Web Community Research Articles

Relationships between Soil Tillage Systems, Nematode Communities and Weed Seed Predation

Soil tillage is generally recognized as having a negative effect on soil health and weed seed predators. Recent advancements in conservation tillage practices allow for further comparison of how different levels of soil disturbances could influence soil food web communities. Field trials were conducted in 2017 and 2018 at two different sites to measure the effects of four cover crop termination treatments: conventional till (CT), no-till (NT), strip-till following roller-crimping (ST-RC), and strip-till with a living mulch between crop rows (ST-LM) on soil health using nematode community indices as soil health bioindicators. Following cover crop termination, the soil was monitored in the subsequent bell pepper (Capsicum annuum) crop over three sampling dates (June, August, and October). In the ST-RC treatment plots, soil nutrients were enriched (increased Enrichment Index, EI) and the soil food web structure was improved (higher Structure Index, SI) by the mid-season of the 2017 trial. In the 2018 trial, the ST-RC treatment enhanced fungal decomposition pathways (fungivore/fungivore + bacterivore ratio) throughout the bell pepper crop cycle and enhanced bacterial decomposition (abundance of bacterivorous nematodes) by the end of the cropping cycle compared to the no-till treatment, suggesting that the ST-RC treatment can further improve soil health conditions achieved by the NT treatment. Scatter plots of sampling points revealed that the treatments CT and NT had very distinct nematode-weed community assemblages in both trials, with the ST-RC and ST-LM treatments distributed closely with the NT treatment. Multivariate analysis among soil health bioindicators, weed pressure and weed seed predation explained 76.4 and 55.7% of the variance in the 2017 and 2018 trials, respectively. Weed pressure was consistently negatively related to (1) the SI, indicating soil disturbance would lead to more weed pressure; (2) the EI, indicating soil with higher weed pressure was linked to poor soil nutrient cycling, (3) cover crop residues left in the field from conservation tillage, or (4) how well the living mulch of red clover covered the ground. This study did not show that weed seed predation would lead to lower weed pressure but weed seed predation increased as weed biomass increased.

PYTHON FOR WEB DEVELOPMENT

With evolution of web, several competitive languages such as Java, PHP, Python, Ruby are catching the attention of the developers. Recently Python has emerged as a popular and the preferred web programming language, because of its simplicity to code and ease of learning. Being a flexible language, it offers fast development of web-based applications. It offers development using CGI and WSGI. Web development in Python is aided by the powerful frameworks such as Django, web2py, Pyramid, and Flask that Python supports. Thus, Python promises to emerge as one of the preferred choice language for web applications. Web is a rapidly growing repository of resources. Internet is used as a medium for accessing these resources. Web architecture mainly comprises of two entities, namely client and server. Web client is an application (browser) on host machine that urges these resources, and web server is a machine on web that is responsible for fulfilling the request issued by client. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the most popular protocol used by client and server for web communication. In a static web, browser issues HTTP request to the HTTP server, which searches for the requisite resource in its database and returns it as an HTTP response. To avoid any compatibility issues, every request issued by browser is in form of a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). The URL protocol defines the rules for communication between client and server. It comprise of host name (IP address) which helps in identifying the server system on the web, port number which determines the service (for example, FTP, email service) on the server that should respond to request, and the access path of the resource (web page) on server. The web where responses are already stored in server database in form of static web pages is termed static web. However, response returned by server to the client may be generated on the fly depending upon the request of the client. Web applications offer several benefits over traditional applications that are required to be installed at each host computer that wishes to use them. Web applications do not incur publishing and distribution costs as opposed to traditional applications where the software (applications) were published using CD’s and distributed. They need not be installed at each client host; rather they are placed at a central server and accessed by large number of clients. Since a web application is managed centrally, application updates and data backups can be performed easily. The web applications are easily accessible irrespective of the boundaries of space and time. Since, they are accessed through browser, the platform accessing them is not an issue, and thus they provide cross-platform compatibility. Inspite of above- mentioned advantages, web applications have a few limitations. Internet connectivity and server availability is required for accessing web application through browser. However, accessing them through Internet my take more time as compared to applications installed on host systems. Also, web applications require compatible web browsers. Since they are deployed on web, they are vulnerable to several Internet attacks. Web programming using CGI and WSGI requires building web applications from the scratch by using Python standard libraries. Python provides with web frameworks in the form of packages/ modules that simplify the task of writing application programs. These frameworks lighten tedious job of developers. They support server and client side programming by providing support for several activities such as request interpretation (getting form parameters, handling cookies and sessions), response generation (generating data in HTML or other format such as pdf, excel), and storing data. The web frameworks are further categorized as full- stack and non-full-stack frameworks. Full-stack frameworks provide components for every phase of programming in contrast to non-full-stack frameworks. All the frameworks include templates and data persistence as key ingredients for constructing web. Templates are used to avoid complex code that results when HTML and Python code is mixed in a single file. Templates are HTML files with placeholder for the data depending upon user input. Data persistence deals with storing and retrieving data and maintaining consistency. The data can be stored and maintained using plain text files, relational database engines such as MYSQL, Oracle, or some object-oriented databases. The web framework providing support for WSGI should be preferred. This makes deploying an application easier.

Ghost in the Kitchen: Multiracial Korean Americans (Re)Defining Cultural Authenticity

This scholarly essay explores some techniques that multiracial Korean Americans employ to trouble traditional notions of cultural authenticity as markers for racial/ethnic identity construction. I position multiracial individuals as foils to the common assumptions that cultural authenticity requires “native” lived experience, “full bloodedness”, or a particular level of linguistic competency, in favor of cultural competency, analyzing the web community, HalfKorean.com. The site is a U.S.-based community of multiracial Korean Americans, where narrations of food and Korean motherwork play roles in many elements of the site, and in different ways work to reinforce new and adaptable forms of authenticity. Paying particular attention to the ways that cultural knowledge on the individual level becomes a marker for shaping community, I position Korean motherwork and household practices as vehicles of analysis. These embodied cultural practices inform community building practices, becoming critical variables for multiracial Korean Americans to exert cultural knowledge and expertise, authenticating flexible racial/cultural identities, which is an act of embodying what I term “plastic authenticity”. Multiracial bodies are inherently perceived as racially in-authentic; however, plastic authenticity is a framework that allows for expressions of identity and memory that resist this notion, grounded in their proximity to Korean women/motherhood.

Hybrid Gradient Strategies in Event Focused Web Crawling

Crawling is defined as the automated and systematic collection of useful web pages with an interconnecting link structure. Live web crawling that is dependent on human, expert-nominated seed URIs is employed for the general construction of event collections. In the focused web crawling technique, the crawler is guided by reference content that pertains to a particular event. With this technique, a focused crawler will attempt to predict if a target URL is directed towards a relevant web page prior to retrieving it. However, it can get trapped within a limited web community and overlook relevant web pages outside its track. For web crawling optimization as well as for the selection of more relevant web pages for retrieval by the crawler, a metaheuristic algorithm is employed. A global searching algorithm’s modification can address the problems. The utilization of basic heuristic algorithms and prohibition techniques forms the basis of the Tabu Search (TS). Swarm intelligence is used by the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to identify an optimization problem’s solution. This is done by a generation of better candidate feature subsets as per a given fitness criteria and rapid convergence towards a global optimum within a set number of iterations. Hence, the proposed gradient-based algorithm will present a more rapid convergence for the PSO than the other variants. A proposal for a hybrid Stochastic Gradient Descent-Particle Swarm Optimization has also been presented in this work.

Reviewing the Content of European Countries’ Official Tourism Websites: A Neo/Post-Fordist Perspective

The content of the EU28 Destination Management Organisations’ (DMOs’) official tourism websites is studied to understand how each country is promoting its online position and image, and whether this is compatible with the new forms of neo/post-Fordism consumption. The research incorporates critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a method to analyse the content of the websites for tourism promotion. Today, destinations struggle to portray a unique image in terms of their natural, historical and cultural characteristics and to be ahead of the competition. This paper aims to bring together the 27 EU member states and the United Kingdom’s (EU28) DMOs’ official tourism websites and review their content. The study uses Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) with the aim of identifying the EU member states’ written web communication with potential visitors and to understand how each country is represented on the web in relation to neo/post-Fordism. The results of the study suggest that the EU28 are positioned online with website content to urge travellers to visit their country and gain constructive experiences within the remits of neo/post-Fordist characteristics. The paper follows an original approach in using CDA of EU28 official website online content in relation to neo/post-Fordist remits of production.

САЙТ БІБЛІОТЕКИ ЯК ЗАСІБ ІНФОРМУВАННЯ ПРО МІЖНАРОДНУ ДІЯЛЬНІСТЬ

<p class="1"><strong><em>The purpose </em></strong><em>of the study</em><em> is to identify the features of the means of reporting on international activities of the library on its website. The tasks, respectively, are to analyze the library’s website to determine its type, internal structure, navigation elements; to outline specifics of the media which are the type of content, the usage of links and peculiarities of customer relationship management.</em></p><p class="1"><strong><em>Research methodology.</em></strong><em> Scientific work was carried out mainly through the use of content analysis as a special scientific method of research in the field of social communications, as well as a number of general scientific methods: analysis, synthesis, induction.</em></p><p class="1"><strong><em>Results. </em></strong><em>The author’s attention is focused on the research of library website, particularly its means of reporting on the international activities. It was established, that according to the functional aim, website belongs to the information portal. It was found that the home page contains all the standard components required by web communication: header, frame placement of content blocks, site menu, footer. Active links and visualization are its main features.</em></p><p class="1"><em>Information on the priority areas of the library activity is given in the section «About the library». Within the framework of international cooperation, the Hub «Window on America» Zaporizhzhia Window on America & Makerspace abd Hub «Language. Culture. Germany». The context is informative, contains factual evidence of active international cooperation. However, there is no multimedia, active links and interactivity. </em></p><p class="1"><em>The publications from the section «Events» are characterized by interactivity (possibility of commenting, evaluation), active links (internal linking is available).</em></p><p class="1"><em>The library website differs in a full set of media: context, navigation and interactive elements.</em></p><p class="1"><strong><em>Novelty. </em></strong><em>It was made an attempt to analyze the library website, in particular its media, as well as to highlight the features of their use in reporting on the international activities of the institution.</em></p><p class="1"><strong><em>Practical significance. </em></strong><em>The results can be used in further researches. Some aspects will be useful for students majoring in «Journalism» and «Information, Library and Archives».</em></p><p class="1"><strong><em>Key words: </em></strong><em>library website, means of reporting, information portal, international activity, library.</em></p>

Political participation in transition: Internet memes as a form of political expression in social media

Internet memes have become a popular format for expressing individual political opinions in social media. Based on a quantitative online survey of political Internet meme users from fringe web communities and sharing platforms (n = 482), this study examines the factors related to political expression in Internet memes. The analysis reveals that political Internet meme usage depends on users’ political interest and the intensity of social media prosumption. Political Internet meme usage is also positively related to users’ motivations for political engagement and internal political efficacy. Moreover, the use of Internet memes for the expression of political opinions is related to users’ online and offline political participation. This study represents the first empirical exploration of users who create and share political Internet memes. The results contribute to the body of knowledge on changing and elusive participatory practices in social media and shift the focus from general social media usage to a specific type of content.

GrainGenes: Tools and Content to Assist Breeders Improving Oat Quality.

GrainGenes is the USDA-ARS database and Web resource for wheat, barley, oat, rye, and their relatives. As a community Web hub and database for small grains, GrainGenes strives to provide resources for researchers, students, and plant breeders to improve traits such as quality, yield, and disease resistance. Quantitative trait loci (QTL), genes, and genetic maps for quality attributes in GrainGenes represent the historical approach to mapping genes for groat percentage, test weight, protein, fat, and β-glucan content in oat (Avena spp.). Genetic maps are viewable in CMap, the comparative mapping tool that enables researchers to take advantage of highly populated consensus maps to increase the marker density around their genes-of-interest. GrainGenes hosts over 50 genome browsers and is launching an effort for community curation, including the manually curated tracks with beta-glucan QTL and significant markers found via GWAS and cloned cellulose synthase-like AsClF6 alleles.

Ranking the ontology development methodologies using the weighted decision matrix

PurposeThe current work provides a framework for the ranking of ontology development methodologies (ODMs).Design/methodology/approachThe framework is a step-by-step approach reinforced by an array of ranking features and a quantitative tool, weighted decision matrix. An extensive literature investigation revealed a set of aspects that regulate ODMs. The aspects and existing state-of-the-art estimates facilitated in extracting the features. To determine weight to each of the features, an online survey was implemented to secure evidence from the Semantic Web community. To demonstrate the framework, the authors perform a pilot study, where a collection of domain ODMs, reported in 2000–2019, is used.FindingsState-of-the-art research revealed that ODMs have been accumulated, surveyed and assessed to prescribe the best probable ODM for ontology development. But none of the prevailing studies provide a ranking mechanism for ODMs. The recommended framework overcomes this limitation and gives a systematic and uniform way of ranking the ODMs. The pilot study yielded NeOn as the top-ranked ODM in the recent two decades.Originality/valueThere is no work in the literature that has investigated ranking the ODMs. Hence, this is a first of its kind work in the area of ODM research. The framework supports identifying the topmost ODMs from the literature possessing a substantial amount of features for ontology development. It also enables the selection of the best possible ODM for the ontology development.

Upcoming SIGWEB supported conferences

The Special Interest Group on Hypertext and the Web, SIGWEB was created in 1989 to support the community participating in the annual ACM Hypertext Conference. In its fourth decade, SIGWEB continues its efforts to support a wide range of communities and conferences. Recently, the Web Conference's legal and financial sponsorship was transferred to SIGWEB and thus joins the family of now eight annual conferences. SIGWEB supports several specialized conferences, short courses, and workshops of different sizes, as well as the annual Hypertext Conference. SIGWEB sponsored conferences focus on timely topics in applied and computational hypertext and Web disciplines and provide a place for members and the entire applied Hypermedia and Web community to exchange ideas and to meet with and expand their network of colleagues. In this article, we provide a brief overview of SIGWEB sponsored conferences, in addition to events that are in cooperation with SIGWEB.

NON-FINANCIAL REPORTING OF CHEMICAL COMPANIES IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

This paper focuses on the issue of non-financial corporate reporting by the Czech chemical companies. Based on the content analysis of the websites and disclosures, it analyses, compares and evaluates the level of web communication of the economic, environmental and social issues of corporate social responsibility of these companies. At first, it presents results of the research comparing the extent of non-financial web communication of selected Czech chemical companies with the Czech leaders in the Czech TOP 100 rankings. These results are then complemented by results of the quantitative research on environmental instruments used by all Czech chemical production companies, that use websites for communication of their activities. The number of companies in the Czech Republic processing non-financial reports is significantly lower than abroad, but it is still growing. Large enterprises pay more attention to non-financial reporting. Rather than including this information in a disclosure, a business website is used as a tool for this communication. The paper brings sectoral perspective into non-financial reporting literature, as attention is paid to the chemical production sector and also complements the knowledge of communication of companies that do not belong to the group of 100 most important companies within the country.

THE ART AND REWARDS OF WINNING ON PURPOSE

AbstractThis article details the creation (by lead author Reichheld) and successful use by many organizations of the Net Promoter Score (NPS). The article states that the score is built around the answer to the question: How likely would you be to recommend [Organization X] to a friend or colleague? According to the authors, “the score has become the cornerstone of a whole system of management aimed at cultivating great customer experiences. A similar process asking employees how likely they would be to recommend their firm as a great place to work (and why) has evolved into employee NPS.” The best organizations are those in which leaders practice the “Golden Rule, ‘love thy neighbor as thyself,’ or, more secularly, ‘enrich the lives you touch’.” The authors contend that a “true Golden Rule solution has to satisfy requirements across multiple dimensions. It has to: (1) enhance the happiness and well‐being of others; (2) maintain or, preferably, enhance their dignity and well‐being; and (3) strengthen the web of communities supporting that relationship.” Six challenges are presented to this Golden Rule leadership, which are in the authors’ words: Superficial understanding of the Golden Rule; Bad incentive/reward systems; Inadequate feedback/measurement; No safe time and place to process feedback; Anonymity; and Bad Behavior.

Food web structure and community composition: a comparison across space and time in the North Sea

Ecological communities are constantly changing as a response to environmental and anthropogenic pressures. Yet, how changes in community composition influence the structure of food webs over time and space remains elusive. Using ecological network analysis, we assessed how food web structure changed across six distinct areas of the North Sea over a sixteen‐year time‐period. We used multivariate analyses to disentangle and compare spatio‐temporal dynamics in community composition (i.e. changes in species abundances) and food web structure (i.e. changes in network properties). Specifically, we assessed how changes in community composition were reflected in food web structure. Our results revealed a strong spatial coupling between community composition and food web structure along a south–north gradient. However, the temporal covariation between community composition and food web structure depended on the spatial scale. We observed a temporal mismatch at regional scale, but a strong coupling at local scale. In particular, we found that community composition can be influenced by hydro‐climatic events over large areas, with diverse effects manifesting in local food web structure. Our proposed methodological framework quantified and compared spatio‐temporal changes in community composition and food web structure, providing key information to support effective management strategies aimed at conserving the structure and functioning of ecological communities in times of environmental change.

Ideological Manipulation in Twitter Communication: A Critical Stylistic Analysis of Donald Trump's Tweets

Donald Trump’s use of Twitter as a modality to defame opponents, antagonize media outlets and even glorify violence is an enduring legacy for political campaigns, presidential rhetoric and argumentative debates. This nontraditional use of social media as a political communication tool has invited Twitter’s fact-checking editorial decisions, alienated some of Trump’s supporters and attracted worldwide criticism. Using purposive sampling, the present paper employs the ten textual-conceptual functions of critical stylistics to analyze a dataset of Trump’s tweets on domestic and international political issues published between 2011 and 2020 and assembled from the monitor corpus Trump Twitter Archive. The critical stylistic analysis aims at uncovering Trump’s ideological outlook by identifying the extra layer of meaning in which the ideological evaluation is structured and exposing the way in which the resources of language are strategically deployed to influence and ideologically manipulate Trump’s followers’ experience of reality. Analysis reveals a network of lexical, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic choices underlying Trump’s seemingly simple rhetoric. It signposts his ideological evaluation and constructs a world for his followers to desire, believe or fear. The study extends the application of critical stylistics to microblogging channels, with implications both for the linguistic make-up of political communication in Web 2.0 contexts and for the explanatory power of critical stylistics..

Making Java EE Cool Again: Building MongoDB-Based Web Services Using JPA and EJB

Despite its dominating role for developing large-scale enterprise applications, Java Enterprise Edition (EE) has always been seen critically by many developers, in particular from the web and open source communities. In recent years, the discussion about its decline and replacement e.g. by scripting languages such as Python or JavaScript has therefore gained momentum. On the other hand, Java EE has evolved towards being more flexible, lightweight and simpler to use and offers unique features still not available out-of-the-box on other platforms, such as support for distributed transactions. Therefore, in this paper an approach is presented, how a Java EE-based application supporting elderly people could be designed to make use of a modern NoSQL database (namely MongoDB), while preserving its unique features. The presented approach demonstrates not only the feasibility of such an architecture, but also supports the claim that Java EE still is a highly relevant and powerful platform for building modern applications.

Semiotics of Advertising Communication in WEB 2.0 Network Social Services

The article is devoted to the study of semiotics in the advertising communication of web 2.0 network social services. The purpose of the article is to analyze the publications of various brands on social Internet services focused on communication with the consumer and the subsequent study of the features of the use of semiotics tools. The relevance of the article is due to the fact that the modern information society has increased interest in semiotic systems, including in the field of Internet communication. The modern vision of semiotics has gone beyond the traditional framework and defined it as part of global and local communication in web 2.0 social network services, not only between Internet users, but also in the areas of B2B and B2C. The study of the possibilities of semiotics in advertising communication on web 2.0 social platforms, using the example of search engine applications, the social network Instagram, and company sites, in this article is based on the works of R. Barthes, J. Baudrillard, Y. Lotman, and U. Eco. This material confirms our hypothesis that today, especially since the beginning of the pandemic, communication on web 2.0 services is not limited only to text with a picture/photos or videos, more and more often there are visualized scenes created with the help of graphic design with the use of symbols and iconic signs that are familiar to the consumer, which he easily decodes, since they are inscribed in his socio-cultural coordinate system. The innovation of the research is based on the fixation of modern criteria of advertising Internet communication: polycode, intertextuality and multimedia, used as a way of working with target audiences. The novelty of the material consists of the understanding that semiotics today is a new look not only at the branch of scientific knowledge, but also at the practical possibilities of sign systems in the digital age, when the sign becomes a part of the socio-cultural space, a trend of the global world, a tool for transmitting information, knowledge, positioning, a tool for manipulation, influence, and attracting attention. Thus, brands working with the audience in todays realities should take into account not only the product preferences of consumers, but also broadcast their social / civic activity.

EMPAIA App Interface: An open and vendor-neutral interface for AI applications in pathology

Background and objectiveArtificial intelligence (AI) apps hold great potential to make pathological diagnoses more accurate and time efficient. Widespread use of AI in pathology is hampered by interface incompatibilities between pathology software. We studied the existing interfaces in order to develop the EMPAIA App Interface, an open standard for the integration of pathology AI apps. MethodsThe EMPAIA App Interface relies on widely-used web communication protocols and containerization. It consists of three parts: A standardized format to describe the semantics of an app, a mechanism to deploy and execute apps in computing environments, and a web API through which apps can exchange data with a host application. ResultsFive commercial AI app manufacturers successfully adapted their products to the EMPAIA App Interface and helped improve it with their feedback. Open source tools facilitate the adoption of the interface by providing reusable data access and scheduling functionality and enabling automatic validation of app compliance. ConclusionsExisting AI apps and pathology software can be adapted to the EMPAIA App Interface with little effort. It is a viable alternative to the proprietary interfaces of current software. If enough vendors join in, the EMPAIA App Interface can help to advance the use of AI in pathology.

Research on English Online Test Platform Based on Real-Time Web Communication Technology

Due to the multiattribute and multi-related problems of the target English test platform, the efficiency of the platform is low. In order to solve the problem of insufficient control of the difficulty of the test questions in the process of English test paper generation, this paper designs an English test platform based on real-time network communication technology. The English test platform designed in this paper includes three modules: user management module, question bank management module, and test paper management module. Among them, in the test paper management module, we extract English test questions according to the test paper generation strategy, then use real-time web communication technology according to the test paper generation target, and, through effective update of pheromone, solve the problem of high test question repetition rate in automatic test paper generation and design the network. The self-learning platform and English test platform modules have completed the design of the English test platform based on real-time network communication technology. The experimental results show that the designed English test platform has a high success rate, quick test paper generation time, and good application value.

Pervasive changes to the lower aquatic food web following Nitellopsis obtusa establishment in a large, shallow lake

Abstract Nitellopsis obtusa was first reported in North America in 1974. The overall ecological threat that N. obtusa poses towards freshwater ecosystems in its non‐native range is thought to be similar to other invasive macrophyte species. However, few studies have evaluated the impacts to aquatic communities upon successful establishment of this species in North America. Despite N. obtusa being a non‐native invasive species in North America, it is considered a beneficial macrophyte within its native range in Eurasia We evaluated the impacts associated with the non‐native invasive charophyte N. obtusa on the lower aquatic food web (LAFW) communities (phytoplankton, macroinvertebrates, and macrophytes) in a large, shallow lake in Ontario, Canada. To tease apart abiotic and biotic factors that influence LAFW species assemblages, a generalised linear latent variable model (GLLVM) was used. Over the course of the 4‐year study period, N. obtusa abundance significantly increased throughout the lake (pairwise comparison, p < 0.001) and notable shifts in community composition occurred across years (PERMANOVA, p < 0.001), especially for the phytoplankton and macrophyte communities. Nitellopsis obtusa was also found to be associated with a decline in diversity, where Simpson's diversity indices across all LAFW communities decreased as a function of increasing N. obtusa biomass. The GLLVM analysis revealed significant negative associations between N. obtusa and the majority of LAFW taxa. Most notably, there was a significant (p < 0.001) negative relationship between Myriophyllum spicatum, a previously established non‐native invasive macrophyte, and N. obtusa. The GLLVM model also demonstrated that N. obtusa had positive co‐occurrence relationships with other members of the macrophyte community including Utricularia vulgaris, Najas flexilis, Potamogeton crispus, and Stuckenia pectinata. These results show for the first‐time significant impacts to the LAFW in an invaded ecosystem, which raises major concerns for fish communities that depend on the LAFW for food and habitat. Further studies are necessary to confirm the extent of these impacts in other invaded lakes.

A Prelude to Insurrection: How a 4chan Refrain Anticipated the Capitol Riot

This paper looks at how vernacular practices associated with fringe web communities seem to have found their way into reactionary American politics in recent years. Combining concepts from political communication (Bennett and Segerberg 2013) and from assemblage theory (Samson 2020), the paper looks at how key elements of the Capitol insurrection narrative initially emerged on 4chan as meme about a second civil war (called “the Boogaloo”), then spreading to social media and amplified by President Trump. In an effort to make sense of this relationship between the fringe the mainstream, the paper offers both original empirical analysis as well as conceptual innovation. Keywords: Internet memes, post-digital far-right, assemblage theory, connective action, entryism, memetic antagonism, obfuscation, bottom-up agenda setting In the Trump era a new kind of post-digital far-right activism emerged that spread from fringe regions of the web into corporate social media through the medium of memes. The most notable and widely reported of these was QAnon, the notorious deep state conspiracy theory that made its way into the core of Republican party politics under Trump (Levin 2021) and which seemed to take the form of a real-world game (Thompson 2020). Having started out in late 2017 from a series of anonymous posts the the notorious 4chan imageboard (Tuters 2020), over the course of the next few years QAnon developed into a “super conspiracy” (Barkun 2013) incorporating a wide variety of different communities ranging from Tea Party libertarians to New Age anti-vaxxers (Argentino 2020), as it spread from the fringe into the mainstream of public attention (Zeeuw et al. 2020). Part of what drew these different constituencies in and held them together was a sense of collaborative participation in the construction of a narrative—whose subcultural origins made it seem more authentic. Across various social media, the growth of QAnon went largely unchecked over the course of Trump’s presidency, and is widely considered to have been a significant contributing factor in galvanizing the motley crew of protestors that stormed the Capitol on January 6th 2021, leading social media platforms to subsequent ban much related content (Conger 2021). As reports of that day later noted, iconography and sloganeering from the fringes of the Internet were a ubiquitous sight on that day (Rosenberg & Tiefenthäler 2020). Beyond its shocking violence, a striking aspect of Capitol insurrection was its subcultural pageantry, most notably the infamous “QAnon shaman”. A bare chested man with a painted face carrying a spear with an American flag tied below the blade and wearing a fur hat with buffalo horns, this man was photographed standing on the raised platform on the site where the Vice President Mike Pence was supposed to ratify Biden as the new president—while other insurgents wandered through the halls of the Capitol building chanting “hang Mike Pence”, some wearing full military body armour. While the events of that day came as a surprise to many Americans, the narrative of a second civil war, had in fact been floated by Trump on Twitter over a year prior and it had been developing online since the spring of 2019 in posts to 4chan by online gun enthusiasts on 4chan whom referred to it coded ironic Internetspeak as the Boogaloo. As described below, 4chan’s vernacular conception for a second civil war in turn inspired an entire anti-state insurrectionist movement whom referred to themselves as “the Boogaloo Bois” and used vernacular “dissimulation” techniques, adapted from 4chan’s subculture (Zeeuw and Tuters 2020), both to create a “playful” movement identity as well as to avoid detection in the context of corporate social media efforts at “deplatforming” (Rogers 2021). As in the cases of QAnon and Pizzagate before it, 4chan provided the nascent movement with a ready-made format for political activism, in the form of an Internet meme. As these far-right memes served Trump’s agenda, in political communication terms we may consider them as instances of bottom-up agenda setting. Combining concepts from political communication (Bennett and Segerberg 2013) and from assemblage theory (Samson 2020), this paper analyzes the constitutive role of antagonism in the construction of precarious political movements that connects the fringe with the mainstream—as was so clearly on display on the day of the Capitol insurrection.