Videogames: Henry Jenkins - fandom and participatory culture

Henry Jenkins - fandom blog tasks

The following tasks will give you an excellent introduction to fandom and also allow you to start exploring degree-level insight into audience studies. Work through the following:

Factsheet #107 - Fandom

Use our Media Factsheet archive on the M: drive Media Shared (M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets) to find Media Factsheet #107 on Fandom. Save it to USB or email it to yourself so you have access to the reading for homework. Read the whole of Factsheet and answer the following questions:

1) What is the definition of a fan?
A Fan is someone who consumes a certain media over and over again, to different extent.

2) What the different types of fan identified in the factsheet?
Potterhead, Trekkie, Twilighter, Twihard, Gearhead, Whovian

3) What makes a ‘fandom’?
Becoming infatuated to an extent about something or someone. 

4) What is Bordieu’s argument regarding the ‘cultural capital’ of fandom?
The power of a fan in the realm of that particular fandom.

5) What examples of fandom are provided on pages 2 and 3 of the factsheet?
One of the first being a fandom surround Sherlock Holmes, and Family guy.

6) Why is imaginative extension and text creation a vital part of digital fandom?

As it created new content for fans to experience.

Tomb Raider and Metroid fandom research

Look at this Tomb Raider fansite and answer the following questions: 

1) What types of content are on offer in this fansite?
Fan Fiction, guides, wallpapers. 

2) What does the number of links and content suggest about the size of the online fan community for Tomb Raider and Lara Croft? Pick out some examples from this page.
Suggests that there's an extensive amount of content for Tomb Raider and a lot of it is fanmade. 

3) Scroll to the bottom of the page and look at the short ‘About me’ bio and social media updates. Is this a typical example of ‘fandom’ in the digital age? Why?

Now look at this Metroid fansite and answer the following: 

1) What does the site offer?
Similarly as the previous, a lot of fan made content.

2) Look at the Community Spotlight page. What does this suggest about the types of people who enjoy and participate in fan culture?
Suggests not only a level of dedication to the topic at hand but also a high extent of knowledge about the game.

3) There is a specific feature on Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. What do the questions from fans tell you about the level of engagement and interest in the game and franchise from the fan community?

The questions are often about the things most gamers wouldn't notice or care too much about such as "Who exactly is Dark Samus", most people would play that character off as an evil villain and leave it at that whereas fan communities want more information about it.

Henry Jenkins: degree-level reading

Read the final chapter of ‘Fandom’ – written by Henry Jenkins. This will give you an excellent introduction to the level of reading required for seminars and essays at university as well as degree-level insight into our current work on fandom and participatory culture. Answer the following questions:

1) There is an important quote on the first page: “It’s not an audience, it’s a community”. What does this mean?
This means that there is more to this than just an audience, it's a group of people who come together to discuss certain topics and analyse products to greater depths.

2) Jenkins quotes Clay Shirky in the second page of the chapter. Pick out a single sentence of the extended quote that you think is particularly relevant to our work on participatory culture and the ‘end of audience’ (clue – look towards the end!)

"The historic role of the consumer has been nothing more than a giant maw at the end of the mass media’s long conveyer belt, the all-absorbing Yin to mass media’s all-producing Yang"

This suggests that before the idea of a fandom was for consumers to take anything that is thrown at them and not necessarily become fanatic about it.

3) What are the different names Jenkins discusses for these active consumers that are replacing the traditional audience?

"Connectors" and "Influencer's" that suggests some people play more active roles in shaping media flows and values.

4) On the third page of the chapter, what does Wired editor Chris Anderson suggest regarding the economic argument in favour of fan communities?
Anderson argues that investing in niche properties with small but committed consumer bases may make economic sense if you can lower costs of production and replace marketing costs by building a much stronger network with your desired consumers.

5) What examples does Jenkins provide to argue that fan culture has gone mainstream?

As the media now covers these niche's in the mainstreaming meaning more and more people will delve into these niches, creating something mainstream. 

6) Look at the quote from Andrew Blau in which he discusses the importance of grassroots creativity. Pick out a sentence from the longer quote and decide whether you agree that audiences will ‘reshape the media landscape from the bottom up’.
"This bottom up energy will generate enormous creativity, but it will also tear apart some of the categories that organize the lives and work of media makers"  

This suggests that fans creating their own medias and fanfics may actually outdo original products and lead to a fanfic or fan made product being the preferred version of it.

7) What does Jenkins suggest the new ideal consumer is?

The Ideal consumer speaks up about the product and spreads the word of it. 

8) Why is fandom 'the future'?
As they will push what they're fanatic about forwards.

9) What does it mean when Jenkins says we shouldn’t celebrate ‘a process that commodifies fan cultural production’?

It means that people shouldn't treat a fan cultured production at higher value than the product itself.

10) Read through to the end of the chapter. What do you think the future of fandom is? Are we all fans now? Is fandom mainstream or are real fan communities still an example of a niche media audience?
"Fandom" is a pretty mainstream concept, but the extent of the fandom is what truly matters, are you a fan because you find something somewhat interesting so you look into it from time to time or have you actually invested yourself into the ideas and concepts surrounding that product.