POTSDAM -- SUNY Potsdam faculty member Trevor Blank was recently invited to serve as the keynote speaker for Harvard University's annual Folklore and Mythology Symposium held April 3.

Blank is an assistant professor of English and communication at SUNY Potsdam. His keynote talk was titled "The World at our Fingertips: Folklore, Digital Culture and the Pursuit of Meaning in Contemporary Vernacular Discourse."

He spoke about how folklore and folk culture has adapted to the ever-evolving expressive opportunities afforded by new technologies, with an emphasis on visual humor through memes.

Blank's teaching and research centers on the study of folk and popular culture, mass media and the digital humanities. He is the author or editor of seven books, including "The Last Laugh: Folk Humor, Celebrity Culture and Mass-Mediated Disasters in the Digital Age," "Folk Culture in the Digital Age: The Emergent Dynamics of Human Interaction," and "Folklore and the Internet: Vernacular Expression in a Digital World."

He serves as editor to the scholarly journal Children's Folklore Review.