Dataset for: Cybervisuals or the meaning of memes: multimodal perception, emotion and meaning-attribution to digital imagery

Recently, viral internet memes have become a hot topic in mass media research (e.g., Shifman, 2013, 2014; Gal et al., 2016; Marcus & Singer, 2017; Ross & Rivers, 2017; Nissenbaum & Shifman 2017, 2018; Babic & Volarevic, 2018; Lobinger et al., 2019). The scope of research ranges from entertaining to political memes on a global scale, mostly assessing the types and contents of memetic communication. This paper proposes a mixed-method approach combining an eyetracking experiment, and a self-report questionnaire with the intention of improving the understanding of perception, evaluation and meaning-attribution processes of internet memes. These new forms of communication and expression in a multimodal, yet predominatly visual online format have long left the merely interpersonal communication realm. Viral memes constitute a societally and politically relevant global communication format that is still understudied in terms of the meanings generated and attributed to them. Theoretically, this between-participants experiment builds on the Visual Communication Process Model (VCPM-Model) developed by Müller et al. (2012), focusing on the major visual communication processes from perception to meaning-attribution to emotional evaluation. Valence, emotion- and meaning-attribution are the key variables that are being tested in this experiment. Building on results from previous research on press photography, one key question is how valence, emotion and meaning are influenced by text and/or by visual elements of the meme stimuli. In an eyetracking experiment using TobiiPro3-Lab soft- and hardware, 30 participants (XF/XM) are viewing 20 text-visual experimental stimuli all downloaded from publicly accessible online sites in a randomized condition. Each stimulus has been manipulated to provide both a positive and a negative version by using a generic image software to modify the textual elements of each meme. Postive and negative versions are randomized, and equally distributed among the participants. Participants evaluate three aspects of visual communication: Whether the meme has a positive, negative or neutral meaning (valence), what kind of emotion is depicted, which emotional reaction is elicited by the stimulus (emotion-attribution) and what is the meaning association for each meme (meaning-attribution). While valence and emotion are being tested in the eyetracking experiment, meaning-attribution is being tested through the post-experimental survey.

Recently, viral internet memes have become a hot topic in mass media research (e.g., Shifman, 2013, 2014; Gal et al., 2016; Marcus & Singer, 2017; Ross & Rivers, 2017; Nissenbaum & Shifman 2017, 2018; Babic & Volarevic, 2018; Lobinger et al., 2019). The scope of research ranges from entertaining to political memes on a global scale, mostly assessing the types and contents of memetic communication. This paper proposes a mixed-method approach combining an eyetracking experiment, and a self-report questionnaire with the intention of improving the understanding of perception, evaluation and meaning-attribution processes of internet memes. These new forms of communication and expression in a multimodal, yet predominatly visual online format have long left the merely interpersonal communication realm. Viral memes constitute a societally and politically relevant global communication format that is still understudied in terms of the meanings generated and attributed to them. Theoretically, this between-participants experiment builds on the Visual Communication Process Model (VCPM-Model) developed by Müller et al. (2012), focusing on the major visual communication processes from perception to meaning-attribution to emotional evaluation. Valence, emotion- and meaning-attribution are the key variables that are being tested in this experiment. Building on results from previous research on press photography, one key question is how valence, emotion and meaning are influenced by text and/or by visual elements of the meme stimuli. In an eyetracking experiment using TobiiPro3-Lab soft- and hardware, 30 participants (XF/XM) are viewing 20 text-visual experimental stimuli all downloaded from publicly accessible online sites in a randomized condition. Each stimulus has been manipulated to provide both a positive and a negative version by using a generic image software to modify the textual elements of each meme. Postive and negative versions are randomized, and equally distributed among the participants. Participants evaluate three aspects of visual communication: Whether the meme has a positive, negative or neutral meaning (valence), what kind of emotion is depicted, which emotional reaction is elicited by the stimulus (emotion-attribution) and what is the meaning association for each meme (meaning-attribution). While valence and emotion are being tested in the eyetracking experiment, meaning-attribution is being tested through the post-experimental survey.