User:Eleni/T6 Assessment
Year 0
Fili, E. (2024). Motivation Letter. XPUB Application.I am fascinated by the nuances of fan-made creation, such as collaborative fanzines, fanfiction, and fanart. Despite being sometimes dismissed, I recognize the significant role these communities play in aiding self-expression and fostering connections through shared passions. I am interested in understanding the dynamics of such communities and how their creative practices intersect with broader cultural narratives.
Special Issue Contributions
Prototyping
Extraterrestrial Zine Fair
I was one of the fair organizers, alongside Charlie , Chrissy, Sevgi and Wyn.
fan archive of the pre-collapse society
radio show premise: After the inevitable Collapse of big-tech, the corporate servers have melted down and all surviving pieces of media are the ones previously stored in pirate / fan archives. The only way to share what remains (artworks, movies, photography, sculptures) is to describe and narrate them on pirate radio. The fandom artifacts broadcasted have survived the Collapse by being carefully curated, stored and maintained with love in self-hosted servers— in the bedrooms of nerds from the past!
| Show 1 | pre-rec | 30/09 | |
| Show 3 | w/ Barbs (xpub1) | 03/02 | |
| Show 4 | w/ Angel | 21/04 |
Self-Hosting Zine
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A printed publication where I document my research and process on how I set up my server, and the steps I took to make it public.
Made by wiki-to-print-ing the page Setting up a public server into a printable pdf, using paged.js |
Writing Documentation
Research: FAN/SERVICE
Research focus: reanimating fandom online practices by embodying feminist server approaches
Chapter 1
I begin my research by looking into the roots of media fandom as the predecessor of the newer term “transformative fandom”. I argue that the predominantly queer/fem demographic of transformative fandom does not fit the image of what constitutes the “true fan”. Therefore, queer/fem fans are constantly belittled, scrutinized and pathologized.
Chapter 2
I focus on networking technologies, looking into the myth of virtual disembodiment through two different lenses; Megan Boler’s new virtual cartesianism and Donna Haraway’s cyborg theory. I argue that queer/fem people, and in extension transformative fandom, expose their identities online in hopes of finding each other.
Chapter 3
I explain how this vulnerability greatly influences their online experience, since virtual societies re-establish existing societal biases. Many platforms have seemed like safe spaces for transformative fandoms, but after multiple platform “purges” and “deaths”, it seems like no space is sufficient to truly facilitate fandom practices.
Chapter 4
I introduce feminist servers and look for inspiration in their ways of building community around their own infrastructures and networks.
Chapter 5
I present how the feminist teachings I compiled have influenced my own project— an online fandom radio station.
Project: FanonRadio
FanonRadio Wiki
Graduation
12hr Radio Marathon
Trial Sprint (not Marathon)
Performance
yikessssssss