My Social Bookmarking Soul-tag

Last night I perused both Diigo and Delicious to try to find my Social Bookmarking Soulmate. The first tags I tried, “online participatory culture,” and “participatory culture,” turned up zilch, and just “fandom” presented me with a lot of actual fan-created content that really isn’t of any use for me, neither for this blog nor for all my intents and purposes as a fan.

Only when I finally typed “fandom academia” into the Delicious ‘search tags’ box was I able to come up with some useful links. Notice however it actually retrieved links which users had saved with the separate tags of “fandom” and “academia,” rather than “fandom academia,” which explains why some of the links sometimes lean one way or the other in terms of relevance to my search. However, it came up with 118 entries, and luckily for me the articles that were of most use to me seemed to show up on the first few pages on results.

Actually, a  surprising amount of the links that came up had “Henry Jenkins” as a tag, and a pretty good amount didn’t even link to his actual blog (although the ones that did were super interesting), but to blogs of people simply discussing the topic of participatory culture and new media in relation to fandom, which is super helpful.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find anybody with similar enough interests and relevant links whom I could adequately and deservingly label as my Social Bookmarking Soulmate. However, I looked at their saved links and if they had more than five bookmarks which were related to my blog topic and interests, I followed them on Delicious.

A lot of the users who had saved the pages that were of interest me were online fans, and many of their links were to actual fan-works (fan wikis, episode guides, discussions, etc.), which doesn’t really do anything for me. But besides that, many had links to articles commenting on some particular phenomenon in fandom, studying a particular fandom through a pseudo-academic lens (here is a site entirely related to academic work on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom), or maybe introducing fandom subculture to the mainstream audience.

But for some of the users which had bookmarked these pages, when looking at their other saved pages, you wouldn’t immediately assume they were online fans. Many had bookmarked articles about Web 2.0, new media developments, a LOT of articles about blogging (how to improve readership, start making money off their blogs, and just the blog literary genre in general), links to articles about and works by communication theorists such as Stuart Hall, articles on how to effectively use social media (in business, professional uses, personal uses), social media digital marketing, discussions around online anonymity and social relationships ("Are real names required for socializing?"), and a surprising number or articles about new social media that somehow involved gender and feminism (“Is Google+ sexist?”).

After several hours of virulent clicking and opening new tabs everywhere, the tag “fandom academia” seems to me to be associated with a large mix of users: many of them bloggers, some developers and marketers, some creative writers, and many fans simply interested in the objective take on fandom and what the mainstream media has to say about fans and their activities.

Although it was really frustrating at the time, I’m pleased at what I found as a result of engaging in social bookmarking. I’ve seen the Delicious site being linked to in my fandoms since maybe 2010, and my best friend from home—who’s always two steps ahead of me in terms of  everything participatory culture-, social media-, and fandom-related— was always telling me to get an account. And I think I even did sign up for a Delicious account at one point, but I just didn’t get when or how to use it. But I’m really glad I finally did this, because I can definitely see how it’s so much more efficient than just bookmarking things on my regular browser.

Plus, I’m way too lazy to make folders and organize all my bookmarks as I bookmark them.

My most recent fandom leanings

I thought it would be appropriate to tell my readers about some of the more recent fandoms I was involved in. Maybe that will tell you something about me, maybe not.

Really, my only current fandom is centered around a four-member Korean pop and hip hop group. They're called 2NE1 (pronounced 'twenty-one,' or 'to anyone') and I think they are the most fierce and swag-ass girl group to break onto the international music scene since Destiny's Child in the '90s. Something I think we don't have enough of is strong, empowered female artists in mainstream pop music. I mean, who do we have right now? Rihanna, who was physically abused by her sexist boyfriend (who, by the way, is younger than her) and then didn't even stand up for herself and press charges or speak out against domestic violence, and... Katy Perry, who just got a divorce and was on stage at an inaugural NFL awards ceremony practically begging the Denver Broncos quarterback, Tim Tebow, to ask her out. I mean, ladies. Get it together.

And yes, this is the quasi-feminist in me speaking and it may sound harsh, but that's why we need more artists like 2NE1 around.

Not only are they fierce and fly, they spread positive messages encouraging independence and female empowerment that borders on conceit--but what rappers aren't a little (or a lot) conceited? You have to know how to sell yourself to make it in the entertainment industry. Overall, they have charisma, uniqueness, nerve, talent, and--at least I think--the potential to make it big not just in Asia, but even in the U.S. Indeed, this does have to do with the fact that their English is good enough that they can sing and rap English lyrics without sounding too fobby--like many of the other East Asian artists who have tried to break into the American music market.

And get this--all this hailing from South Korea, a society that remains very patriarchal to this day. They like their girls calm and obedient. With small, nimble fingers. At least, that was the argument made by huge multinational corporations to justify opening sweat shops in South Korea in the '60s.

But anyway, something that's new for me with this particular fandom is that I only really engage with it on twitter. As I've said before, I used to do most of my fangirling on Livejournal. But I just follow 2NE1-related twitter accounts now. It's easy, it's convenient, in general doesn't require much effort on my part. Literally all I have to do is scroll. But also, I think that's because I'm busier now, what with schoolwork and a job and um, partying, to really keep up with or maintain anything more than that. I reblog anything 2NE1 related on my tumblr, but I haven't even really used tumblr since last summer before going abroad.  I've told anybody who would listen how awesome they are, and showed anyone with the patience YouTube videos of them performing. Alas, real life meets secret online life at last.

And before this, my most recent fandom was the HBO series Oz, about prison life. Really captivating storylines. Fantastic, evil characters. Lotta violence. Lot of blood and pain and revenge. Street justice. That kind of thing! My involvement in Oz fandom basically consisted of talking online with people about it. Actually, Oz fans are surprisingly hard to find, just because of how old the show is (started in '97 and ran until 2003, I believe). But that's the amazing thing about the Internet. It may take a while, but you'll always be able to find people who are interested in the same thing as you.

I also half-committed to getting into HBO's Band of Brothers over winter break, but I had to come back to school before I got any further than the third or fourth episode.

So! What does any of this tell you about me? Hmm… well, that I'm judgmental and overly critical of other women, I like violence, and I'm no good with commitment.

...Oy.

Trifecta

Hello, World Repost

I’ve known since I was young that I go through phases with my interests. When I was fifteen I got really into Latin American culture: the food, the music, the art, the fashions, the histories and narratives. I watched movies with Latin themes, listened to Latin artists, and so on, until I rode out the obsession and moved onto my next. The following year it was Indian and Middle Eastern culture, African the next, and ever since going to Taiwan for the first time in 2009, it’s been East Asian.

That’s where I got the idea to blog about East Asian culture and its transmission to the rest of the world. I tried to link the topic with my experience as an International Relations major, in order to make my blog somewhat academically-worthy. But then Coach suggested I blog about fandom, since I mentioned in my diagnostic that I used to have a Livejournal and was marginally involved in fandom in high school.

That is a lie. I was extremely involved in fandom in high school. On the biography of my fandom Livejournal, I stated that ‘I use this journal when I’m bored with my life.’ And it was true; I would go through periods of being heavily involved in fandom, then lurk, or disappear completely, depending on how demanding rL (netspeak for ‘real life’) was at the time.

Over the years, I did it all: fan sites, fan art, fan comics, fan videos, fan forums—you name it. And it was super, seriously embarrassing. I was hyper-aware of that fact. It was my huge, terrible secret. At school I led a normal teen life: I worked hard enough to maintain grades that would get me into a good college, while on the weekends still partying and prematurely boozing and gsustaining the typical lifestyle of a socially adept, privileged adolescent—a healthily shallow lifestyle that I did not want to compromise by revealing that I went on the internet at night and talked to strangers about nerdy things like… the latest Batman movie and how they shouldn’t have casted that useless Katy Holmes. Weekly discussions and interpretations of each Law & Order episode as it came out. Cartoons aimed at children but that I still enjoyed. Any film starring Christian Bale or Edward Norton. Reviews of the Backstreet Boys’ first album-release after Kevin left. Sailor-freaking-Moon. I mean, how gauche.

Yet as high school came to a close, I realized that I had chosen fandom over many of the shallow relationships I had made over the four years. I even posted about how I wished I could have developed certain friendships more, but ultimately didn’t care, because not doing so had given me more time to geek out. For me, fandom was always changing, always dynamic—an endless community that could keep up with my ever-changing interests. I could always revert back to fandom when I was bored with my current social playground. Like many, I used fandom for escapist purposes, and my journal was an outlet where I didn’t have to keep up appearances. (Well, I still had to remain remarkable enough for my online ‘friends’ to comment on my entries, but at least I was talking about things that interested me, and not just who did what where and who was getting sent to Wilderness Camp this year.)

My need for fandom decreased after I got to college, where I could truly chose the activities I wanted to participate in and the people I wanted to hang out with—rather than the small group I was lumped together with in high school. Also as participatory media becomes an increasingly important part of our culture and society, people naturally become unwittingly integrated in fandom. Considering my personal relationship with online participatory culture, my Communication major, and proximity to new media culture expert, Prof. Henry Jenkins, and cyber culture specialist, Prof. Douglas Thomas, I choose for the topic of this blog Fandom and Participatory Media Culture.

Hopefully my present distance from fandom will encourage somewhat objective, intelligent discussion that isn’t littered with too many irrelevant internet culture references and tropes.


Profile Repost

 "Becoming Truebie" is a blog studying participatory culture, which uses as its case study the HBO series, True Blood. The author is Erin, a student "studying transmedia storytelling, digital marketing, fandom in participatory culture, and all things True Blood. Under the guise of research, I am becoming a True Blood super fangirl” (Erin).

Clearly this blogger has experience in fandom, and seems to be pretty well-versed in the academia surrounding online participatory culture. She also mentions “transmedia storytelling,” and I had absolutely no idea what that was (I know, I’m such a bad COMM student), but helpfully, one of Erin’s introductory posts lets ya’ read all about it. She provides an overview in which she cites articles by Henry Jenkins and Brooke Thompson. Erin also has another introductory post which explains again in academic terms what online participatory culture is, but I’ll save my commentary on that one as I plan on making such a post myself in the future.

Besides, her later posts are meatier and more interesting—and I imagine it would be even more so if I was a consumer of True Blood. One more recent post entitled “Representations of Women in True Blood: Lorena Krasiki,” talks about exactly that:

“The context in which Lorena made Bill into a vampire reveals a mixture of female stereotypes; ... She has been taught that her value is in her appearance, so her self-esteem depends on validation from men. As a result, she prefers to use her power as a beautiful, manipulative woman than her power as a vampire. ... Lorena is simultaneously portrayed as physically strong but psychologically weak ... Again, Lorena's poor self-esteem is apparent as she determines her self-worth by her physical appeal to men ... Lorena uses her power to fill her need for male companionship, and it is her irrational dependence on Bill that prevents her from forming an independent identity required for her power as a vampire to be respected.” (Erin).

Erin basically uses the post to organize and articulate her knowledge and passion for the narratives of True Blood into an arguably academic post on representations of women in pop culture. The format of this post is similar to most of the entries on this blog. Here, she is providing commentary on the actual official True Blood productions, but it’s a post that only a serious fan would take time and effort to write.

I actually wonder if the academic tone she takes in her blog entries would encourage more readership than would a less articulate, less coherent, personal fan blog about True Blood—say, one that simply gives their opinion on the storyline, adaptation, acting... I mean, I don’t know how to measure the traffic either way, but it looks like Erin doesn’t have a lot of comments on her posts. She used to post pretty frequently, but she hasn’t since the end of last spring. However, she is still active on her ‘Truebie’ twitter account, her last update being two weeks ago, and she has... 651 followers, damn. So clearly she has some kind of active readership.

Anyway, I find Erin and her blog “Becoming Truebie,” to be extremely relevant to mine: first, because like me, her intention is to study and write about fandom through a somewhat academic lens, and second, because despite the clinical framework she uses to talk about the True Blood fandom, she is clearly a hardcore fan herself, and this sort of online publication by fans (and consequently her 651-person Twitter audience) is exactly what drives online fan communities. Her posts linking to academics focusing on the world of online participatory culture will certainly be helpful to me, and her case study of the True Blood fandom might serve as an example and reference for me if I ever decide to do something similar.


Voice Repost

One blog I found is "The Geek Girl," authored by Selina Wilken. She has a passion for sci-fi and fantasy entertainment: books, TV shows, videogames, conventions. While her blog is used for fan purposes—to vent or squeal about whatever develops in her fandoms—she also writes objectively about the state and perceptions of fandom, as well as issues pertaining in particular to female participants of online fandom. Hence the title of her blog, which draws attention to her gender, perhaps in defiance to the common perception that geeks are socially inept, WoW-obsessed boys who live in their parents’ basements, and not girls—or that girls, who should be at the mall buying make-up to improve themselves, are simply not supposed be geeks.

(This is something I’ve heard before—that girls are supposed to be rare in sci-fi fandoms. Now I don’t know if that was an older trend, but in my experience, most of the fan activity I’ve come across has been perpetrated overwhelmingly by girls.)

Regardless, this is the tone she takes to her blog: one of self-deprecation, resignation to her fate as a ‘geek girl,’ but still one who is proud to be what she is (almost even snobbish—in that way that fans for some reason can get), and eager to share with others who may be of the same condition as she is.

In her introductory post, “Are You Normal?” she answers that question in the opening sentences of her first paragraph:

“In a word? No. And thank god for that, right? Because I bet that’s why you’re here – desperately combing through search engines looking for someone, anyone on the interweb who feels like you do: isolated, confused, yet strangely proud of your geekdom.”

Here’s the thing about almost all fans participating in online fandom, and she sums it up accurately: they are for the most part aware that their hobbies are not considered ‘normal,’ and are somewhat ashamed of this fact, yet at the same time they think that makes them in a way better than those who aren’t—and are somehow missing out on the joke, the fun.

“In a word? No,” sounds resigned: neither you, nor her, will ever be normal. But the subsequent, “And thank god for that, right?” demonstrates her cheekiness, and sets her blog up right off the bat as one which will abound no doubt in quick, self-deprecating humor.

In a more recent, similarly-related post, titled “I laugh at people who laugh at fandom,” Selina talks about being a fan, the constant feeling of having to hide her fan identity, and how absurd that is.

“I am in particular referring to fans of “geeky things” (anything entertainment), because for some reason our society is way more accepting of sports fans (not people who play sport, people who dress up in crazy costumes and shout at the players. I never get it when these people judge us for our obsessions). Whatever your passion is, if it in any way goes beyond what I’ll classify as mild enjoyment, to many people whose interests are considered normal, you are fair game for heckling, eye-rolling and generic “get a life”-themed comments.”

Her reference to sports fans is humorous because she employs such a matter-of-fact tone, and puts emphasis in just the right places so that you can almost see her rolling her eyes at what society considers normal. Her phrasing and diction also show her as someone who is perceptive and sarcastic—not in a mean way, but in a down-to-earth, tell-it-like-it-is kind of way.

“Whatever your passion is, if it in any way goes beyond what I’ll classify as mild enjoyment, …”

In this sentence she’s picking fun not only at herself and other geeks, but the emphasis on “mild enjoyment” is also cleverly, humorously condescending to those who she considers ‘normal.’ In a way, she’s poking fun at the fact that they cannot attain any deeper connection to the material than mild enjoyment, mild enough to kill time whist waiting for other, regular things to preoccupy themselves with.

The subject of her blog is one that invites poking fun. Spending time on something that is in no way considered productive (other than sports fandom, apparently) invites ridicule. Selina takes that quality to her blog, and as a result she presents herself as witty and smart, but as someone who doesn’t take herself too seriously. Which a good thing; after all, the people who take themselves too seriously are the ones who are ridiculed the most.

Voice Post

One blog I found is "The Geek Girl," authored by Selina Wilken. She has a passion for sci-fi and fantasy entertainment: books, TV shows, videogames, conventions. While her blog is used for fan purposes—to vent or squeal about whatever develops in her fandoms—she also writes objectively about the state and perceptions of fandom, and issues pertaining in particular to female participants of online fandom. Hence the title of her blog, which draws attention to her gender, perhaps in defiance to the common perception that geeks are socially inept, WoW-obsessed boys who live in their parents’ basements, and not girls—or that girls, who should be at the mall buying make-up to improve themselves, are simply not supposed be geeks.

(This is something I’ve heard before—that girls are supposed to be rare in sci-fi fandoms. Now I don’t know if that was an older trend, but in my experience, most of the fan activity I’ve come across has been perpetrated overwhelmingly by girls.)

Regardless, this is the tone she takes to her blog: one of self-deprecation, resignation to her fate as a ‘geek girl,’ but still one who is proud to be what she is (almost even snobbish—in that way that fans for some reason can get to be), and eager to share with others who may be of the same condition as she is.

In her introductory post, “Are You Normal?” she answers that question in the opening sentences of her first paragraph: 

“In a word? No. And thank god for that, right? Because I bet that’s why you’re here – desperately combing through search engines looking for someone, anyone on the interweb who feels like you do: isolated, confused, yet strangely proud of your geekdom.”

Here’s the thing about almost all fans participating in online fandom, and she sums it up accurately: they are for the most part aware that their hobbies are not considered ‘normal,’ and are somewhat ashamed of this fact, yet at the same time they think that makes them in a way better than those who aren’t—and are somehow missing out on the joke, the fun.

“In a word? No,” sounds resigned: neither you, nor her, will ever be normal. But the subsequent, “And thank god for that, right?” demonstrates her cheekiness, and sets her blog up right off the bat as one which will abound no doubt in quick, self-deprecating humor.

In a more recent, similarly-related post, titled “I laugh at people who laugh at fandom,” Selina talks about being a fan, the constant feeling of having to hide her fan identity, and how absurd that is.

“I am in particular referring to fans of “geeky things” (anything entertainment), because for some reason our society is way more accepting of sports fans (not people who play sport, people who dress up in crazy costumes and shout at the players. I never get it when these people judge us for our obsessions). Whatever your passion is, if it in any way goes beyond what I’ll classify as mild enjoyment, to many people whose interests are considered normal, you are fair game for heckling, eye-rolling and generic “get a life”-themed comments.”

Her reference to sports fans is humorous because she employs such a matter-of-fact tone, and puts emphasis in just the right places so that you can almost see her rolling her eyes at what society accepts and considers normal. Her phrasing and diction also show her as someone who is perceptive and sarcastic—not in a mean way, but in a down-to-earth, tell-it-like-it-is kind of way.

“Whatever your passion is, if it in any way goes beyond what I’ll classify as mild enjoyment, …”

In this sentence she’s picking fun not only at herself and other geeks, but the emphasis on “mild enjoyment” is also cleverly, humorously condescending to those who she considers ‘normal.’ In a way, she’s poking fun at the fact that they cannot attain any deeper connection to the material than mild enjoyment, mild enough to kill time whist waiting for other, regular things to preoccupy themselves with.

The subject of her blog is one that invites poking fun. Spending time on something that is in no way considered productive (other than sports fandom, apparently) invites ridicule. And Selina takes that quality to her blog, and as a result she presents herself as witty and smart, but as someone who doesn’t take herself too seriously. Which a good thing, because above all, the people who take themselves too seriously are the ones who are ostracized and ridiculed the most.