‘Art Happens not in Isolation, But in Community’: The Collective Literacies of Media Fandom

Henry Jenkins

doi:10.5334/csci.125

Abstract

AbstractWhen the Archive of Our Own (AO3) received a prestigious Hugo Award from the World Science Fiction Convention in Dublin the summer of 2019, this moment represented a recognition by the literary science fiction community of an alternative model of authorship – one which operates outside the publishing world or academia, one where authorship is collective rather than individual, and one where artworks are appropriative and transformative rather than “original.” Using this occasion as my starting point, I will discuss here the ways that the literacies associated with fandom may be understood as illustrative of the new forms of expression that have taken shape in a networked era.

Highlights

All fanwork, from fanfic to vids to fanart to podfic, centers the idea that art happens not in isolation, but in community....all of our hard work and contributions would mean nothing without the work of the fan creators who share their work freely with other fans, and the fans who read their stories and view their art and comment and share bookmarks and give kudos to encourage them and nourish the community in their turn. – Naomi Novik on behalf of the Archive of Our Own at the Hugo Awards, Aug. 18 2019
When the Archive of Our Own (AO3) received a prestigious Hugo Award from the World Science Fiction Convention in Dublin in the Summer of 2019, this moment represented a recognition by the literary science fiction community of an alternative model of authorship – one which operates outside the publishing world or academia, one where authorship is collective rather than individual, and one where artworks are appropriative and transformative rather than “original.” Using this occasion as my starting point, I will discuss here the ways that the literacies associated with fandom may be understood as illustrative of the new forms of expression that have taken shape in a networked era
You ask, is the Archive of Our Own? Launched in 2009, AO3 is an online platform for fan works – creative work based on existing media including novels, films, television series, comics, and video games (Romano, 2019)

Summary

Introduction

From fanfic to vids to fanart to podfic, centers the idea that art happens not in isolation, but in community....all of our hard work and contributions would mean nothing without the work of the fan creators who share their work freely with other fans, and the fans who read their stories and view their art and comment and share bookmarks and give kudos to encourage them and nourish the community in their turn. – Naomi Novik on behalf of the Archive of Our Own at the Hugo Awards, Aug. 18 2019.

Results

Conclusion