Contribute to the cutest map on the Internet

The Civic Beat team is working on what is possibly the best Internet-related research project ever: a collection of culturally significant animal memes from around the world. Even better: they're looking for help.

The first iteration of "How Cats Took Over the Internet" was an IRL exhibit at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York, curated by Jason Eppink. The exhibit was covered by Vogue and the New York Times, among others.

The team is now looking to expand the collection to include an even greater diversity of Internet cultures worldwide. They're asking for contributions—particularly from the global south and emerging and underrepresented Internet cultures—that highlight the best cat, dog, goat, llama, and other animal memes from around the globe.

If you'd like to contribute, just email the following to info@thecivicbeat.com:

• Your name
• Institutional affiliation and title
• Your research background
• Country whose internet culture you are studying
• A brief paragraph (3–5 sentences long) looking at an animal meme (or animal-based humor) most representative of the internet culture of the country you study and some of the social and cultural reasons for its popularity. (This will be trimmed down by the curators to about 2 sentences, but the extra content is helpful.)
• A few representative meme images, with English translations (if needed)
• Agreement to release the writing under a Creative Commons NC-BY-SA license.

Submissions are due December 15th. Email or Google Doc submissions accepted. No attachments, please.