The International Association of Audience and Fan Studies

I am passing along this link to a survey that Avi Santo (my partner in the fan debate series hosted by Henry Jenkins) is working on with a colleague of his. The survey is meant to be "an informal survey of media scholars' attitudes and practices with regard to online scholarly work and engaging non-academic communities."

You can follow the link below to access the survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=N3SHxTCZQa1RZBnJ0lBaXg_3d_3d

THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AUDIENCE AND FAN STUDIES

 

Audience and Fan Studies are fields of scholarship that have developed  in a number of traditional academic areas, including but not limited to anthropology, communication, composition/rhetoric, computer science, film studies, folklore studies, information technology studies, law, library science, literary studies, media studies, performance studies, psychology, sociology, television, studies, etc.

 

This new organization will promote cross-disciplinary communication, activities, and scholarship through traditional academic venues, including:

 

• Creation and management of a web page with forums for announcements and discussions for scholars in a range of fields;
• Creation and management of an e-mail listserv to serve the interests of scholars in the field;
• Publication of an online newsletter;
• Creation and management of interdisciplinary activities such as study days, mini-conferences, and, eventually, an online conference in Second Life;
• Creation and management of on-line academic journal;
• Other academic projects dictated by the interests of the membership.

 

Scholarship in any of the following areas can be considered to fall under the association's area of interest (although this list is selective not comprehensive):

 

Audience Research

Conventions

Convergence Culture

Cosplay/Costuming

Fan Art, Culture, Fiction, Film, Vids

Filking

Folklore/myth/urban legend

Hypertexts

Memorabilia and Collecting

Music

Role-playing Communities

Trading Cards

Video gaming (online, console, PC)

Virtual and face-to-face communities and cultures

Viral Marketing

 

As new media technologies and the World Wide Web offer more venues for creativity, more new topics for scholarship will develop.

 

If interested contact:  iaafsorg@gmail.com

Yahoo Announcement List:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iaafs/

LiveJournal Community:  http://community.livejournal.com/iaafs/profile

 

Welcome to the weblog/LiveJournal community for The International Association of Audience and Fan Studies (IAAFS).

This community is the primary blog for the IAAFS, and carries announcements directly relating to the development and growth of the organization. Posting access is currently limited, but all interested parties are welcome to join/watch the community.

The IAAFS exists to facilitate scholarly activities in the interdisciplinary areas of Audience and Fan Studies.

Audience and Fan Studies are fields of scholarship that have developed in a number of traditional academic areas, including but not limited to Anthropology, Communication, Composition/Rhetoric, Computer Science, Film Studies, Folklore Studies, Law, Library Science, Literary Studies, Media Studies, Musicology, Psychology, Sociology, Information Technology Studies, etc.

This organization's mandate is to promote cross-disciplinary communication, activities, and scholarship through a variety of academic venues.

And for your reading convenience, RSS and ATOM feeds of this journal/blog are also available.