WK 6: Community and Culture in Fandom Blogs

One promise of the internet is that it forms a “global village” (McLuhan, 1964 in Nash, 2008). Images of sitting around a campfire with 6 million of our ‘neighbours’ is far from the reality that the internet provides. Nevermind the digital divide just in accessing the internet, the blogosphere epitomises the distinctiveness of the internet: instead of being one all-inclusive and comprehensive sphere, the blogosphere is comprised instead of macro-spheres or communities of like-minded content. The internet, with all its possibilities and limitations, has “become a means through which conventional boundaries and barriers can be transcended” (Bunt, 2003: 19 in Lim, 2012), thus creating new virtual communities with their own culture. 

Benedict Anderson (1991: 6 in Lim, 2012) proposes that “all communities larger than primordial villages of face-to-face contact (and perhaps even these) are imagined”. That is, the connection we feel to those who share similar interests and closeness (including the closeness that the internet provides through the compression of time and space) is constructed by individuals. Nevertheless, and as in real life, there is a tendency for people blogging to “interact more and more closely with people who share similar characteristics than with those who are dissimilar” (Lim, 2012:129). This homophily is expressed in the blogosphere as ‘a community’ and examples are not limited to networks of race, ethnicity, and religion, but includes fandom groups and general like-minded interests such as fashion, food, politics, fitness etc. 

Like in society and physical communities, blog communities foster distinctive social and behavioural norms that reflect shared values (Wei, 2004). Fandoms exemplify this in a way like none other. The passion of fandoms are not limited to being expressed online but generally infiltrate many aspects of an individuals lives - whether reading fanfiction or dressing up for Comic-Con. No matter what the pursuit, it ends in sense of community. 

Danisnotonfire 2012, 'Fandom', Youtube, 12 October, Accessed 1 Sept 2013

>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqYkERuoMN8<

We create our identities through belonging to a group and with the proliferation of the internet and subsequent blogosphere, more and more of the groups we have access to and choose to belong to occur online. In my experience, tumblr is the main rendezvous point for these groups. The fandoms on this blogging site have gained great notoriety. 

There are the devoted. And there are the downright crazy. 

Whatever you think of fandoms, as representative of communities in the blogosphere, their connection as a group is impressive if not sometimes disconcerting.

Further reading: 
Vaughn, H 2012, ‘Hunger is Not a Game’, The Harry Potter Alliance, March 1, Accessed 1 Sept 2013, >http://thehpalliance.org/2012/03/hunger-is-not-a-game/< 

Images courtesy of Buzzfeed.

Alwaysadrienne 2013, ‘The 20 Craziest Fandoms on Tumblr’, Buzzfeed, June 14, Accessed 1 Sept 2013, >http://www.buzzfeed.com/alwaysadrienne/the-20-craziest-tumblr-fandoms-a08n< 

References:
Adalin, J, Bernardin, M, Buchanan, K, Chianca, P, Dobbins, A, Fox, J D, Lyons, M, Martin, D, Ruediger, R & Vineyard, J 2012, ‘The 25 Most Devoted Fan Bases’, Vulture, 15 October, Accessed 1 Sept 2013, >http://www.vulture.com/2012/10/25-most-devoted-fans.html# <

Alwaysadrienne 2013, ‘The 20 Craziest Fandoms on Tumblr’, Buzzfeed, June 14, Accessed 1 Sept 2013, >http://www.buzzfeed.com/alwaysadrienne/the-20-craziest-tumblr-fandoms-a08n<

Etling, B, Kelly, J, Faris, R and Palfrey, J 2009, ‘Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere: Politics, Culture and Dissent’, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University, accessed 1 September 2013, [available: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/sites/cyber.law.harvard.edu/files/Mapping_the_Arabic_Blogosphere_0.pdf ]

Lim, M 2012 ‘Life is Local in the Imagined Global Community: Islam and Politics in the Indonesian Blogosphere’, Journal of Media and Religion, Vol. 11, pp 127-140

Nash, N 2008, ‘International Facebook “Friends”: Toward McLuhan’s Global Village,’ The McMaster Journal of Communication: Vol. 5, No. 7 >http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/mjc/vol5/iss1/7<

Wei, C 2004, "Formation of norms in a blog community" Into the blogosphere, University of Minnesota, accessed 1 Sept 2013 >http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/formation_of_norms.html<

Woolly Mammoth 1012, ‘Fandemonium: Super Fans and Building Communities’, Woolly Mammoth Blog, May 18, Accessed 1 Sept 2013, >http://woollymammothblog.com/2012/05/18/fandemonium-super-fans-and-building-communities/<