Addicted to Passion
Performances of Fan Audiencehood
in Italian Networked Publics
Agnese Vellar
PhD student in Communication Science
Department of Social Sciences. Università degli Studi di Torino. Italy
1

Performances of Fan Audiencehood
in Italian Networked Publics
• Scenario: Fan Cultures in Networked Publics
• Methodology: auto + multi-sited ethography
• Case Study: ::Italian Subs Addicted::
• Conclusion: Community of Practice in the Italian Mediascape

Networked Publics
Mobilized audiences
tion
c o-op
Niche peer cultures:
 P2P Networks
adoption
Networke
d Digital  Telecoons
Media
 Fandom
adaptation
Special Interest Group
Ito, M. (2008) Networked Publics: Introduction. In Kazys Varnelis (ed), Networked Publics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Generations of Fandom
Co-evolution between communication channels and translocal communities
Offline Online Convergence
Mail Internet Networked Digital Media
Fanzine Newsgroup SNS, VSS
(Jenkins 1992) (Baym 2000) (boyd 2008)
(Hills 2002) (Ito 2008)

Performances of Fan Audiencehood
Self presentation and self performance of the audience-as-text
Just-in-time-fandom
 feedback
Hills, M. (2002) Fan Cultures. London: Routledge.

Textual Performers
symbolic
capital
cultural
social
capital
capital
Emergence
of fan
cultures
competition
Hills, M. (2002) Fan Cultures. London: Routledge.

Online Audience Community of Practice
From shared appreciation to shared identity
Performative
Informative Interpretive
Newsgroup
Prolific personality
on
soap opera
diadic frienship lurkers
Baym, N. K. (2000) Tune in, Log on: Soap, fandom, and online community. Tousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

From Community to Collectivism
90s 00s
site-based online community networked collectivism
(newsgroup) (social media and offline site)
Techno-élite Amateur experts
Baym, N. K. (2000) Tune in, Log on: Soap, fandom, and online community. Tousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Baym, N. K. (2007) The new shape of online community: The example of Swedish independent music fandom. In First
Monday, 12 (8).

Digital Youth: genres of participation
Interest-driven Friendship-driven
g
s sin
Me ound
Ar
t
g Ou
in
ut a ng
O H
ek ing
Ge
Ito, M. et al (2008) Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project. The John D.
and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning, November 2008. http://
digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/files/report/digitalyouth-WhitePaper.pdf

Hanging Out
peers
Always on communication integrated with their everyday hanging out practices
social network sites
Ito et al (2008) Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project. The John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning, November 2008. http://
digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/files/report/digitalyouth-WhitePaper.pdf

Messing Around
Reflexively thinking abot himself and his work
n
tio
ria
r op
pp ng
A ify i
od te
M
/p as
Experimentation and exploration py
Co
Lurk and anonymous Media creation with
participation in social spaces digital tools
Ito, M. et al (2008) Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project. The John D.
and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning, November 2008.
http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/files/report/digitalyouth-WhitePaper.pdf

Geeking Out
Intense commitment or engagement with media or technology
k
ac
e db
Fe nin
g
r
Lea itio
n
n
og n
Rec tio
ta
Interest-Based Communities and Organization pu
Re
Fandom, amateur media, gaming
Ito, M. et al (2008) Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project. The John D.
and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning, November 2008. http://
digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/files/report/digitalyouth-WhitePaper.pdf

Networked Multimedia Performances
Collaborative
Knowledge
Creative work Social Text
Productive activity Basis for social interaction
Fansubs Personal Profile
Machinima Video blog
Networked
Mashups Online speach
Digital
Remix Media
Nuanced social norm
Web comics
remix content share emotions
to create new meaning and opinions
Askwith, I.D. (2007). Television 2.0: Reconceptualizing TV as an Engagement Medium. Masters thesis of Science in
Comparative Media Studies at MIT, September.
Ito, M. (2008) Networked Publics: Introduction. In Kazys Varnelis (ed), Networked Publics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Presentation of Self in Networked Publics
Impression management (Goffman), Bedroom Culture and Fashion
Egocentric networks
social
capital
symbolic
capital
cultural
capital
Cult markers of cool: indicators of one’s aesthetic
Performance to seek prestige
boyd, d. (2008) Taken Out of Content. American Teen Sociality in Networket Publics. PhD dissertation. School of
Information UC-Berkeley. http://www.danah.org/papers/TakenOutOfContext.pdf
Liu, H. (2007) Social network profiles as taste performances. In Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1),
Art. 13.

Private/Public: a fractal distinction
public character  Privately public  fans
became
a celeb
The use of media
by members of a Media
social group to circui
stay connect or to
t
interact with other
members (p. 363)
connect
with friends
private
show real identity  Publicly private  close friends
Lange, P.G. (2008) Publicly Private and Privately Public: Social Networking on YouTube. In Journal of Computer-
Mediated Communication, 13, 361-380.

Starring System
symbolic
capital
social cultural
capital capital
Remix
cultural
material
egocentric network and networked collectivism
competition and collaboration

Aca/Fan
academic scholar-fan fan-scholar fan
professional amateur
Hills, M. (2002) Fan Cultures. London: Routledge.

Starring System
The dicotomies audience/celebrity and academic/fan
could be more productive visualized as a fractal distinction
celebrity
micro-celebrity
e
m
aka
audience
academic scholar-fan fan-scholar fan

Methodology
• Analytical auto-ethnography of gg_akame.
• Multisited participant-observation on ::ItaSa::.
• Biographical interviews with Itasiani.

Networked Collectivism
Explorative research on Italian Networked Publics
Portal Forum MySpace
Blog
Telefilm festival
May 2008

::Italian Subs Addicted::
a community of fansubber
Performances of Fan Audiencehood in Italian Networked Publics

Multi-sited participant-observation
Forum Facebook Twitter
Chat Telefilm festival 2009

Founded in december 2005 by Klonni 199
subbing, review , global moderation, website administration 7
Staff subbing, review , global moderation 19
Italian Subtitles subbing, review
• Tv serial (300) 16
• movie subbing
• anime subbing 148
• documentary
resync 9
Forum Users More than 130.000
***JACOB*** 10.000 3
32 board Gregory House 6500 9999 3
More than 30.000 thread Jack Bauer 5000 6499 10
Christian Troy 3500 4999 8
More than 1.000.000 post Hiro Nakamura 2000 3499 25
Michael Scofield 1000 1999 42
Dexter Morgan 500 999 60
Earl Hickey 200 499 174
Kyle 100 199 175
Betty Suarez 50 99 292
Meredith Grey 0 50 More than 115.000
december 2008

Online Data
Cooperative performance - Official Identity Individual Performance of fan audiencehood
ItaSa - Portal Itasiani - Forum
Fan arts
Online profiles

Generational passion: tv serial
Chi di noi degli anni Ottanta può
dire di non aver visto alla mattina
quando magari si saltava scuola i
telefilm come MacGyver, Hazzard, e
poi aver visto questi telefilm
moltiplicarsi, essere sempre di più.
“Who among us who lived
their childhood during the
80s, can say they have never
watched their favourite tv
series like MacGyver or
Hazzard in the morning when
skipping school?”
SpoilerTv. La3Tv. Pilot. 1x01

Addicted to Passion
Ironic performance of commitment
wasted hours
we've got a screw
loose
Reflexive performance of emotional involvement
Baym, N. K. (1995) The Performance of Humor in Computer-Mediated Communication. In Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication. 1(2).

From online groups to a diffuse community
Online group Offline local subgroups
a commont interest a common place
Sense
of
belonging
Community of practice Collective identity
a common project a common ethos

Subgroups in ::ItaSa::
Web Portal: staff
Cooperative performance of amateur expertise
negotiation
subgoups
emerges
Off Topic
::ItaSa:: Family
Other online
and offline
Forum: users Performance of fan audiencehood sites

Differences in subgroups
The two most actice boards On topic
Mainstream cult Niche cult
Interest-driven
ve it
reti kn y
erp oup ht it
nt tig un
n i ubgr
A s
A mm
co
Friendship-driven
Off Topic  ::ItaSa:: Family Hanging out with fans:
 Threads off-topic in ItaSa:
●
Role Play Gama; th
t wi
●
“Good night threds” ou
g
 MSN and Facebook
ngin fans
Ha

Itasiani
Individual performance of creativity
Fan Art (1374)
self expression  public
Personal profile over time
Media
circui
t
private 

N° Documenti
Fan Art
Avatar 797
Banner e Sign 185
Usebar 185
Screencaps 41
Images 39
Wallpaper 36
Cosplaying? 32
Comics (screencap + comic) 27
Animated Gif 19
Fan Vid 6
Fan Fiction, Fan Song 5
Calendar 2
Digital documents published in the ItaSa Forum. December 2008

Presentation of self: Avatar - Sign
Set: avatar + sign
Art of ~Ale
Sign “ordered”
User
Creator

Presentation of self: Banner
Identification with a serial / a character
Identification with the community / definition of the role
Differentiation from the “competitor”

Skins’ contest: Evocative screencaps + title
“I feel so lonely”
“I really like my lunch”

Comics
fiction & reality
visual & verbal

Multimedia Performance of Fan Audiencehood
Fandom of american tv serial
 public
Imagined translocal community
Niche media communication Italian fandom of american tv serial
Shared in networked publics
 Informative: fansub, spoiler tv. Imagined subnational community
self expression
 Creative: images, fanfic.
Peer to peer communication Itasiani
 Media analysis: screencap. Community of practice
 Online speech: animated gif.
Presentation of self
private 
Self-representation
 Online profile: avatar, banner, sign.
 Digital accessories: wallpaper, calendar. Self-direct

The Starring System
Cult celebrity
Characters, actors and auteurs
(directors, creators, producers).
para-social
Performance of commitment
Audiences (Community of Practice)
(Offline Publics) Perform their competence and their
creativity analizing complex text and
Identify themself with
producing creative work.
celebrity.
Community building
Presentation of self
Performance of audiencehood
(Networked Publics)
Represent themself with verbal quotation and
participation
images of actors and characters.

Convergence Culture
Pop Cosmopolitanism
Diversity: a common ethos?
Literacy?
National imagined
community Community of practice
Divides?
Networked Publics
Transnational imagined community
Jenkins, H. (2006) Convergence Culture. Where Old and New Media Collide.

Thank U
agnesevellar@gmail.com
http://www.agneseh.wordpress.com
http://twitter.com/agneseh
Sub Eng
::Italian Subs Addicted::
[ http://www.italiansubs.net/ ]