TikTok - Memefication and Performance: Interdisciplinary Approaches
Edited by Friederike Fischer, Simon Meier-Vieracker and Lisa Niendorf

This interdisciplinary open access volume, co-edited by TUDiSC-PI Simon Meier-Vieracker, examines the video platform TikTok, a leading global social network with growing significance for (non-)school education and science. The volume raises TikTok beyond the previous classifications and perceptions - alarmism on the one hand, fun niche medium on the other - as a relevant object of study in cultural studies. The focus is on platform-specific communication practices: The close linking of image, sound and language in performative genres opens up new options for mediation, appropriation and social representation. A central role is played by the practice known as memefication, in which intertextual, intermedial and imitative forms of performance dominate.

This volume examines how this multimodal setting shapes TikTok into a networked public sphere and what potentials arise, particularly in educational and scientific contexts. The contributions come from linguistics, communication and media studies, film and music studies, engineering and educational science. They develop theoretical concepts and methodological approaches, relate TikTok's digital practices to its role as an educational and mediation medium and shed light on its significance for science communication.

The book is available here