*Jacob Quinn of Firefox, the Firefox mascot and **MIT student *Shreeratsa R. listen during Friday's keynote speech by David Weinberger.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Moments before the opening panel for ROFLCon was set to begin, a figure took the stage to introduce David Weinberger, Friday's keynote speaker. No one paid much attention until he shouted out, "I'm Leeeeeroy Jenkins!" The crowd erupted with whoops and cheers of excitement.
That's because most of the audience members had seen the rambunctious antics of Jenkins, a machinima-made character popular in Blizzard Entertainment's game World of Warcraft, but until Friday, nobody knew what Jenkins' creator, Ben Schultz, looked like.
Welcome to the fame revolution, or what keynoter Weinberger, a fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society and author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, described as "our fame," a massive shift in the definition of celebrity. The elite ranks of the famous, usually reserved for broadcast or traditional media celebrities, are now being infiltrated by the likes of web celebs like Schultz.
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Tron Guy, aka Jay Maynard, holds ROFLCon swag -- a red lunch box -- during Friday's keynote speech.
"We made him, made them, famous," Weinberger said while showing photographs of the Star Wars Kid, Obama Girl, the home page of Turkish net fad Mahirand clips of YouTube's ubiquitous laughing babies. Weinberger went on to describe the current state of the fame game, saying that the traditional model of Hollywood megacelebrity is "based on alienation" -- a model, Weinberger says, that opens the door for us to reinterpret our notions of fame.
"[Hollywood celebrities] cease to be famous when we see them as they are," a concept he demonstrated by showing several gossip magazine pictures of celebrities without their makeup. "Blogging, however, is all about taking off the 'makeup.' They're exposing themselves as fallible human beings."
The same holds true for the rest of the web celebs. "What's famous on the web looks like it was done by a human hand," said Weinberger, while showing a Homestar Runner graphic. "They still feel like ours."
"It's not just the homespun quality of what's famous on the web. It's how fame works -- it's becoming much more DIY," said Weinberger. "Fame is now living in a long tail, or a long continuum of ways to be famous."
*David Weinberger uses an image of the Star Wars Kid to show the changing face of fame. As people cheered, Weinberger looked around and said, "Really? I don't think this was our finest moment."
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Photos: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
See also:
- Behind the Memes: Kickin' It With the I Can Has Cheezburger? Kids
- Video: Tron Guy Brightens the Room at ROFLCon
- ROFLCon: It's Not Easy Being Memes
- Behind the Memes: Ji Lee, Bubble Project Media Jammer
- Behind the Memes: IJustine Reveals Offline Talents
- Behind the Memes: Chris Hastings, Creator of Dr. McNinja
