Internet memes and viral phenomena.”
- Erinn Wong, “Digital Blackface: How 21st Century Internet Language Reinforces Racism”
Or skip us, and jump to some how-tos:
- Common Craft, “How to Make Explainer GIFs”. If you are a confident PowerPoint user, you might find these techniques especially useful.
- Stephanie (Charlie) Farley, University of Edinburgh, Gif It Up – Create your own Gifs. “This workshop was created to provide an introduction to creating GIFs from openly licensed and public domain, museum, library, and archival materials. Using free and open online tools.”
- The GIF that keeps on GIFfing, high end techniques using Photoshop.