Week 8: Virtual Communities

These discussion prompts do not include the Webcourses or online readings but please feel free to address those, as well, and especially to make connections between them.

Me/Her/Draco Malfoy” –Jaime Warburton

This reading relates to last week’s discussions around sexuality and also emphasizing the role of community in the development and negotiation of individual and collective identities (including sexual identification and negotiation)

Were you aware of the genres “slash” and/or “shipper” and/or fan fiction (FF)? If so, what is your relationship with such writing? Do you participate in forums where such writing is central? Discuss in relation to the readings, especially the “Draco Malfoy” reading (117). If you have never encountered these genres, visit some of the websites listed in the reading (or others you come across online) and discuss your findings in relation to the texts this week.

In the “Draco Malfoy” reading, Warburton asks, “How does writing fan fiction in a possibly anonymous forum allow girls to write their own identities?” (117) What do you think?

“Fan fiction” is referred to by some as “derivative fiction” (or is viewed as a subgenre of such fiction). Some critique it as “poaching,” “copyright infringement,” or “laziness.” How do you react to such claims? (118)

Commonly-cited figures find that girls make up 90% of fan fiction writers. What might contribute to such a dramatic gender imbalance?

Warburton writes: “Various scholars have made the case that slash is feminist and anti-feminist, political and apolitical, resistant and merely as transgressive as other fan fiction” (128). What do you think? Support your response with at least one specific example provided in the text (or using your own example from fan fiction not discussed in the reading).

“Blogrings as Virtual Communities for Adolescent Girls” –Jacqueline Ryan Vickery

Vickery asks some important in her essay, such as: “How are blogs enabling a sense of community [for adolescent girls]? Assuming girls create communities via blogs […] why do these communities matter? More specifically, what are the social and/or cultural implications of these online blogging communities for adolescent girls, specifically with relation to their sense of identity” (183). Discuss.

Vickery provides various definitions of “community” including Benedict Anderson’s “Imagined communities” (184). What does community mean to you? How do you define community in light of the reading and the different definitions provided?

Think about the notion of “dual audiences” (friends vs. strangers vs. personal vs. professional, etc.) discussed on page 186. What are some strategies girls use to negotiate such dual audiences? How do you negotiate the hybridity of the internet and your online social spaces (which are simultaneously public and private)? How do you negotiate such spaces when personal and professional (or other public) converge?

Do you read, follow, or comment/engage any blogs on a regular basis? What is your relationship to blogs? What are the benefits and/or drawbacks of blogs. Think about these questions in relation to the readings.

Instant Identity / Ch. 3 – “I got to intercept that email before the parental gets home”… (51)
–Shayla Thiel Stern

Stern continues discussing the notion of the internet as providing spaces that are simultaneously private and public. You might continue this discussion regarding IM-ing, but also think about it in relation to Facebook privacy settings, LiveJournal and other public “private” journals, etc.

Discuss the notion of “situated identity” or shifting representations of identity online (63)