Thank you for this astounding contribution to public discourse

[arkster]

MIT discovered fandom! No wait, they call it a "co-viewing clique". A BNF is now, officially, according to the MIT computer-graphics-and-wordbarf-processing department, a ~"pro-amateur media critic"~.

Don't you all just feel so validated?

:')

But seriously, data wonks: somebody help me out here. The comments over there seem evenly split between awe and kudos for the sheer volume of data processed and/or the shiny visualizations created therefrom, and serious underwhelm-ment at the results. What exactly, other than discovering fandom*, has this guy done?

More to the point, and p'raps more fun to think about, what COULD he do? What would YOU do with all that linked data? It seems a bit like a 3D map of a web we all navigate, by years of practice that's made the moves instinctual to us but maybe completely foreign, to non-fen.

Think of how you might hear about, and then find, a piece of fanfic. Maybe somebody on your friendslist links it, but the link's broken, so you end up trawling FF.net or AO3 before you realize, wait, it must be posted on the kink meme! So off you go, and by the time you've read it (and six other fics in the same thread) you've forgotten how you got there. This data could, presumably, plot your course on a physical-seeming map...? but the practical applications of this, to me, are not evident.

It could also, I suppose, plot the course of a fanfic to all its readers? Marketers do this kind of data-mining in the hopes of better selling through statistics, but... otherwise, again, why?



*He could have walked down the hall to the MIT Anime Club. They could've at least told him what it's called.

Comments

[solarwind.livejournal.com]

Completely unrelated, but glad to hear you are safe and sound. Wasn't sure if you were still in Japan this last week and was worried D: I hope all your friends there are safe also <3

[arks.livejournal.com]

I'm back stateside, yes'm, and my folks thataways were largely Tokyo or further south. Shaken up and still worried, and of course everything's rattled about, but all in all we can't complain. Thanks for the well-wishes. :)

[murasaki-kaze.livejournal.com]

Repeating what Benj said. I didn't know if you were still here or back in America, so I'm glad to hear that you and yours are safe and sound♥

[arks.livejournal.com]

And likewise to you, dear. Stay safe, please. ♥

[jibb.livejournal.com]

Between quakes, tsunamis, and reactors, I'm also glad to you're okay.

[calligraphe.livejournal.com]

Well that is all sorts of hilarious. "Co-viewing clique"? I suppose we are sort of clique-ish here in fandom, which explains some of the knee-jerk "hell no!" that occurs whenever academia tries to pull a Christopher Columbus and "discover" us.

(But seriously, if you're going to study fandom, do acknowledge that we have our own language, and we are an authority on, well, us.)

If they discover shipping next, I will bust a lung laughing.

[arks.livejournal.com]

I can't wait to see what kind of terminology they slap on it. Competitive romantic speculative subcliques!

My sense is that rather than make a judgement on exclusivity in fandom, which would require a little more nuance and awareness than I think they've gained, (for all their data,) these clowns are just using 'clique' because 'group' sounds unscientific.

The thing is, they claim to be studying language. As if this is a study distinct from, say, literature and criticism and reaction and interaction. lol. Lern2interdiscipline, MIT linguists.

[calligraphe.livejournal.com]

Competitive romantic speculative subcliques!

Oh LOL, this. Think we can make it catch on? You can use it if you're an acafan, and also, you know, a complete asshat. XD

I agree with your interpretation... if they ever do gain more nuance and awareness, do you think they'll realize that fandom is self-aware?

Lern2interdiscipline, MIT linguists.

Aww, they're taking baby steps~ It's kinda cute...

[rawri.livejournal.com]

Can't lie that it always weird me out a bit when people mention fandom and things in the real world. As a person from a tiny, tiny backwater Wisconsin town, anime and fanfic and such are... embarrassing things to admit to being associated with. It actually took two years of friendship before a girlpal of mine and me realized that we both trolled around ff.net and 4chan, and neither of us can still really talk about it in Real Life, because it's just so... weird.

... So that real world people are acknowledging it is like seeing newscasters try to make youtube jokes. It's just. Odd. I have no idea what in the world they could do with this, but it's a bit freaky. )X



And also glad to hear that you're okay! I thought you were in New York, but wasn't sure... Please keep well, Lina. >:

[arks.livejournal.com]

True, the crossover is strange. There's a barrier we set up and parcel off with the acronym IRL, and that business isn't supposed to intrude. Some people dance closer to the line than others: RPS shippers, analytic metafandomers who then submit these papers to their media studies classes, folks who argue and debate with genre authors on said authors' LJ or blog. I've attempted academic discussion of the hobby in university settings with, well, mixed results.

But I take offense to an academic identifying this barrier as a gerbil cage, and deciding we're on display. As if we have no self awareness, ffs.

[sharkswlazers.livejournal.com]

You should read the report where social scientists discovered MySpace. Absolutely fascinating. The ones about facebook and twitter are less amusing. I've always steered clear of research about fandom out of fear for what they would say about my fangirls, only skirting the edge when I read about WoW guilds or studies that took place within a fandom.

It's actually nice to have papers like this because then when you mention fandom in your research (which I do) you can cite something "legit" and then people think you're less crazy.

Vaguely related: have you seen the help_japan fandom auction on lj?

[arks.livejournal.com]

The studies about Myspace and Facebook along racial lines (http://www.theroot.com/views/myspace-facebook-white-flight) always tend to catch my eye in that regard. But then they also seem to be done by people who have, Idk, used a social media website before.

I have indeed. I've been watching a lot of relief effort and relief efficacy, and there's a lot to be rambled about. Soon.