Read digital cultures and codes

Definition

Understanding how media are produced and decoding online cultures — memes, niches, subcultures, aesthetics, languages — in order to situate any content in its cultural context. A competency of reading unique to CreaComp: it treats digital culture as a living language whose command conditions the relevance of any creative work.

Components

• Media logics: who produces, who funds, how format shapes message
• The grammar of memes and references: origin, mutation, life cycle
• Aesthetic and discursive codes of online communities: language, formats, taboos, markers of belonging
• Trend cycles: emergence, adoption, saturation, obsolescence
• Cultural relevance of a piece of content: accuracy of tone, legitimacy to speak, risks of clumsy appropriation

The four levels

1. N1 Discovery Lower secondary · complete beginner

   Is able to explain a meme or a code from a community they frequent, and to identify who produces and funds a medium they consume.

   Evidence of assessment

   Deconstruct the origin, meaning and variations of a meme or cultural code of their generation.

2. N2 Application Upper secondary · advanced beginner

   Is able to identify the aesthetic and discursive codes of a given community and to spot content that breaches them.

   Evidence of assessment

   Write up the codes of a community they frequent: language, formats, references, taboos.

3. N3 Adaptation Tertiary · junior professional

   Is able to decode a community unknown to them and to render its implicit codes.

   Evidence of assessment

   Deconstruct the language, aesthetics and implicit codes of an unfamiliar online community in under an hour.

4. N4 Orchestration Experienced professional

   Is able to anticipate cultural shifts and to identify emerging formats before they become widespread.

   Evidence of assessment

   Produce a dated trend note verified after the fact, or create a format taken up by others.