Unfortunately, I can’t make it to every great conference held at MIT by the cutting-edge Comparative Media Studies program (run by the godfather of fan studies, Henry Jenkins, “Sir Convergence Culture”). Hopefully, we’ll be presenting at Media in Transition 6 because participating in Media in Transition 5 was so great!
I highly recommend the following discussion of fan labor at the Future of Entertainment 2 (link to only Fan Labor portion here/ link to entire conference here / liveblogging quasi-transcript here)
Catherine Tosenberger (dissertation on Harry Potter fanfic!) gives a excellent brief history of fandom and the struggles about controlling fanworks starting at about minute 13. This is a great opportunity to be introduced the overall economic issues involved in fandom. And the next speaker talks about how what really motivates fans is about being part of the fandom.
We are going to be writing/presenting more about the relationship between economics and fandom in the future, so it’s great to know that others are also concerned about this area.
Thanks to 43(B)log for the reminder.
[…] program, they have put on another great Futures of Entertainment 3 conference (discussion of Futures of Entertainment 2). And upcoming this year is Media in Transition 6, which we are planning to […]