So recapping to get my thoughts in some sort of order –
1) I started off looking at memes as an entry point into the world of learning, creativity and innovation.
2) As a metaphor, memes roughly equate to genes. They are patterns of information that propagate themselves through books, brains, videos etc. They are roughly analogous to ideas.
3) Memes have a number of academic problems with them – not slight ones either – but are a popular metaphor for thinking about ideas and how they spread/evolve.
4) Possibly thanks to the evolutionary nature of the metaphor, the network of people across which a meme spreads, and the meme’s propagation mechanisms have gained importance, or at least they need to be examined more closely.
So where now?
– Networks obviously need examining. Six degrees, the emergence of hierarchy, novelty in a network – that sort of thing.
– I suppose other metaphors for ideas and their spread need looking into, so we can see what the options are.
– I’m interested in how memes cope with ideas of madness. Images of madcap scientists, Einstein and his hair, barmy artists, William Blake nude in his garden – madness and creativity seem to go hand in hand. How does a meme theory cope with that?
So I suspect it’s worth doing these in reverse order – stick with memes, see what the alternatives are, and then have a look at networks.