Digital Rhythmanalysis: Studying Memetic and Affective Rhythms on the Post-Viral Web

How to do justice to the pulsing, ephemeral and multisensory dimensions of today's digital lifeworlds? Even as platforms increasingly push audio-visual streams through algorithmic feeds optimized for repetitive scrolling and swiping, existing research paradigms still tend to approach the Web spatially and topologically as a network made of static nodes. Relatedly, memetic or viral approaches require critical revision in an increasingly artificial intelligence-driven and ‘post-viral’ Web where users are algorithmically segregated into niche communities and fuzzy ‘vibes’. In response to these structural transformations, we propose ‘digital rhythmanalysis’ as an alternative approach to study the cultural-material temporalities of platforms. We draw from Henri Lefebvre to propose a quali-quantitative methodology that ‘listens’ to platforms and the affective formulas that resonate through them. Digital rhythmanalysis emphasizes time before space and can be attuned to the study moments of (viral) intensity as well as the rhythms of everyday digital life. We bring our approach in dialogue with recent affective and aural turns in media and cultural studies and explore new methods to help us with ‘algorhythmic’ listening and transcribing the rhythms of memes and affects.