The Performance of Humor in Computer-Mediated Communication

Abstract

Abstract:There has been very little work on humor in computer-mediated communication. Indeed, the implication of some CMC work is that the medium is inhospitable to humor. This essay argues that humor can be accomplished in CMC and can be critical to creating social meaning on-line. The humor of the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.tv.soaps (r.a.t.s.), which discusses soap operas, is analyzed. The method combines user surveys with message analysis to show the prevalence and importance of humor in r.a.t.s. Close analysis of five exemplary humorous messages shows how the group's humor arises from the juxtaposition of close and distant readings of the soap opera, which place the participants in close relationships to one another, and distance them from the soap opera's writers and producers. Group solidarity is also created as participants draw extensively on previous messages to ground their own humor. Humor is also shown to be a primary mechanism for the establishment of individuality, as participants combine the shared meanings and play with the shared parameters of the group in idiosyncratic ways. Baym, N. K. (1995) Indeed, the implication of some CMC work is that the medium is inhospitable to humor. This essay argues that humor can be accomplished in CMC and can be critical to creating social meaning on-line. The humor of the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.tv.soaps (r.a.t.s.), which discusses soap operas, is analyzed. The method combines user surveys with message analysis to show the prevalence and importance of humor in r.a.t.s. Close analysis of five exemplary humorous messages shows how the group's humor arises from the juxtaposition of close and distant readings of the soap opera, which place the participants in close relationships to one another, and distance them from the soap opera's writers and producers. Group solidarity is also created as participants draw extensively on previous messages to ground their own humor. Humor is also shown to be a primary mechanism for the establishment of individuality, as participants combine the shared meanings and play with the shared parameters of the group in idiosyncratic ways., The Performance of Humor in Computer-Mediated Communication. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Publisher's official version:

Funny or Aggressive? Failed Humour in Internet Comments

“…People involved in the interaction do not signal that they are about to use humour; instead, they keep coming up with more comments, with quite an obvious attempt to outwit each other. In Hay's (2001) terms, no additional clues for the recognition of humour are given; humour is vested in each individual statement (see also Baym 1995). The 'game' of making the wittiest remark in itself seems to reward Internet commentators, and they are always ready to become engaged in this battle.…”

Laughing across borders: Intertextuality of internet memes

“…in the early study of Baym (1993), where she argues that humour is a frequent and highly valued element of online communication. Whether it is appreciated because of its way of bringing people together (Baym 1993(Baym , 1995, just as an entertaining online "duel of wits" (Danet et al 1995(Danet et al , 1997 or for any other reason, the importance of technologically mediated humorous self-expression is a phenomenon that needs more recognition from scholars (see Blank 2013). It cannot be ignored because the internet is the place where people spend more and more of their time; it is a place where they, among other things, share folklore.…”

Online humour as a community-building cushioning glue

“…Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) in informal social environments is characterised by loose turn-taking, disrupted turn-adjacency, and a general lack of structure and preparation (Ferrara et al 1991;Baym 1995;Garcia & Jacobs 1998;Herring 1999). These factors influence how humour is conveyed and perceived in online social spaces that are not primarily humour-oriented (Shifman 2007), such as the community investigated in this study, making it closer to everyday conversational humour, rather than canned jokes or literary forms of witticism, irony, and satire (Baym 1995).…”

“…These factors influence how humour is conveyed and perceived in online social spaces that are not primarily humour-oriented (Shifman 2007), such as the community investigated in this study, making it closer to everyday conversational humour, rather than canned jokes or literary forms of witticism, irony, and satire (Baym 1995).…”

“…In this context, Hancock (2004b) found that the participants in an experimental group, who interacted through CMC in a chat, used more irony to accomplish specific conversational tasks than the participants in the control group, who communicated faceto-face. More broadly, research shows that the use of humour in CMC can help overcome anonymity and reduce the sense of temporal and spatial separation (Baym 1995).…”