As the fandom is a niche subculture that stretched around different corners of the world, I decided to spread my queries on various different websites including Reddit, Weibo, Red, and several Wechat and Instagram groups.
Stage 1: I tried to contact people on Reddit. But the way I phrased the enquiry for collab wasn’t ideal. I was a complete newbie on Reddit and I had no idea what the rules were.
I sent invites for collab on several subreddits to make sure.
I did not phrase my logic right. I was removed from several subreddits because I unintentionally violated the rules.
I did get recommendations from several callers.
I did get one reply, this user had changed views on fanfiction.
I did get clues to keep researching elsewhere.
Conclusion:
- Need to rephrase my invitations for collab.
- Web Originals gave off fanfic adjacent vibes. (redirecting research to Henry Jenkins’ theory on convergence media)
- Wildbow.
- OTW: Transformative Works and Cultures(scholars discussing fanfic)
- Mibba.com.
Stage 2：I got a lot of backlash from my first attempt at Reddit. So I decided to change my way of investigating.
I switched an account and started to ask questions directed at both sides:
- People who disliked or against fanfics.
- People who enjoy reading or writing fanfics or approve of fanfics.
At this point I decided to flirt with the idea of f***ing up. So I put in the exact same question from one of the comments that made me feel bad.
(Their comments were completely valid though, it’s just it took a very long time for me to get to this point of the project, and my own communication skills is blocking me from pushing the project as fast as I wanted, and I was frustrated by the fact that I had to practice again and again, going through trial and error to perfect my communication skills)
Content of post: I decided to go back to autoethnographic research and post some of my own experiences, so that I wouldn’t just be a student asking for help with homework, I’m a researcher using my own experience as research.
This time the outcome was much more fruitful.
This pic below shows evidence for one misconception: that fanfics are all deviant and insignificant, the lowest in the hierarchy chain. This one piece of feedback proves that this misconception is wrong.
Evidence shows that my way of communicating a question was still flawed.
Stage 3: I planned out an intervention on inviting stakeholders from the fandom community to draw their first impression of a fanfic creator, and then invite stakeholders from the original writing community to do the exact same thing.
Stakeholders from the Fandom Community:
I didn’t plan this intervention as well as I had hoped for, asking people to draw on a small canva page was less fruitful than simply asking questions on Reddit.
My stakeholders more likely chose to ask questions instead of participating in my intervention, which only meant that I hadn’t communicated in a clear way.
I decided to go back to researching for the link between fanfiction, participatory culture and convergence media. Because this intervention to me still seemed forced out, like I was trying to do an intervention for the sake of doing an intervention, but it was better to do it and regret it rather than not do it and regret it.
Comparatively, stakeholders from the original writing community had a similar result.
in Subreddit Fanfiction: out of the 22 people that entered the canva page, only 3 left drawings.
in Subreddit Writing(for Original Writers), 5 people joined and only 1 person left a drawing.
REFLECTIONS & LEARNINGS: This intervention was not planned out at all. I had acted out of haste and had not used any methodology to help me gather useful feedback. But it was better than doing nothing at all.
https://www.canva.com/design/DAGOsUKtHpk/0VEWu594fdsDSLaH4hgrVA/edit
https://www.canva.com/design/DAGOvIkcV_Q/NATKT3RMoCzo0BIeq7u_AQ/edit
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT: I had done case studies on fanfiction before the course but I hadn’t thought of pre-practising my means of communication. For my next intervention I needed to find a way to measure the change by gathering feedback before and after the stakeholders see the intervention and make sure that it is easy for them to receive feedback.