fandom then/now: an ongoing and participatory research project.

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Academic Commentary
Title: fandom then/now: an ongoing and participatory research project.
Commentator: Katherine Morrissey
Date(s): 2008 survey, 2014 analysis
Medium: online
Fandom:
External Links: main page, Archived version
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fandom then/now: an ongoing and participatory research project. is an extensive survey done by acafan Katherine Morrissey in 2008.

About

The information reported here is from a survey that originally took place in January of 2008. This work was a part of my Master's thesis, a project investigating the relationship between fan fiction and romance novels. In 2008, I was hoping the survey would tell me more about the different kinds of fan fiction survey participants liked to read. Clearly, one survey distributed online via word-of-mouth can't claim to accurately represent larger trends across all fan networks. It does, however, give us a glimpse at what some fans were reading and enjoying in 2008. It also gives us a snapshot of media fandom just prior to the launching of Archive of Our Own and Dreamwidth, during a moment when much of media fandom was still centered around LiveJournal.

Then: How the Survey Spread:

The 2008 survey ran for two weeks. By the end, over 7,000 people had visited it and about 3,400 chose to participate. Information about the survey was distributed across LiveJournal, InsaneJournal (original user account expired), in the Fanthropology community, and to anyone with a LiveJournal or InsaneJournal account that listed "fan fiction" as a user interest. No personal contacts were used to spread this survey. Instead, my goal was to reach as broad a group as was accessible on these websites. (Of course, just by selecting these websites, certain groups of fan fiction readers may have been contacted more than others.)

Then: What Was in the Survey:

After screening for age, the survey asked some basic questions about the kinds of fan fiction participants liked to read and whether they were interested in stories with romantic elements (in either fan fiction or print). The main portion of the survey was the next piece, where participants were asked to list some of their favorite works of fan fiction. The survey requested that everyone share some favorite story titles, authors (and a link to content, if it was publicly posted online). Finally, the survey closed with some general demographic questions. Since this survey screened out anyone under the age of 18, it's important to remember that these results reflect the tastes of adult readers of fan fiction, rather than speaking to the reading preferences of younger fans.


Content

  • Fan Engagement, Archived version
    • how were/are people participating in fan culture?
    • what were people reading then?
    • what are people reading now?
    • what's changing about engagement today?
    • fan taboos? real-people versus fictional characters
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