Photobombing: Mobility, Humour and Culture

Abstract

The photobomb, in name and practice, is a phenomenon of Web2.0 – in the sense of being a participatory and read/write Web. This paper contributes to the academic discourse concerning the anthropology of the Internet. Photobombing exploits the ready availability of channels for individual expression created with writability, the importance of user-generated humour for the Web and theubiquity of digital photography devices. The issues of the visual and of humour\ud are both problematic territory for academic research and, despite their significance\ud within the context of digital culture, have received little focused attention in this\ud context (Gillispie, 2003). By drawing upon an observational methodology we\ud construct a typology of photobombs drawn from a variety of sources to understand\ud the simplicity and subtlety of humour being employed as well as the way in which\ud the photobomb – as a discrete artefact - is embedded and interlinked with other\ud (digital) cultural practices. The approach employed here for photobombs offers insight into the potential for the wider application of typological methods in the search and retrieval of (digital) visual object