Practicum Project Post #1: Ashley Merten

I started my Practicum project on Monday of this week, and it has been very interesting so far. For my project, I am participating in "media fandom." Based on my experiences so far, I think the project should be pretty interesting...

I decided to join a Glee forum (because I already watch the show, and I know fans go absolutely crazy over it). The website for the forum I participate in is: gleeforum.com. I've never participated in any form of media fandom before, so it is a new experience for me. The forum is general forum about all things Glee: opinions on the characters, new episodes, and the actors of the show. When I joined the group, I created the username "GleekFreak0430" (I know, super corny, but I wanted to fit in...). I began posting on the forum following the Glee episode that aired on Sunday, February 6. So far, I've just been doing some basic posting (responding to other people's topics). I also found it interesting that people on the forum often post polls for other members to participate in. They are also interested in hearing about what other Glee fans think. This demonstrates that there is a sense of community in the forum.

So far, my participation in the forum has been pretty surface level, but as the semester continues, I plan to post discussion topics to see how many of the members respond to them. As I said, I've never participated in a form of media fandom before, so it's a little bit weird for me. Hopefully as the semester continues, I will become more familiar with the forum and my participation will increase...