Fandom, Participatory Culture and Web 2.0 — A Syllabus

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Fandom, Participatory Culture and Web 2.0 — A Syllabus

As regular readers of this blog know, the syllabus for my PHD seminar on fandom studies has evolved a lot through the years. The changes I have made this round mostly center on integrating a transcultural fandom perspective across the whole, with a particular emphasis on East Asian fandoms. I have lots to learn here, but there's a broad range of expertise amongst the students enrolled in the class and so I look forward to creating a context in the classroom where we can all learn from each other -- one of many reasons I am leaning heavily on the dialogic writing process for the assignments.

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The Revolution is Female: How Luiza Trajano Has Been Transforming the World with Disruptive Technology, Civic Engagement and Community Logic — An Interview with Renata Frade

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The Revolution is Female: How Luiza Trajano Has Been Transforming the World with Disruptive Technology, Civic Engagement and Community Logic — An Interview with Renata Frade

Renata Frade interviews entrepreneur and activist Luiza Trajano about her many projects with Magazine Luiza and Mulheres do Brasil and what inspires her work. As Luiza Trajano points out, "The digital is a culture. It is not software or an application; it is a way of life."

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Catherine D´Ignazio and Lauren Klein Interviewed by Renata Frade: The Future of Tech Feminism in the Present with Artificial Intelligence and Storytelling

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Catherine D´Ignazio and Lauren Klein Interviewed by Renata Frade: The Future of Tech Feminism in the Present with Artificial Intelligence and Storytelling

Renata Frade interviews the authors of Data Feminism, Catherine D´Ignazio and Lauren Klein, to see what impact the book has had in academia and society both. Feminist approaches to data and technology are more necessary than ever in a society where artificial intelligence threatens another round of making the same mistakes.

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What Makes Media Work Special is Also What Can Make People Sick

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What Makes Media Work Special is Also What Can Make People Sick

The majority of workers in the media report experiencing mental health problems, struggling with feelings of fatigue, isolation and depression related to the job, and experiencing irregular and inadequate sleep. They subsequently tend to engage in a variety of unhealthy lifestyle practices such as lack of regular physical activity, poor nutrition and overeating, and smoking and alcohol abuse. Despite all of this, most of the same industry studies and reports that document these issues note that professionals still claim to be satisfied on the job.  It is exactly this tension between vision and reality that goes to the heart of any debate and assessment of mental health and wellbeing in media work.

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On Parasocial Relationships with Professional Athletes

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On Parasocial Relationships with Professional Athletes

My family have always been fans of the Philadelphia Eagles. To most Philadelphians, being an Eagles fan means more than just supporting our favorite football team: it’s a lifestyle. So when my sister brought home an Odell Beckham, Jr. jersey several years ago, I was mortified. It wasn’t until years later that I realized she had recognized something crucial about the changing landscape of American sports fandom: people invest a lot more into individual players today than they have in the past.

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From Brazil to L.A. : Transmedia and Audiovisual Creators Raphael Draccon and Carolina Munhoz (Part Two)

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From Brazil to L.A. : Transmedia and Audiovisual Creators Raphael Draccon and Carolina Munhoz (Part Two)

Raphael Draccon and Carolina Munhoz bring together unusual and solid characteristics as content creators, capable of reading a world and translating it to increasingly sophisticated and broad audiences in a universal aesthetic and language without losing their creative DNA. There are many interesting topics to be covered and therefore this interview will be divided into two parts. We will address biographical aspects to understand how the trajectories of the authors are inspiring for young talent, aspects related to content creation, editorial and audiovisual business, interaction with technology and platforms, relationship with fandom and influence in the conception and development of projects, the relationship between creators and large entertainment companies, and future projects will also be covered.

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From Brazil to L.A. : Transmedia and Audiovisual Creators Raphael Draccon and Carolina Munhoz (Part One)

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From Brazil to L.A. : Transmedia and Audiovisual Creators Raphael Draccon and Carolina Munhoz (Part One)

Raphael Draccon and Carolina Munhoz bring together unusual and solid characteristics as content creators, capable of reading a world and translating it to increasingly sophisticated and broad audiences in a universal aesthetic and language without losing their creative DNA. There are many interesting topics to be covered and therefore this interview will be divided into two parts. We will address biographical aspects to understand how the trajectories of the authors are inspiring for young talent, aspects related to content creation, editorial and audiovisual business, interaction with technology and platforms, relationship with fandom and influence in the conception and development of projects, the relationship between creators and large entertainment companies, and future projects will also be covered.

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The Sound of Protest: Bollywood’s Jimmy Jimmy and COVID unrest in China

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The Sound of Protest: Bollywood’s Jimmy Jimmy and COVID unrest in China

While factory workers in China voiced their protest of Covid 19 lockdowns on the street and online, another subtler wave of online protest emerged as humor through the sound of Bollywood. The Chinese Tik Tok Duoyin abounded with videos of Chinese netizens (Internet citizens)  singing Jimmy, Jimmy a popular Bollywood song from the 1980s. Jimmy Jimmy, however, is not just any Bollywood song; it was the youth anthem for many soviets and east Europeans in the eighties. This post focuses on three aspects of this event. First, what qualities make a song a protest song? Second, how do we account for the transcultural, trans-linguistic flow of the song, and what does this exchange reveal about the cultural dissemination and absorption of Bollywood in China?

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A Bowl of Cherries: Footage of a Forgotten Happening

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A Bowl of Cherries: Footage of a Forgotten Happening

The satirical featurette A Bowl of Cherries (1961, dir. William Kronick) tells the story of a starry-eyed cowboy, named Sherman Williams, who moves to Greenwich Village with hopes of becoming America’s next great painter. It features prominent cameos by Jim Dine, Robert Whitman, and Lucas Samaras  — three major pioneers of the downtown "Happening” scene. These artists introduce our protagonist to the prevailing style of “action painting,” made famous by Jackson Pollock and other Abstract Expressionists, forever altering his worldview. By the time A Bowl of Cherries hit theaters, action painting was on the verge of decline — making it a suitable subject of parody for artworld insiders witnessing these changes in real time.

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We Witnessed One of the Best FIFA World Cups Ever Played on the Graves of Thousands of Migrant Workers… What Now?

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We Witnessed One of the Best FIFA World Cups Ever Played on the Graves of Thousands of Migrant Workers… What Now?

On December 18, 2022, approximately one out of every five human beings on Earth watched Lionel Messi lift the World Cup for Argentina in Qatar. What seemed like the pinnacle of everything sports, culture, politics, entertainment, and humanity was reached when Gonzalo Montiel neatly tucked in that 4th Argentina penalty to the right of French captain and goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris. What still replays in my mind, as well for millions of others, is iconic Argentinian American sports commentator, Andres Cantor, calling the game live in Spanish for Telemundo as that final penalty went in, “GOOOOOOLLLLLLLL! ARGENTINA CAMPEÓN DEL MUNDO! ARGENTINA CAMPEÓN DEL MUNDO!” as he smiled and cried on live air.

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How Omegaverse Came to Dominate Fanfiction, and Why That Might Not Be Such a Bad Thing

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How Omegaverse Came to Dominate Fanfiction, and Why That Might Not Be Such a Bad Thing

Omegaverse may not be hitting the mainstream any time soon, but awareness of the trope is no longer limited to the few—or not so few—actively engaging in fanfiction communities. To quote one of my students, “it just recreates heteronormativity and misogyny, but more and worse.” This just begs the question: what makes omegaverse so popular, and should we be worried about it? In omegaverse, writers take us right to the worst parts of cis-hetero-patriarchy; they reject the world we live in in order to explore the complications of sex, gender, and sexuality more deeply. Then, like many dystopian science fiction writers do, they ask what if?

Header image attribution https://foto.wuestenigel.com/women-writing-on-paper/

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Elder Orphans: A Hard Knock Life?

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Elder Orphans: A Hard Knock Life?

We can learn from Jay-Z's point of view about the resilience and strength of the underdog when it comes to growing old on one’s own and on what it means to be an “elder orphan” in America. Being a solo ager is not rare and is even becoming the norm, especially for women. It’s not a stretch to think that older adults are more freaked out than usual about the possibility of being placed in a nursing home, given what we’ve lived through over the last three years - over 200,000 staff and residents in nursing facilities in the U.S. died, more than 23 times the death rate for people over 65 not in a nursing home. What's an elder orphan to make of that?

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A Glimpse into the Brain-Bending Way We Appraise Health Information

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A Glimpse into the Brain-Bending Way We Appraise Health Information

While the problem of mis/disinformation is not new, the advent of social media has magnified the reach and impact of unverified and harmful health information. What underlying skills, competencies and biases allow some people to sail past junk science and others to capsize? There is a relationship between the intersection of media and health literacies – referred to here as Media Health Literacy – and health beliefs/outcomes. But an individual’s appraisal of health information appears to be more susceptible to confirmation bias - only trusting information that confirms pre-existing beliefs - than more disembodied behavioral decision-making processes.

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Current Discourses on Online Child Safety: Exacerbating Stranger Danger or Redefining Genuine Responsibility?

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Current Discourses on Online Child Safety: Exacerbating Stranger Danger or Redefining Genuine Responsibility?

With younger users becoming one of the fastest growing demographics in platforms that brand themselves “Metaverses,” such as Roblox or VRChat, many companies are asking themselves how to ensure a safe environment for minors. But are platforms positive that their definitions of safety and harm accurately represent what users think? Whom do these definitions really serve, especially when we take into consideration younger users’ rights to expression, play, or privacy? Can platforms instead place trust in minors to take charge in certain safety decisions that affect them?

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The Fight Between Liberal Arts and STEM Majors

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The Fight Between Liberal Arts and STEM Majors

The conflict between liberal arts and STEM majors has been debated in China for the past few decades. The debate reflects a STEM-first education culture in China, which developed because the contemporary education system was modeled after the Soviet Union and focused on the development of industrialization. This situation is quite different from the central role that liberal arts studies played in China’s historical development. The argument that this article is trying to state is not that the STEM major is not worthy of being valued but that both majors should be given similar weight.

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Extending the Body: Exploring Protest Posters as Feminist Media in South Africa’s Am I Next? Movement

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Extending the Body: Exploring Protest Posters as Feminist Media in South Africa’s Am I Next? Movement

When thinking about South Africa’s Am I Next? movement, I realized that the protest poster is a tool that feminists use to turn their own bodies into feminist media. Initially a hashtag, the Am I Next? movement began as a digital tool to raise awareness and an online space for feminist expression. With this in mind, I wonder: How do viral hashtags transform when attached to the human body? Does attaching text to the Black female body in protest make Black female pain easier to read? And if so, how does this complicate our understanding of what it means to write and read with the body?

(Content Warning: This article contains references to gender violence)

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Self-Dissection Through My Obsession with LEGO

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Self-Dissection Through My Obsession with LEGO

At first, my love for LEGO was an intuition. Later I started to think about it with rationality. I suspect one of the basic logics behind my love for LEGO is my obsession with miniature versions of common items. Lately, I’ve found that Johan Huizinga’s concept of “free play” could partially explain my obsession with LEGO and miniatures.

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Towards More Just Game Worlds: Conversations with Creative Game Designers

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Towards More Just Game Worlds: Conversations with Creative Game Designers

This project is a part of the NSF-funded National AI Institute for Student-AI Teaming (DRL-2019805) housed at University of Colorado Boulder. Indeed, people with the backgrounds of the six game designers we interviewed are underrepresented and systematically marginalized in the commercial game industry. The goal for interviewing the six game designers during our co-design process of curriculum was to introduce young learners to transformative ways for game design and develop their understanding of game ecology. 

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What Makes Chernobyl Beautiful from a Screenwriting Perspective?

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What Makes Chernobyl Beautiful from a Screenwriting Perspective?

Chernobyl achieved considerable critical and public acclaim. A result that couldn’t be taken for granted when the project started. The not so fashionable subject matter, its tragic nuances, the risk of addressing historical figures, events, and a society – the Soviet Union of the Eighties – that could appear unappealing, if not even too far from western contemporary culture and tastes. Greenlighting the production meant going against all odds. It ended up being a very good bet, though. What are the reasons for this surprising success?

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