While science fiction has a long-standing habit of predicting future technologies, The X-Files’ focus on anatomical manipulations as a means of control resulted in a plotline that inadvertently mirrored the COVID-19 pandemic which occurred a few years later. The proximity to such a similar, real-world situation resulted in some audiences interpreting their own experiences through the framework of sci-fi television, demonstrating that the discursive environment crafted through the text of The X-Files is continually applicable to contemporary anxieties and paranoia even after the show finished airing. In this article, I argue that The X-Files’ critiques of real-world abuses of powers and the running themes of paranoia and governmental distrust gave audiences a framework they could use to negotiate their anxieties, resulting in the series being used to both defend and reject COVID-19 protocols by sci-fi fans on Twitter. In this study, I utilize a thematic analysis of these tweets to examine how audiences perceived the implications of the show’s text and their lived experiences by using the lens of science fiction to contextualize the pandemic.
{"title":"This Sounds Like an Episode of The X-Files: Analyzing How Twitter Users Interpreted the COVID-19 Pandemic through the Lens of Sci-Fi Television","authors":"Nicole Neece","doi":"10.35492/docam/10/1/5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35492/docam/10/1/5","url":null,"abstract":"While science fiction has a long-standing habit of predicting future technologies, The X-Files’ focus on anatomical manipulations as a means of control resulted in a plotline that inadvertently mirrored the COVID-19 pandemic which occurred a few years later. The proximity to such a similar, real-world situation resulted in some audiences interpreting their own experiences through the framework of sci-fi television, demonstrating that the discursive environment crafted through the text of The X-Files is continually applicable to contemporary anxieties and paranoia even after the show finished airing. In this article, I argue that The X-Files’ critiques of real-world abuses of powers and the running themes of paranoia and governmental distrust gave audiences a framework they could use to negotiate their anxieties, resulting in the series being used to both defend and reject COVID-19 protocols by sci-fi fans on Twitter. In this study, I utilize a thematic analysis of these tweets to examine how audiences perceived the implications of the show’s text and their lived experiences by using the lens of science fiction to contextualize the pandemic.","PeriodicalId":36214,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings from the Document Academy","volume":"53 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135826490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Video games are often a widespread access point for studying information-seeking behaviors, as a large portion of the population (and its youth) play them. Understanding how real-world analogues, like libraries, are portrayed in games can give us insights into how they mirror conflicts of reality. By examining the depictions of information systems and accompanying curators in Halo: Combat Evolved (2001), we can begin to investigate the perceptions of libraries and their antagonism in ludonarratives. Resulting analysis reveals multiple layers of archival hostility that are ultimately upended in later iterations in the game series, changing the nature of the library itself. This article closely examines the place-based narrative choices in Halo:CE while discussing the resulting possible impacts on the player.
{"title":"The Library Wants to Kill You: Places of Information as Battleground and Sanctum in Halo","authors":"Mackenzie Streissguth","doi":"10.35492/docam/10/1/8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35492/docam/10/1/8","url":null,"abstract":"Video games are often a widespread access point for studying information-seeking behaviors, as a large portion of the population (and its youth) play them. Understanding how real-world analogues, like libraries, are portrayed in games can give us insights into how they mirror conflicts of reality. By examining the depictions of information systems and accompanying curators in Halo: Combat Evolved (2001), we can begin to investigate the perceptions of libraries and their antagonism in ludonarratives. Resulting analysis reveals multiple layers of archival hostility that are ultimately upended in later iterations in the game series, changing the nature of the library itself. This article closely examines the place-based narrative choices in Halo:CE while discussing the resulting possible impacts on the player.","PeriodicalId":36214,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings from the Document Academy","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135879176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Halliday Journals and Holodecks: Audiences and Information in Sci-Fi Fandoms: Papers from the FanLIS 2023 Symposium","authors":"Ludi Price, Lyn Robinson","doi":"10.35492/docam/10/1/1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35492/docam/10/1/1","url":null,"abstract":"Editorial introduction to the proceedings","PeriodicalId":36214,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings from the Document Academy","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135879178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article will discuss the importance of acknowledging the information practices of subcultural groups within library instruction and fostering an inclusive learning environment with the implementation of a workshop by comparing research databases with the popular fanfiction website, Archive of Our Own. By incorporating AO3 into library instruction, students’ interests and prior experiences were engaged by utilizing the principles of subcultural capital. The workshop utilized students’ knowledge of information searching from their personal lives and their interests to highlight similarities with academic research using examples such as filters, keywords, and author searching. This allowed students to develop skills to search precisely for materials in a familiar environment. Further, the success of the workshop demonstrates how librarians can incorporate fan’s informational behaviors, and access practices into instructional content about research and database usage, making research less intimidating and more accessible to students.
本文将通过比较研究数据库和流行的同人小说网站Archive of Our Own,讨论在图书馆教学中承认亚文化群体信息实践的重要性,并通过研讨会的实施来培养一个包容的学习环境。通过将AO3融入图书馆教学,利用亚文化资本的原则,调动学生的兴趣和先前的经验。工作坊利用学生在个人生活和兴趣方面的信息搜索知识,通过过滤器、关键词和作者搜索等例子,突出与学术研究的相似之处。这使学生能够发展在熟悉的环境中精确搜索材料的技能。此外,研讨会的成功展示了图书馆员如何将粉丝的信息行为和访问实践纳入关于研究和数据库使用的教学内容,使研究不那么令人生畏,更容易为学生所接受。
{"title":"Infinite Archives, Infinite Possibilities: Learning Research and Databases with Archive of our Own","authors":"B. Austin Waters, Alayna Vander Veer","doi":"10.35492/docam/10/1/3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35492/docam/10/1/3","url":null,"abstract":"This article will discuss the importance of acknowledging the information practices of subcultural groups within library instruction and fostering an inclusive learning environment with the implementation of a workshop by comparing research databases with the popular fanfiction website, Archive of Our Own. By incorporating AO3 into library instruction, students’ interests and prior experiences were engaged by utilizing the principles of subcultural capital. The workshop utilized students’ knowledge of information searching from their personal lives and their interests to highlight similarities with academic research using examples such as filters, keywords, and author searching. This allowed students to develop skills to search precisely for materials in a familiar environment. Further, the success of the workshop demonstrates how librarians can incorporate fan’s informational behaviors, and access practices into instructional content about research and database usage, making research less intimidating and more accessible to students.","PeriodicalId":36214,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings from the Document Academy","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135879186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Utilizing the rapidly changing landscape of the Marvel fandom on fanfiction archive Archive of Our Own (AO3) as a research site, this paper presents the findings of a combined autoethnography and digital ethnography of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier community. The work explores the ways in which a fandom community builds itself through information sharing. While the study garnered many findings, this paper primarily focuses on how tags are vital to crafting community identity, while also creating barriers to entry within the Falcon and the Winter Soldier fandom. The results show that while the broader Marvel fandom can be toxic and unwelcoming, the Falcon and the Winter Soldier fandom community on AO3 is welcoming of newcomers, highly tolerant, and supportive. The paper details the use of different types of tags and tagging practices in the building of community, and the barriers to entry to that community that still exist.
利用漫威同人小说档案archive of Our Own (AO3)上快速变化的漫威同人圈景观作为研究站点,本文展示了结合了自动人种志和数字人种志的猎鹰和冬兵社区的发现。这项工作探索了通过信息共享建立粉丝社区的方式。虽然这项研究获得了许多发现,但本文主要关注的是标签如何在塑造社区身份方面发挥重要作用,同时也为猎鹰和冬兵的粉丝圈设置了进入壁垒。结果显示,虽然更广泛的漫威粉丝群体可能是有毒的、不受欢迎的,但AO3上的猎鹰和冬兵粉丝社区却欢迎新来者,高度宽容和支持。本文详细介绍了在社区建设中使用不同类型的标签和标签实践,以及进入该社区仍然存在的障碍。
{"title":"\"i’m mixing comic book canon and mcu canon to suit my own needs\": Information Sharing as Community Building in a Fandom in Flux","authors":"alison harding","doi":"10.35492/docam/10/1/6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35492/docam/10/1/6","url":null,"abstract":"Utilizing the rapidly changing landscape of the Marvel fandom on fanfiction archive Archive of Our Own (AO3) as a research site, this paper presents the findings of a combined autoethnography and digital ethnography of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier community. The work explores the ways in which a fandom community builds itself through information sharing. While the study garnered many findings, this paper primarily focuses on how tags are vital to crafting community identity, while also creating barriers to entry within the Falcon and the Winter Soldier fandom. The results show that while the broader Marvel fandom can be toxic and unwelcoming, the Falcon and the Winter Soldier fandom community on AO3 is welcoming of newcomers, highly tolerant, and supportive. The paper details the use of different types of tags and tagging practices in the building of community, and the barriers to entry to that community that still exist.","PeriodicalId":36214,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings from the Document Academy","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135826609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This brief history of science fiction (sf) fandom and fanzines focuses on the creation of a zine culture crucial to the split between written sf and media fandom; it also addresses archival holdings of sf and media zines dating from the 1930s on.
{"title":"Fandom, Fanzines, and Archiving Science Fiction Fannish History","authors":"Karen Hellekson","doi":"10.35492/docam/10/1/2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35492/docam/10/1/2","url":null,"abstract":"This brief history of science fiction (sf) fandom and fanzines focuses on the creation of a zine culture crucial to the split between written sf and media fandom; it also addresses archival holdings of sf and media zines dating from the 1930s on.","PeriodicalId":36214,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings from the Document Academy","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135878861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Podcasts are important sites of knowledge sharing and co-creation. As opportunities to discuss niche interests, podcasts are where individuals come together to discuss the things they love, and for fans, podcasts are often opportunities to critically engage with their franchise or work with others in the fandom. The conversational nature of podcasting means each party can bring forth new ideas and perspectives that shape how we engage with the work and fandom that’s grown around it. This paper shares the results of an exploratory study of the citational practices of science fiction fan podcasts. Initially intending to analyze transcripts of science fiction fan podcasts, barriers explored in the paper caused a pivot to analyzing show notes of podcasts, instead.
{"title":"The Citational Practices of Science Fiction Fan Podcasts","authors":"Amber Sewell","doi":"10.35492/docam/10/1/4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35492/docam/10/1/4","url":null,"abstract":"Podcasts are important sites of knowledge sharing and co-creation. As opportunities to discuss niche interests, podcasts are where individuals come together to discuss the things they love, and for fans, podcasts are often opportunities to critically engage with their franchise or work with others in the fandom. The conversational nature of podcasting means each party can bring forth new ideas and perspectives that shape how we engage with the work and fandom that’s grown around it. This paper shares the results of an exploratory study of the citational practices of science fiction fan podcasts. Initially intending to analyze transcripts of science fiction fan podcasts, barriers explored in the paper caused a pivot to analyzing show notes of podcasts, instead.","PeriodicalId":36214,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings from the Document Academy","volume":"51 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135879191","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper playfully appropriates the metaphor of delusional states to frame a discussion of hyperreal documents present in Disney theme parks and resorts. A brief overview of the literature on delusion in individuals transitions into the collective formation of positive illusions to introduce the concept of play. The conceptual framework of play culture, or ludics, is presented to understand cultural production and meaning, which is further described in relation to theme park design and the negotiation of theme park experiences. This discussion is situated in document theory to explicate the intentionality of theme park designers and the indexicality of park guests. Aspects of theme park experiences as document transactions are elucidated in alignment with document phenomenology, touching on the implications for interpreting meaning and authenticity in environments characterized by hyperreal simulacra. The paper ends with an outline for a research agenda involving Disney theme parks, document phenomenology, and immersive documents.
{"title":"Be Our Guest or Welcome Foolish Mortals? Disney’s Invitation to Play and the Delusion/Illusion of Hyperreal, Immersive Documents","authors":"L. Coladangelo","doi":"10.35492/docam/9/2/6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35492/docam/9/2/6","url":null,"abstract":"This paper playfully appropriates the metaphor of delusional states to frame a discussion of hyperreal documents present in Disney theme parks and resorts. A brief overview of the literature on delusion in individuals transitions into the collective formation of positive illusions to introduce the concept of play. The conceptual framework of play culture, or ludics, is presented to understand cultural production and meaning, which is further described in relation to theme park design and the negotiation of theme park experiences. This discussion is situated in document theory to explicate the intentionality of theme park designers and the indexicality of park guests. Aspects of theme park experiences as document transactions are elucidated in alignment with document phenomenology, touching on the implications for interpreting meaning and authenticity in environments characterized by hyperreal simulacra. The paper ends with an outline for a research agenda involving Disney theme parks, document phenomenology, and immersive documents.","PeriodicalId":36214,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings from the Document Academy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42969332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article discusses documents, knowledge, and truth through a conceptual examination and through an examination of Flaubert's 19th century novel Madame Bovary. It argues that the main characters of Madame Bovary deceive themselves by believing that the contents of the fictional and medical texts they read convey truth. In contrast, the article argues that modern knowledge is constituted by documentary evidence operating in knowledge networks and processes where the result of such operations is what can be claimed to be true about the world through such processes. The representational malady that Madame and Doctor Bovary suffer in the novel was a common one among the emerging bourgeoisie of the time, but it is also a common one today, with the internet as the site of this plague.
{"title":"Documents and the Malady of Truth","authors":"R. Day","doi":"10.35492/docam/9/2/11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35492/docam/9/2/11","url":null,"abstract":"This article discusses documents, knowledge, and truth through a conceptual examination and through an examination of Flaubert's 19th century novel Madame Bovary. It argues that the main characters of Madame Bovary deceive themselves by believing that the contents of the fictional and medical texts they read convey truth. In contrast, the article argues that modern knowledge is constituted by documentary evidence operating in knowledge networks and processes where the result of such operations is what can be claimed to be true about the world through such processes. The representational malady that Madame and Doctor Bovary suffer in the novel was a common one among the emerging bourgeoisie of the time, but it is also a common one today, with the internet as the site of this plague.","PeriodicalId":36214,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings from the Document Academy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46649798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Carrie A. Boettcher, Laurie J. Bonnici, Brian O'Connor
Disciplinary webs of proximity frequently overlap at the periphery of a topic where interests intersect for problem-solving. Failure to account for disciplinary differences can result in dis-ease – tension that interferes with meaning-making. This can be especially problematic in just-in-time information settings. An unexpected social media case study involving severe weather reporting and algorithm-driven system censorship makes evident the role of a constellation of pragmatic factors that can enhance or hinder just-in-time information delivery. Employing webs of proximity, we probe the severe weather censorship event with complementary bodies of knowledge and disciplinary perspectives. Intersectionalities are discussed through lenses of proximity and epidata. Entanglements of commonality between differing web plots are represented in a negotiation vestibule. The possibility of the communication channel itself being noise is presented. The vestibule highlights opportunities for negotiation points to attempt functional meaning-making.
{"title":"Webs of Proximity and Just-in-Time Information","authors":"Carrie A. Boettcher, Laurie J. Bonnici, Brian O'Connor","doi":"10.35492/docam/9/2/13","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35492/docam/9/2/13","url":null,"abstract":"Disciplinary webs of proximity frequently overlap at the periphery of a topic where interests intersect for problem-solving. Failure to account for disciplinary differences can result in dis-ease – tension that interferes with meaning-making. This can be especially problematic in just-in-time information settings. An unexpected social media case study involving severe weather reporting and algorithm-driven system censorship makes evident the role of a constellation of pragmatic factors that can enhance or hinder just-in-time information delivery. Employing webs of proximity, we probe the severe weather censorship event with complementary bodies of knowledge and disciplinary perspectives. Intersectionalities are discussed through lenses of proximity and epidata. Entanglements of commonality between differing web plots are represented in a negotiation vestibule. The possibility of the communication channel itself being noise is presented. The vestibule highlights opportunities for negotiation points to attempt functional meaning-making.","PeriodicalId":36214,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings from the Document Academy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46231432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}