Here's a roundup of stories on the performative aspects of fandom that might be of interest to fans:

• Several researchers at Lousiana State University have been studying sports fans. "Osborne's research on "Performative Sport Fandom" looks at how fandom is socially constructed. Her major area of interest is how the performances of fandom, particularly for hyper-masculine sports like football, work in conjunction with other performances such as gender. Put simply, how is performing as a fan different for women than it is for men?" Another professor studying sports fans' use of social media found "that the more active you are in the these social areas, the more passion you have for the sport and the team. People that were high users had a lot of frustration and anger - they are more aggressive."
• One look at a very clear performative aspect of sports fandom is on ESPN’s College GameDay, which relies heavily on fans to provide both audience and backdrop for the broadcast. "At the heart of the show are the students. When I asked coordinating producer Fitting what was the best part about doing GameDay he replied that it was going to a campus for the first time. “To see the excitement and the thrill these kids have to see the guys and be a part of the show, it’s awesome."
• Another clear aspect of fans' "performance" is a non-traditional sport taking place on college campuses. A University of Kansas article mentioned the International Quidditch Association's documentary about last year’s World Cup titled “Brooms Up” on YouTube and also the activities of the local team. "The Kansas quidditch team members ...travelled to Overland Park on Saturday afternoon to teach local kids how to play quidditch or, as they call it, “kidditch.”"

If you're part of a sports fandom or on a quidditch team, why not contribute to Fanlore? Additions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!

Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

Here's a roundup of stories on things people learn from fandom that might be of interest to fans:

• Romance author Cooper West has been blogging a series called "Everything I learned from Fandom" that includes lessons in marketing, writing fanfic, and what it taught her about women's interest in porn. She complains that "companies like Vivid think “porn for women” equals bad costumes, bad scripts, weak plots and porn-perfect, hairless bodies...The result being that...women will still talk about how they hate “porn”, and industry watchers will crow in victory at their misguided assumptions based on false data. But fandom ran over those assumptions while no one was looking."
• Another fan, whose website offers professional advice to geeks, focused recently on "fansourcing". His argument is that skills learned as a hobby can be put to use professionally, some examples being: "List those skills used in fansourcing on your resume, and note anything you added to them - did you have a new computer program? Learn plugins?" or "Can you do a panel about what you did/do at a convention? This helps others, promotes you, and improves your speaking skills."
• On a more esoteric level, Rabbi Jeff Goldwasser posts about Why Torah is Like Baseball, noting "Baseball is a universe in which the past and the present are commingled. Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Sandy Koufax, Yaz and Pedro all play forever on the same field and our memories of baseball past become interchangeable with our hopes and expectations of the future."

What things have you learned from fandom? Don't keep them to yourself: contribute to Fanlore! Additions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!

Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

Here's a roundup of stories on fannish concepts that might be of interest to fans:

• One feature of many fandom communities is a gift economy. Scientific American explores the concept with a look at the Burning Man festival as an example of the difference between an economic and social mode and finds that in the social mode "We give each other goods and services not because we stand to gain, but because we want to be good citizens." Even though "gifts are motivated by a desire to show off or to win social status...it doesn’t matter; people are still being motivated to help each other out and to create enormous value without any financial incentives."
• At Pop Culture Pirate Elisa Kreisinger explains what remixes entail. The term has been co-opted "as a synonym for ‘combination’ to give things an edgy, hip connotation. It’s kind of like when everyone put the letter ‘i’ in front of their product to make it seem more youth-orientated" but remixes are a form of activism. "We’re remixing to show, rather than just tell, what we want to see in pop culture and Hollywood. When we see work that represents our values and principles, it deepens our sense [of] community, closing the gap between critic and fan."

If you're part of the gift economy and share remixes, why not contribute your own stories and projects to Fanlore? Contributions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!

Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

Here's a roundup of stories on next generation fandom that might be of interest to fans:

• Gaming industry website Gamasutra looks at "a niche social media phenomenon for an example of how expressions of game fandom proliferate in the Web 2.0 era", noting that social media enables "expressions of fandom [that] are often smaller, more specific, the result of a small in-joke that spreads" and concludes it is all "a sign of the continuing shift for games away from controlled product to democratic experience."
• Movie Line cites the increasing independence of film makers as an experiment in subscription-based fandom, with one creator suggesting it "will totally liberate me to do something without commercial thoughts in my head. The removal of the press attention and critical infrastructure is something I'm looking forward to."
• The NY Times' feature on American football channel Red Zone describes the success of the channel, which features only real-time winning and game-changing plays of multiple games simultaneously, and finds it "consistent with the wider American evolution in media consumption." Red Zone's "react[ion] to a new kind of demand, seems a kind of naked acknowledgment that a viewer’s interest in his or her fantasy leagues may actually trump loyalty to a single team", not unlike how some media fans find fanworks to be of greater interest than the texts they are based on. As one fan quoted notes, "There seems to be a tiny segment of fans who claim to be football purists and they would rather watch every single play of whatever game Fox/CBS feeds them...As if there's something noble in that. This is 2011!"

If you're part of gaming, US football, or movie fandoms, why not contribute your own stories and projects to Fanlore? Contributions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!

Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.