I love to teach and I love to learn, pure and simple. I continue to learn from my students and I hope they continue to learn from me. I believe my goal as a teacher/instructor/lecturer is to provide hands on knowledge and experience to impart new wisdom and understanding to the students in my charge.… Continue reading Teaching Statement
Category: #Crowdfunding, #Fans
Crowdfunding, Fandom, and the Future
One of the main goals of my blog is to bring awareness and broaden the knowledge that people may have about Crowdfunding and Fandom. I’ve established how fans are exploited for their labor and why fans give of their time and money, but what of it’s future? I want to continue by reviewing new crowdfunding… Continue reading Crowdfunding, Fandom, and the Future
Labors of Love and Why Fans Give to Crowdfunding Campaigns
In present day, fans are no different than they were in 1915 with the first fan club. Fans enjoy this participatory culture we now call fandom. Fans today have found a place to belong just as they did all those years ago. There is camaraderie and a sense of family within most fandoms, and they… Continue reading Labors of Love and Why Fans Give to Crowdfunding Campaigns
Butterflies in the Sky and Why Fans Give
I’ve given some examples of fandom and what happens when fans go the extra mile only to be exploited in some way, and my last case in point for the research of crowdfunding and fandom is the much-loved PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) series, Reading Rainbow. “Butterflies in the sky, I can go twice as high,… Continue reading Butterflies in the Sky and Why Fans Give
Supernatural and the Exploits of The Fangirls
With the discovery of fan exploitation through the case of Firefly/Serenity, there is another case that probably shares a personal point-of-view of a particular fan, their fandom and their experience with fan labor. The ones I am talking about are Katherine Larsen and Lynn Zubernis; remember me mentioning these two ladies before? These two professors… Continue reading Supernatural and the Exploits of The Fangirls
Amanda Palmer: When Good Things go Bad
Singer/Songwriter Amanda Palmer’s main claim to fame may be her marriage to author Neil Gaiman. But, she was also half of the cult music group The Dresden Dolls. Yet, Palmer is probably most famous, or infamous, to those who know about, and possibly participated in, her Kickstarter campaign. Labeled by many as a hypocrite and… Continue reading Amanda Palmer: When Good Things go Bad
Kickstarter,Veronica Mars and the Question of Fan Labor or Agency?
(Let me preface by saying that Kickstarter was not the first online crowdfunding platform, but it has become the most prominent and the majority of my case studies are from this website.) Kickstarter is a global funding platform that was created in 2009 by Charles Adler, Perry Chen, and Yancey Strickler (Kickstarter.com, 2014). Their motto… Continue reading Kickstarter,Veronica Mars and the Question of Fan Labor or Agency?
Fans, Fandom and Participatory Cultures
Another interesting aspect of Crowdfunding is that it is a type of “participatory culture.” People have to participate in order for the campaigns to succeed. No campaign can work without the crowd. Why should we discuss participatory culture? Because one must understand how people in a fandom participate within its culture to really understand why… Continue reading Fans, Fandom and Participatory Cultures
Fan Labor Back in the Golden Age
Back during the Golden Age of Hollywood, some of the first fan clubs were created and with them fan labor. In Samantha Barbas’ book, Movie Crazy: Fans, Stars, and the Cult of Celebrity (2001), she explains the beginning of fan clubs and fan contributions as early as 1910 through to the 1940s. She shares the… Continue reading Fan Labor Back in the Golden Age
Crowdfunding and Fandom: An Introduction Part II
In my research I have discovered that there are different models of crowdfunding. The platform wasn’t always called “crowdfunding.” In the early days (2005), it was called “crowdsourcing,” dully named by journalist Jeff Howe in an article he wrote for Wired Magazine (Wikipedia, 2015). The initial definition of crowdsourcing was “the process of obtaining needed… Continue reading Crowdfunding and Fandom: An Introduction Part II
