Folklore and the Internet: Vernacular Expression in a Digital World » (1st Edition)

A pioneering examination of the folkloric qualities of the World Wide Web, e-mail, and related digital media. These stuidies show that folk culture, sustained by a new and evolving vernacular, has been a key, since the Internet's beginnings, to language, practice, and interaction online. Users of many sorts continue to develop the Internet as a significant medium for generating, transmitting, documenting, and preserving folklore.

In a set of new, insightful essays, contributors Trevor J. Blank, Simon J. Bronner, Robert Dobler, Russell Frank, Gregory Hansen, Robert Glenn Howard, Lynne S. McNeill, Elizabeth Tucker, and William Westerman showcase ways the Internet both shapes and is shaped by folklore

Introduction Toward a conceptual framework for the study of folklore and the Internet Trevor J. Blank Blank, Trevor J. 1

Ch. 1 Digitizing and virtualizing folklore Simon J. Bronner Bronner, Simon J. 21

Ch. 2 Guardians of the living : characterization of missing women on the Internet Elizabeth Tucker Tucker, Elizabeth 67

Ch. 3 The end of the Internet : a folk response to the provision of infinite choice Lynne S. McNeill McNeill, Lynne S. 80

Ch. 4 The forward as folklore : studying e-mailed humor Russell Frank Frank, Russell 98

Ch. 5 Epistemology, the sociology of knowledge, and the Wikipedia userbox controversy William Westerman Westerman, William 123

Ch. 6 Crusading on the vernacular Web : the folk beliefs and practices of online spiritual warfare Robert Glenn Howard Howard, Robert Glenn 159

Ch. 7 Ghosts in the machine : mourning the MySpace dead Robert Dobler Dobler, Robert 175

Ch. 8 Public folklore in cyberspace Gregory Hansen Hansen, Gregory 194

App Webography of public folklore resources Gregory Hansen Hansen, Gregory 213

References 231

About the contributors 254

Index 257