Today should be a relatively short session. I will give you time in class to get some writing done. Today’s plan:
- Weekly Writing (and some reaction)
- Reading Jenkins
- Volunteers for workshopping
First, I want to spend some time going over a few minor points and talking about writing. Killing babies, listening for logical development. quick fix. First sentence.
Second, we need to begin reading the Jenkins material. To get us started, I want you to read Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers pages 1-16. As you read this material, I want you to find the following:
- How does Jenkins characterize fan communities? What attributes does he give them?
- Why should we pay attention to fans?
- What are the key debates between scholars regarding fan communities and fan studies?
- What special terminology, methodologies, or theoretical perspectives does the text introduce (names, terms, ideas, etc. that were previously unfamiliar to you
I am asking these questions because I want to put together a heuristic (a set of questions to aid invention) that you can use for your final papers. Note that even if you are not writing a final paper about a specific community, I will still ask you to do the reading and participate in the discussion, and you will still be taking the quizzes.
Third, I need two volunteers to workshop writing on Thursday. Note that I am open to workshopping academic writing, too!
