From M/Cyclopedia of New Media
Jessica Larsen
Name: Jessica Larsen
Course: B Media and Communications / B Laws
Subject: New Media Technologies
Tutor: Jaz Choi
Jessica Larsen is in her second year of a dual degree in Media Studies and Law. She has just returned to her studies after a two year hiatus spent living in Sydney. In an academic context, her interests include feminist legal studies, legal equality, gendered media issues, fandom and audiences, however she is not sure what she will pursue on completion of her degree.
Outside of university, her interests include acting, reading and yoga.
Please direct all emails to ja.larsen@student.qut.edu.au
Useful Links:
QUT
Creative Industries Faculty
Law Faculty
--Jessica Larsen 12:25, 26 Jul 2005 (EST)
Wiki Topic
The topic selected for research is 'Online Fandoms', the relevant wiki path being:
New Media >> Online Culture and Society >> Society >> Virtual Communities >> Online Fandoms
This topic is an interesting and relevant area to explore given that such communities are extremely active in their consumption and manipulation of media content, and therefore epitomise the principles of new media, and media and cultural convergence.
--Jessica Larsen 00:53, 12 Aug 2005 (EST)
Annotated Bibliography
- Brooker, W. (2001). “Living on ‘Dawson’s Creek’: Teen viewers, cultural convergence, and television overflow,�? International Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 4, no.4, pp. 456-472.
- “Living on Dawson’s Creek�? discusses the ‘overflow’ of primary media texts, in particular the title show, across multiple media platforms – most notably, internet sites. This media convergence can be between the primary text and ‘official’ secondary texts (such as the network-developed Dawson’s Creek homepage) or with ‘unofficial’ fan-created texts, as well as the recent emergence of sites that fuse the two. The textually specific multi-media platforms are described as ‘cultural convergence’, and it is argued that these exclusively dedicated secondary texts encourage fan interactivity and participation, and provide an immersive experience that is an extension of the original narrative. While the ‘official’ website is produced to provide structured, directional interactivity purposely created to tie in with the original text, the ‘unofficial’ texts are often frowned upon by the owner-producers as violating both intellectual property principles and the sanctity of the original text.
- In a small study, Brooker examines audience predisposition to practice cultural convergence, and concludes that gender, national context and socioeconomic background are all influential factors. His results also suggest that the secondary texts, whether official or unofficial, remain ancillary supplements to the primary text itself.
- Consalvo, M. (2003). “Cyber-Slaying Media Fans: Code, Digital Poaching, and Corporate Control of the Internet,�? The Journal of Communication Inquiry, vol.27, no.1, pp. 67-86.
- This article examines how online fans are limited by Internet coding, specifically HTML, the basic Internet code used to create functioning websites. Consalvo proposes the idea of fans as cyborgs (“fan-borgs�?), because their use of and reliance on the Internet and computer mediated communication has become so integral to their survival and growth that the technology has become ubiquitous within fan culture. This reliance, however, has its downfall. Consalvo argues that while the Internet was created as a medium of anonymous and unrestricted communication, this is not the reality. In practice, the Internet is regulated by deep levels of coding (“the plumbing�?), created and controlled by expert programmers and corporations that determines how the HTML is used and manifested. This architectural authorship belies the oft-touted freedom of the Internet, and Consalvo contends that it functions to limit fan-borgs in their responses to and manipulations of media content. The specific fandoms examined are the Star Trek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer online communities. Both communities have experienced hostile corporate attempts to limit their online activity, but as overtly active members of participatory culture, they responded in an organized and cohesive fashion.
- Hills, M. (2002) “Conclusion: new media, new fandoms, new theoretical approaches?,�? in Fan Cultures, London: Routledge, pp. 172 – 185, ISBN 0415240255.
- This chapter argues that the Internet, specifically online newsgroups, through virtue of constant accessibility to media content and other media users, has completely altered fan practices. It is therefore suggested that online fandoms cannot be viewed as merely versions or translations of offline fandoms, but as successful entities within the new cultural and media convergence. Hills suggests that just as new media have greatly enabled fandom through the partial deconstruction of the social divisions once so limiting to participants, so too it has placed new pressures on these communities. This leads to his proposal of ‘just-in-time’ fandom, the result of spatio-temporal rhythms influencing fandoms' operation, an example being the significant time lapse between screening of television shows in America and in other countries, the different chronologies effectively alienating the two fan communities.
- Hills, M. (2004) “Defining Cult TV: Texts, Inter-texts and Fan Audiences,�? in R. C. Allen and A. Hill (eds.), The Television Studies Reader, London: Routledge, pp. 509-523, ISBN 0415283248.
- This article focuses on the phenomenon of cult TV and how it is defined through its audiences, specifically, fandoms. Hill outlines how the internet has effected and enabled these fandoms, providing unprecedented means of communication between citizens who have previously been isolated in their subcultural interests. This has effectively mainstreamed fandom and dissolved the geographic, temporal and social boundaries that were once so limiting to this alternative culture. The internet has also allowed these fan communities greatly increased availability of and access to media content, meaning the raw materials necessary for fan analysis, critique, manipulation and retextualization are in relative abundance compared to pre-computer mediated communication fandom. Hill also examines the current trend of media producers specifically targeting online fandoms during the creation and promotion of new narrative texts with the aim of absorbing these already established audiences into their own.
- ‘Textual Poachers’ is a defining work in the study of fan culture (Hills, 2002, p4), positioning fans as the titular constituent of media audiences. Jenkins’ principle assertion is the ongoing evolution of media consumption from merely a spectator culture to a participatory culture, with the introduction of new media technology greatly advancing this process. Fans, once the passive, powerless ‘peasants’ of media culture, can now be ‘proprietors’, using new media tools to participate in activities and create their own texts. These empowered consumer/producers can transform and extend the original textual experience into rich and detailed cultural productions and social interactions.
- The book describes fan cultures as complex and diverse subcultural communities that are constructed as institutions of theory, analysis and re-creation. Specific fan activities are examined, including ‘zines’ (fan magazines), fan fiction, ‘slash’ (secondary textual constructions of homoerotic affairs between an original text’s protagonists), fan music video and fan message boards, with Jenkins concluding that computer mediated communication intensifies and enhances the experience of all these activities. He also outlines the prejudices and misconceived stereotypes often leveled at fans, who operate from an area of “cultural marginality�? and “social weakness�?, yet Jenkins positions fandom as a firmly justifiable and defensible perspective surrounding mass media.
- Jenkins, H. (2003) “Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars? Digital Cinema, Media Convergence, and Participatory Culture,�? in D. Thorburn and H. Jenkins (eds.) Rethinking Media Change: The aesthetics of Transition, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, pp. 281-314, ISBN 0262201461.
- This chapter is about the evolution of audiences within media culture with the advent of the Internet. Initially, audiences merely consumed media texts and the ongoing privatization of the media and its producers resulted in audiences feeling disillusioned at their perceived lack of power and cultural influence. However, Jenkins contends that their role has been radically transformed. The proliferation of new media tools has provided the means for these avid fans to develop new ways to interact with media content and has repositioned audience and fan cultures as interactive and participatory.
- Jenkins outlines the main objective of these newly empowered fans as being to extend their experience of the original text. He specifically uses the example of Star Wars fans manipulating Star Wars and other texts, particularly in the making of ‘amateur’ films. The Internet is described as integral to the continuation of this cultural reproduction, affording these active participants new ‘spaces’ to display, discuss, create and critique their own work, the work of fellow fans, and the original text.
- The idea of producer / fan ‘feedback loops’ are proposed, whereby media producers actively include enigmas, codes and loose ends that overtly encourage fan discussion and activity; or where fans manipulate and recreate the original text, display it on the Net, and the most potentially commercial ideas are then taken up by the owner-producers and absorbed back into the mainstream media.
- Obst, P., L. Zinkiewicz and S. G. Smith. (2002) “Sense of Community in Science Fiction Fandom, Part 1: Understanding Sense of Community in an International Community of Interest,�? Journal of Community Psychology, vol.30, no.1, pp. 87-103.
- This article reviews an Australian study that sought to explore the psychological sense of community experienced by science fiction fans. Through an extensive questionnaire, a select group of 395 attendees of a science fiction convention were analyzed as to their personal identification with other members and the focal texts. The results indicated that the fans experienced a high level of community identification. More than a quarter of the fans participated in the community solely through the Internet, with nearly all using the Internet in some capacity to participate. The authors suggest that although science fiction fandom was firmly established before the introduction of the Internet, its advent has seen it become the major medium of communication for this fan community.
- Shefrin, E. (2004) “Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Participatory Fandom: Mapping New Congruencies between the Internet and Media Entertainment Culture,�? Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol.21, no.3, pp. 261-281.
- This article seeks to explore emerging areas of media and cultural convergence using the specific examples of the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars film series. The two textual examples are used to illustrate the opposing modes of interaction between media producers and online fans – Lord of the Rings and its auteur, Peter Jackson, as collaborative, respectful and revolutionary; Star Wars and its auteur, George Lucas, as undemocratic, disrespectful and manipulative.
- During the making of Lord of the Rings, Jackson engaged in online discussions with fans, requested their opinions through online questionnaires, was forthcoming with production details and welcomed their active participation in message boards and online communities. Shefrin asserts that he deliberately promoted the participatory culture surrounding his production as he recognized the sizeable knowledge and power this fan base wielded and sought to embrace and cultivate it. On the other hand, Lucas and his production company, Lucasfilm, have often been accused of overt hostility to the online Star Wars fan communities. Lucasfilm has sought to control manipulation of the text through numerous law suits and attempts to control the intellectual property of all subsequent textual creations. Shefrin determines this mode as one of hegemonic control; Lucasfilm’s efforts and its recent release of a subscription based online “special zone�? only serving to alienate fans and create a hierarchy within the fan base.
- Shefrin argues that through examination of these two opposing styles of fan-producer interaction, the consequent effects on the cultural reception and consumption of the texts can be discerned, establishing two distinct models of the relationship between the media creators and Internet fan culture.
- Wakefield, S. R. (2001) “An electronic community of female fans of The X-Files,�? Journal of Popular Film and Television, vol.29, no.3, pp. 130-138.
- This article examines a specific online community created by fans of ‘Scully’, the main female X-Files character. Generally accepted features of fandom communities are applied to this specific community, providing practical examples of abstract theories. Particular attention is paid to the (often simultaneous) camaraderie and tension present in the group, the emergence of hierarchies, and the development of specific language and jargon. Wakefield also discusses how fans ‘poach’ the original text and reposition the character (as saint, as sexpot, as the everywoman), and create positions for themselves accordingly (as nun, as gazer, as sister). It is noted that fans need not actively participate in online discussions to feel part of the community, camaraderie is created through simple consumption of the original text and its poached successors.
- Wilson, T. (2004) “Converging Aspects of Consumption,�? in The Playful Audience: From Talk Show Viewers to Internet Users, Cresskill: Hampton Press, pp225-251, ISBN 1572735295.
- This book constructs the audience as ‘playful’ in their treatment of media texts and in their perceived positioning as an integral element of media culture. Through this ‘play’, Wilson argues that a whole new set of media principles are established, with audiences now experiencing an unprecedented level of identification with media texts through increased playful interactivity. He cites the Internet as having dramatically enabled this interactivity and having produced an actual sense of space and belonging for the previously unconnected participants. The online interaction between these likeminded audience members has resulted in the creation of socially complex online communities dedicated to playing with a particular text. Wilson suggests that active audiences’ relatively quick uptake of new media has been in part due to the similarities evident in consumption of television and the Internet, allowing these participants to translate their focal text from one medium to another with ease.
--Jessica Larsen 01:20, 12 Aug 2005 (EST)
