New fandom survey underway
Posted by GreenReaper (Laurence Parry) on Sun 16 May 2010 - 01:29 — Edited as of 13:00
A survey on fandom activity and conventions has been announced. It is not necessary to have attended conventions to complete the survey.
The researcher, Covarla, is pursuing a doctorate in cultural anthropology at New York at Buffalo, with a tentative dissertation title of Fan Conventions and the Rise of Fan Culture. Her prior work covers representations of homosexuality in Yaoi, and witchcraft in America.
Read more: The results so far, and additional background.
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About the author
GreenReaper (Laurence Parry) — read stories — contact (login required)a developer, editor and Kai Norn from London, United Kingdom, interested in wikis and computers
Small fuzzy creature who likes cheese & carrots. Founder of WikiFur, lead admin of Inkbunny, and Editor-in-Chief of Flayrah.
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So we're on the same sociological level as witchcraft, woot.
In fairness, it's possible some of that was assigned, though I suspect the Masters in Yaoi was by choice. :-)
How does one do a study on "Representations of homosexuality IN yaoi" is there any yaoi that isn't a representation of homosexuality?
No, but there are representations of homosexuality that are not in yaoi.
I have no clue what the articulated-wooden-doll fandom questions were about. Perhaps they were a control question.
Ball-jointed dolls are a popular fandom. This survey was not specific to furry fandom.
I realize that this was not a furry-specific survey. I had never heard of a fandom specifically geared towards "ball-jointed dolls"; hence my confusion. According to the article you cite, this fandom only actually kicked off around 1999-ish, and is an Asian phenomenon, which explains why I haven't heard of it.
I will echo Deuce's puzzlement in one respect. Most of the fandoms addressed by the survey are what we would consider "geek" fandoms. Ball-jointed dolls is not one I'd ever heard of, and appears at a glance to be an "arts and crafts" fandom that's not particularly geeky, and which I would guess is one of any number of such fandoms. There are quite a few other types of fandoms that have online communities and major events - homebrewers, railfans, gun enthusiasts, historical reenactment, to name a few off the top of my head - that are not addressed by the survey. It would be impractical to do so, so it makes sense to narrow the focus to "geek" fandoms, which is why it seemed strange to include this one odd fandom among the others addressed by the survey.
(Am I making any sense?)
From what I know, the ball-jointed doll fandom is more popular with young women, and also in the UK (though they have a convention in Austin). I have a friend who is into it. I suspect the person running chose to concentrate on the ones they were familiar with - it's hard to write about concepts that you don't understand.
I'm not sure focussing on "geek" fandoms would help much. For a start, you'd have to figure out what that term meant - and I think there are more similarities between Super Dolfie and (say) Super Nintendo than the fans of each might be willing to admit. Besides, wouldn't furry fandom be an "arts and crafts" fandom?
Frankly, I've always considered furry fandom to be a 'comic/literary arts' fandom, given its origins and connections. 'Arts and crafts' sounds more folk art, like ironworks, ragdolls, weathervanes, and houses made of popsicle sticks.
Wasnt the Furry Fandom started by Unix coders though?
Possibly, but they probably don't form a significant proportion of it now. Programmers in general, perhaps.
No, the roots of the Furry Fandom predate the advent of the personal computer and the emergence of the Internet. It started with fanzines and APAs (notably VOOTIE back during the 70's, edited by Ken Fletcher and Reed Waller) and with animation fans in the LA area. Computers didn't really play a part in the fandom until the rise of the BBS boards in the late 80's and early 90's.
What I had heard was when the Unix coders had to create the OS's for all those computers they found furry animation comfurting and a great stress relief on their minds, though GreenReaper is most likely right if they were the majority that not the case now, I'm sure. (Threw in a little pun there).
Not something that I've ever heard. There have been furries who have been involved in programming, coding and computer teching in general and were instrumental in helping to bring the fandom to the internet when general access was achieved, but none had any part in the foundation of the fandom itself.
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