Sites of participation: Wiki fandom and the case of Lostpedia

This essay explores the award-winning fan site Lostpedia to examine how the wiki platform enables fan engagement, structures participation, and distinguishes between various forms of content, including canon, fanon, and parody. I write as a participant-observer, with extensive experience as a Lostpe...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jason Mittell
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Organization for Transformative Works 2009-11-01
Series:Transformative Works and Cultures
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/118/117
Description
Summary:This essay explores the award-winning fan site Lostpedia to examine how the wiki platform enables fan engagement, structures participation, and distinguishes between various forms of content, including canon, fanon, and parody. I write as a participant-observer, with extensive experience as a Lostpedia reader and editor. The article uses the "digital breadcrumbs" of wikis to trace the history of fan creativity, participation, game play, and debates within a shared site of community fan engagement. Using the Lostpedia site as a case study of fan praxis, the article highlights how issues like competing fandoms, copyright, and modes of discourse become manifest via the user-generated content of a fan wiki.
ISSN:1941-2258
1941-2258