Online Communities and Participatory Cycles: Exploring Paths to Empowerment

Online communities have long represented a space where people gather and participate in social activities they might not otherwise have the physical space or means to participate in their offline lives. These communities offer many of the same joys someone might get from connecting to their offline counterparts, but there are usually hidden benefits and harms that present unique opportunities as well as challenges to the people occupying them. In this dissertation, I explore the characteristics of a specific online community, transformative fandom (also known as &ldquo;fandom&rdquo;). This community is home to multiple marginalized groups who participate in a range of collaborative activities. Focusing on these marginalized groups, I track the social practices in fandom through which people find support, learn new skills ranging from video editing to computer programming, and participate in collective action that extends beyond their community. I argue that these processes take the form of a participatory cycle that encourages and empowers community members to transform their own community and effect broader societal change. Through a series of research projects, including multiple semi-structured interview studies, qualitative analysis of trace data, and a large-scale survey, I observe and analyze different social and technical mechanisms that people leverage within and outside of fandom to transform media, their communities, and other spaces. The findings from this work present the following: 1) provide a deeper understanding into non-obvious benefits people draw from online communities; 2) detail the everyday learning practices of fan community members and compare them to formal learning situations; 3) discuss examples of online communities effecting change outside of their community; and, 4) introduce and discuss the concept of a cycle of participation that online communities follow, specifically focusing on a cycle of participation within fandom.</p

Gandalf on the Death Star: Levels of Seriality between Bricks, Bits, and Blockbusters

Over the past 65 years millions of fingers have constructed their own worlds of wonder with LEGO bricks, and thousands of fingers have controlled LEGO figures through franchise-designed gameworlds of wonder with LEGO bits. Typically these tangible user-created story designs and kinaesthetic activities remain absent from the field of media studies in general and research on digital seriality in particular.   However, when it comes to contemporary blockbuster franchises such as the Skylanders, World of Warcraft, LEGO, Lord of the Rings or Star Wars universe, the conceptualization of digital seriality as solely relating to transmedia or even trans-transmedia storytelling are no longer sufficient. So, rather than trying to fit a somewhat square peg into a somewhat round hole the article develops an analytical comprehension of and conceptual framework for digital seriality through (i) taking a more play(er)centric and interactional approach field that a more in line with the concept of “new serialities,” (ii) uncovering and establishing the transformative and transgressive nature of play(er)centric digital seriality that emerge from actual “serialities-in-use,” and (iii) developing frameworks and conceptual models for serialities-in-use that are able to embrace these emerging play(er)centric aspects of digital seriality.   Our aim is not to oppose or question established contemporary understandings of digital seriality but to expand some of the parameters and categories. Thus, we explore not only “the aesthetic forms and cultural practices of serialization as they are articulated in and around interactive digital media” (Denson & Jahn-Sudmann 2013, p. 10-11) but also the kinaesthetic experiences and practices at the heart of playful serialities. Furthemore, answering Denson and Jahn-Sudmann’s call for a multi-pronged approach, therefore, we likewise hope to initiate a dialogue between (at least) two distinct fields of research: media/game studies and design/toy studies. Both echoing and expanding the efforts of Denson and Jahn-Sudmann, our focus here is on three sets of interrelations with respect to (digital) serialities: • interrelations between transmission, transformation, and transgression on the one hand and world-building, world-sharing, and world-designing on the other; • interrelations between technologies, social practices, and spaces on the one hand and franchise-centric, play-centric, and player-centric spaces of serialities-in-use on the other; • interrelations between intra-texts, inter-texts, and para-texts on the one hand and what we call intra-actional, inter-actional, and para-actional levels on the other, including how they come together in the intra-ludic, inter-ludic, and para-ludic serialities described by Denson and Jahn-Sudmann.   The material immateriality and immaterial materiality that lies at the core of LEGO’s seriality - in its oscillation between digital bits and tangible bricks - accentuates how the experience of digital seriality is often the simultaneity of perceiving immersive and expansive worlds and of expressing yourself (kin)aestheticlly through technological engrossment in this continuing serial activity. Overall, the article posits digital seriality, as it e.g. emerges through experiencing LEGO Star Wars and LEGO The Lord of the Rings games and franchises, as something concurrently material (bricks & engaged technologies) and immaterial (bits & perceived worlds)

HyperBody: An Experimental VR Game Exploring the Cosmotechnics of Game Fandom through a Posthumanist Lens

Interdependencies among ACGN (Anime, Comics, Games, and Novels) communities in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are growing. However, game studies and fan studies remain distinct disciplines. This cross-disciplinary thesis bridges this gap by investigating "game-fandom" practices in VR production, defined as the fusion of game and fan studies within the ACGN context. Drawing from Yuk Hui's "cosmotechnics" and Karen Barad's posthumanist perspective, this research reconsiders the relationship between cosmology, morality, and technology (Hui 2017). It employs "intra-action" to emphasise the indivisible, dynamic relations among specified objects (Barad 2007). Cultural practices in C-pop idol groups, Chinese BL (Boys' Love) novels, science fiction, and modding communities are analysed, illuminating the ACGN fandom's cultural, technological, and affective dimensions. This work features the creation, description, and evaluation of an experimental VR game, "HyperBody", which integrates the written thesis by reflecting game-fandom's cosmotechnics and intra-actions. The thesis offers two significant contributions: "queer tuning", a theory illuminating new cultural, technological, and affective turns within fandom and computational art, and a "diffractive" approach, forming a methodological framework for posthuman performative contexts. This diffractive framework enables practical contributions such as creating and describing experimental VR productions using the sound engine. It also highlights a thorough evaluation approach reconciling quantitative and qualitative methods in VR production analysis, investigating affective experiences, and exploring how users engage creatively with queer VR gamespaces. These contributions foster interdisciplinary collaboration among VR, game design, architecture, and fandom studies, underscoring the inextricable link among ethics, ontology, and epistemology, culminating in a proposed ethico-onto-epistem-ological framework

How is Fanfiction Framed for Literacy Education Practitioner Periodical Audiences : Media Frame Analysis (2003 - 2013)

This dissertation reports out the results from a socio-cultural media research study that examined how professional periodicals written for United States K-12 public school literacy educators described fanfiction-based recreational literacy practices between 2003 and 2013. In the first decade of the 21st century, many K-12 literacy scholars advocated for the adaptation of predominantly out-of-school literacy practices for use within US public school literacy instruction programs. During this period, some literacy researchers expressed concerns that teachers may have held incomplete or inaccurate conceptions of fan-based literacy practices such as fanfiction, to the detriment of their students and the literacy practices themselves. This research study investigates these concerns within the context of journal articles that describe and discuss fanfiction literacy practices. Practitioner research journal articles were collected and analyzed using socio-cultural media frame analysis in order to determine how fanfiction was presented and evaluated for inclusion within US public school classrooms. Analysis of data uncovered three dominant frame categories -- the youth practice frame, the out-of-school practice frame and the utilitarian practice frame -- each of which reflected how discussions of fanfiction literacy practice were aligned with particularly salient perspectives on the nature and worth of K-12 students\u27 recreational literacy practices. The youth practice frame reflects an orientation toward the view that recreational literacy is juvenile, the out-of-school practice frame reflects the implications and connotations associated with labeling recreational literacy practices as non-academic, and the utilitarian practice frame reflects how recreational literacies are evaluated in terms of their ability to foster in-school literacy performance and assessment. By exploring how fanfiction literacy practices were framed over a decade punctuated by successive US K-12 public school literacy education reforms, this dissertation helps to illustrate the extent to which the qualities and merits of recreational literacy practices are often reoriented, reshaped, and resold to educators as solutions to classroom problems

Translaboration: Translation and Labour

Translaboration, a concept derived from blending ‘translation’ and ‘collaboration’, has the concept of labour at its core. This paper investigates the dimension of labour in online collaborative translation, relates translational labour to Arendt’s categories of work and action, and proceeds to broaden the discussion to the labour involved in translation more generally. It also considers what effect the application of these concepts has on the interests of translators and other stakeholders. Probing the labour of translation not only has a profound bearing on framings of both voluntary and professional translation practices, but can also reshape discussions of the translation concept as such. Rather than pitting ‘work’ and ‘labour’ as competing concepts, this paper shows that labour, work, and action all apply to translation and can be brought into productive dialogue in the translaborative space

Lights! Camera! Infringement? Exploring the Boundaries of Whether Fan Films Violate Copyrights

This Thesis examines the situation that de los Rios and other fan filmmakers face because of the inherent conflict fan films have with the original author’s intellectual property rights. It outlines the culture and specifics of fan fiction and the different subgenres within it and their relationship with one another. This Thesis also traces the origins of fan films to gain a better understanding of why filmmakers create them and the potential legal battles that have developed over time. The potential legal issues discussed address the rights of the original author and how courts have interpreted copyright protection for individual elements as well as the work as a whole. This Thesis also suggests several solutions to the fan film/original author dilemma that allows both parties to fulfill the goals of copyright laws. This Thesis outlines the state of U.S. copyright law and advocates that de los Rios and other fan filmmakers do have a right to create their own works if they adhere to certain guidelines.6 I argue that fan films should be classified as non-derivative works or, in the alternative, be considered fair use. Fan films, unlike most other forms of fan fiction, exist as a stand-alone, not-for-profit endeavor that is neither easy nor cheap to produce. In fact, fan films may actually increase the value of the original work rather than take profits away. Intellectual property theory supports allowing fan filmmakers to create films if they follow certain criteria, so that they are rewarded for their labor and also to encourage more creativity. Fan filmmakers today often evolve into the Hollywood filmmakers of tomorrow. As a whole, fan films serve a positive role that benefits the public without seriously limiting the intellectual property owner’s ability to profit or to create or to license derivative works. Part II of this Thesis dissects fan fiction as a whole and analyzes its beginnings and how fan films fit into the overall genre. Part II also defines the different elements of fan fiction and how fan films both differ and conform to the rest of the genre. Part III looks at what fan films essentially are and how they fit into culture by tracing their roots as backyard fun to their emergence onto the Internet. It also examines the most popular source works for fan films and the attitudes of the original authors toward the user-generated media. Part IV delves into the legal arguments and issues involving fan films, including an analysis of derivative works and what elements can be protected. Part IV also describes the litany of tests that courts can use to determine the level of protection a character may receive as well as the easier analysis for protection of plot elements and ideas. Part V shows how fair use fits into the legal equation by walking through the four factors. Part VI offers possible solutions to the fan film infringement dilemma. Part VII concludes with the idea that fan films should not be deemed infringing and should exist in harmony with source works as opposed to them

Copyright law

Contents Editorial Research Articles Formats as Media of Cooperation / Axel Volmar Thematic Focus: Copyright Law Editorial: The Reference as Part of the Art Form. A Turning Point in Copyright Law? / Dagmar Hoffmann, Nadine Klass The Concept of “Pastiche” in Directive 2001/29/EC in the Light of the German Case Metall auf Metall / Frédéric Döhl Transformative Works and German Copyright Law as Matters of Boundary Work / Kamila Kempfert, Wolfgang Reißmann Negotiating Legal Knowledge, Community Values, and Entrepreneurship in Fan Cultural Production / Sophie G. Einwächter Referencing in Academia: Video Essay, Mashup, Copyright / Eckart Voigts, Katerina Marshfield Re-Use under US Copyright Law: Fair Use as a Best Practice or Just a Myth of Balance in Copyright? / Sibel Kocatepe Reports Grounded Design in a Value Sensitive Context / Volker Wulf in conversation with Batya Friedma

Reconfiguring the reader : convergence and participation in modern young adult fantasy fiction

PhD ThesisThis thesis explores digital-age literary and reading practices as they were influenced by participatory culture at the turn of the century. Participatory culture is analysed here through the work of Henry Jenkins, Hans Heino Ewers, Margaret Mackey and Katy Varnelis and is recognised as one in which individuals are socially connected to each other in an environment that offers support for creating and sharing interpretations and original works. It has relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic participation, and fosters the sense of community growing around people’s common interests and ideologies, as expressed through performative manifestations such as gaming and fandom. Because juvenile fantasy fiction generally, and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series (1997-2007) specifically, were at the centre of significant developments in response to participatory culture, Rowling’s books are used as a case study on the basis of which changing practices of reading, writing and interpretation of story, principally by children and young people, are mapped and appraised. One aim of this thesis is to evaluate how far participatory culture has affected what it means to be a reader of a text that exists in multiple formats: how each version of the text constructs and addresses its readers/viewers/players/co-creators, and the dynamics and interdependence between the different versions. A second but related aim is to test the claims of new media theorists, including Janet Murray, Pierre Lévy and Marie-Laure Ryan, among others, to establish how far texts, readers and the processes of reading have in fact changed. Specifically, it looks at how far the promises of reader participation and co-creation have been fulfilled, especially within the genre of children’s literature

Fandom and the fourth wave: youth, digital feminisms, and media fandom on Tumblr

Recent scholarly accounts have noted the increasing slippage between feminism, digital cultures, and popular culture, yet few have located media fandom at this juncture. While critical and celebratory modes of popular culture consumption, production, and critique are central to both fourth wave feminisms and media fandom, both feminist and fan studies scholarship is yet to account for the ways in which media fandom and fourth wave feminisms are deeply connected in practice, as well as how fannish and feminist communities are converging within the digital landscape. Drawing upon feminist cultural studies and fan studies, this thesis offers an examination of the role of media fandom in the development of young people’s feminist identities. Analysing digital ethnographic data gathered over a two-year period through narrative survey, follow-up interviews, and participant observation, it explores the lived experiences of young people who are engaging with feminist discourses, practices, and positionalities in a routine, informal and everyday way through their ties to media fandom on Tumblr. In doing so, it foregrounds the close relationship between feminist cultural studies and fan studies methodologically, theoretically, and empirically, and locates media fandom as a site at which meanings of feminism are collectively produced, negotiated, and contested. This research subsequently reveals the intimate, complex, and at times contradictory, relationship between popular culture, media fandom, and feminist pedagogy, and locates fandom as an important and accessible space for bringing feminism to a wider, and increasingly younger, audience beyond the academy

Digital Roots

Several of the most known and discussed concepts of the digital age predated the digitalization itself and have been previously used in the “analogue times”. Other concepts were coined for the digital society but have transformed and are continuously transforming over time. This edited book selects some of these concepts and starts a time travel through their history, heritage, reinvention, and reinvestment in media and communication studies