A "curation" project exploring the "internet think piece," developed for the online scholarly forum In Media Res.

1. Rethinking Thinkpieces:
Pop Criticism as Pop Culture
Michael Lawrence @doctorlawrence

2. We’re seeing an explosion of
sharable digital content
that offers
commentary on popular culture
in the style of
critical cultural analysis.

3. A PRODUCTIVELY PEJORATIVE TERM?
According to a think piece about think pieces…
“THESE DAYS, WHEN
YOU WANT TO MOCK
A PIECE OF WRITING,
THINK PIECE
IS THE GO-TO
TERM.”

4. How to study these things?
▸ As a kind of text. A form/genre of criticism with distinct
characteristics.
▸ As a kind of practice. Posting and sharing is a
communicative act, a mode of engagement. Look beyond
“reading” and “thinking.”
▸ As a kind of commodified content. Driving traffic,
promoting brands and platforms, generating data.

5. The death of Prince.
The release of Lemonade.
As experienced on Facebook.
By way of think pieces.

17. Critical cultural critique.
As clickbait?
For example:
The appropriation
of “cultural appropriation.”

26. Do we actually
read these things?
Do they really
help us think about culture?
Or are they
just more noise?

27. We don’t just read these things, we…
WRITE POST TWEET RETWEET LIKE REACT
COMMENT SKIM REPLY MENTION CITE REMIX
IGNORE FORGET REMEMBER BLOCK EMAIL BOOKMARK

28. Beyond reading? Beyond thinking?
BUILD COMMUNITY
INVITE DIALOGUE
SET AGENDA
POLICE NORMS
UPDATE STATUS
EVALUATE RELATIONSHIPS
SELF-PROMOTION
GET NEWS
IDENTITY PLAY
EMOTIONAL WORK

29. Things get a little meta.
Thinking.
About think pieces.

36. @doctorlawrence