{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T10:21:20Z","timestamp":1780568480209,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"University of Bor\u00e5s","issue":"iConf","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,11]],"date-time":"2025-03-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1741651200000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IR"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Introduction. We introduce legitimation practices through Know Your Meme documenting the high-profile sex-trafficking and suicide ruling of Jeffrey Epstein.\r\nMethod. Using netnography, we analyse legitimation discourse provided by the six authors reported previous knowledge and what Know Your Meme legitimised about memetic knowledge, the website, and the Epstein case and surrounding conspiracy.\r\nAnalysis. Our preliminary analysis suggests that legitimation discourse is a valuable netnographic methodology to understand how documentation both technically and textually establishes \u2018authoritative\u2019 contexts for memetic and conspiracy theoretic content. We have found that Van Leeuwen\u2019s categories of legitimation function in relation to self-reported claims about cultural heritage sites such as Know Your Meme\u2019s archival and narrative accounts of memetic meaning.\r\nConclusion. Our work begins filling two gaps in contemporary digital information environments. Firstly, we begin to close the gap between netnography and cultural heritage sites such as archives, repositories, and so forth. Secondly, we contribute diverse individual legitimations of memetic content. Future work will develop more rich interpretations of what is legitimated by Know Your Meme. Additionally, we compare individual participants\u2019 legitimation process relative to their prior reported knowledge.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.47989\/ir30iconf47260","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,11]],"date-time":"2025-03-11T13:56:36Z","timestamp":1741701396000},"page":"618-626","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Towards memetic legitimation of knowledge: memes and cultural heritage"],"prefix":"10.47989","volume":"30","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3719-2232","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexander O.","family":"Smith","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3362-666X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Calvin","family":"Cousin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Una","family":"Joh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christy","family":"Khoury","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6288-0651","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yiran","family":"Duan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9276-6983","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jeff","family":"Hemsley","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"27919","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,11]]},"container-title":["Information Research an international electronic journal"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/publicera.kb.se\/ir\/article\/download\/47260\/37057","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/publicera.kb.se\/ir\/article\/download\/47260\/37057","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,11]],"date-time":"2025-03-11T14:00:17Z","timestamp":1741701617000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/publicera.kb.se\/ir\/article\/view\/47260"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,11]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"iConf","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,11]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.47989\/ir30iconf47260","relation":{},"ISSN":["1368-1613"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1368-1613","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,11]]}}}