TY - CONF

T1 - Salon: Online Spaces

T2 - Fan Studies Network North America Conference 2020

AU - Jacobs, Naomi

PY - 2020/10/13

Y1 - 2020/10/13

N2 - The first science fiction conventions were held in the 1930, long before the internet existed. Through these events, geographically distributed fans convened and shared their fandom in real-time, in a way that was otherwise impossible. The remit of conventions has since expanded dramatically, and now there can be other key functions such as commerce, or unique live experiences including interactions with celebrities. Conventions have long been hybrid digital/physical spaces. As a convention organiser in the 2000s, extra digital infrastructure had to be negotiated to keep fans online, beyond what non-fan events of a comparable size required. Digital tools can help coordinate events (e.g. Grenadine event planner), or may be used by organisers or participants for broadcast and widening participation, in sanctioned or unsanctioned ways (see Jacobs, 2018). Now, events which are unable to exist in physical spaces due to the pandemic are experimenting with solely online venues. However, the design and affordances of digital spaces can have an impact on the ways that interaction occurs within them. I am interested in examining the wide range of experiences that come under the banner of ‘convention’, whether digital spaces could or should attempt to replicate them, and how digital form affects function.

AB - The first science fiction conventions were held in the 1930, long before the internet existed. Through these events, geographically distributed fans convened and shared their fandom in real-time, in a way that was otherwise impossible. The remit of conventions has since expanded dramatically, and now there can be other key functions such as commerce, or unique live experiences including interactions with celebrities. Conventions have long been hybrid digital/physical spaces. As a convention organiser in the 2000s, extra digital infrastructure had to be negotiated to keep fans online, beyond what non-fan events of a comparable size required. Digital tools can help coordinate events (e.g. Grenadine event planner), or may be used by organisers or participants for broadcast and widening participation, in sanctioned or unsanctioned ways (see Jacobs, 2018). Now, events which are unable to exist in physical spaces due to the pandemic are experimenting with solely online venues. However, the design and affordances of digital spaces can have an impact on the ways that interaction occurs within them. I am interested in examining the wide range of experiences that come under the banner of ‘convention’, whether digital spaces could or should attempt to replicate them, and how digital form affects function.

M3 - Abstract

Y2 - 13 October 2020 through 17 October 2020

ER -