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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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Organization for Transformative Works
2009-11-01
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Series: | Transformative Works and Cultures |
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Online Access: | http://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/118/117 |
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. |
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ISSN: | 1941-2258 1941-2258 |