Well, I've been doing my Practicum project for just over a week now, and it's been an interesting experience. I've always been kind of a cynic about most types of media fandom because I think it's a waste of time, but the project has been interesting. I find that when I'm on the website, I become emerged in the discussion about "Glee" and it is easy to spend a lot of time on it. Once you start talking about a time of media that you are interested in, it is easy to keep going. This is interesting to me because I never thought that I would become that immersed in a website for a television show. The amount of time people spend on being fans for their favorite television shows is CRAZY! People create artwork and fan videos that must take a lot of time to create. They create art about their favorite characters and the characters they want to get together.
I've also been working on my presentation for the project because I'm presenting today. I created a powerpoint and compared my experiences with media fandom to Watson's study of Phish.net fans.
Here are my discussion questions:
- Do you feel that any of the website you belong to qualify as "communities"?
- Do you feel it is worth your time to participate in these websites that are created solely for the purposes of fandom?
- I am a fairly new member to this forum, so I don't have a large amount of vested interest in the website. This may affect whether one believes a website about a form of media is a community or not. Do you think that those who have a lot of interest in a fan website believe it is a community?
I think it's interesting first to attempt to define just what an online community is. Is it simply a site that you visit often? Or does some sort of interaction need to take place?
ReplyDeleteFor me, my biggest Web sites that I visit are ESPN.com and Facebook--pretty typical. And I think both could make a push for being an online community. Facebook is a community for obvious reasons; millions of people interacting and talking with one another regularly. As for ESPN, it's a bit more interesting, but I still think there is a community there. I pay less than a dollar a month to be able to subscribe to the Insider portion of the site, which allows me to read up on things that regular users cannot. I can chat with other subscribers, so in a way, this community is like a hotel. You have to pay to stay there.
In regards to the other questions, I definitely feel it's worth one's time to participate in fandoms and sites that interest them. However, I really think the Internet is becoming the new television, and it could easily lead to problems in our nation regarding laziness and health. However, people are going to follow the things they want, visit the sites that interest them and be part of online communities regardless. I think that the more you visit a site, the more you're willing to believe it's a community. It would consistently prove that you're a part of something that others are, and for me, it justifies my constant viewing of that particular site.