Fanac
Synonyms: | fan activity, Fan labor |
See also: | fannish community, fanwork, fandom, fan, File Sharing |
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Fanac, a term coined by Robert Bloch in 1957, is short for "fan activity", and includes any fannish thing that fans do. The term is better known in science fiction fandom than in media fandom, where fanwork has started to become more common. However, the two words are not synonyms; although fanworks are a type of fanac, a lot of people have years of fanac under their belts without ever producing a single fanwork.
For instance, fans may go to (or run, or volunteer at) conventions, take part in fannish discussions, do cosplay, beta-read fanfiction or beta-watch vids, send feedback, moderate fannish mailing lists or journal communities, transcribe episodes, take screencaps, collate canonical information, write episode reviews, join fan clubs, run campaigns to keep a show on the air, dupe tapes/dvds of episodes, provide torrents, create fanmixes, watch vids, rec vids, read fanfic, rec fanfic, buy zines, contribute to a fannish wiki, etc.
Fan labor is a non-fannish term with a similar meaning to fanac. See the Wikipedia discussion.