Here’s a roundup of stories about fans leading the way that might be of interest to fans:
- Fans have managed to put all sorts of sites and technologies to use to recommend and share reading material. A recent study suggests that the key to eBook adoption is to facilitate sharing and recommendations among readers. A different study done with iTunes users supports this finding, noting that purchases increased by 50% among users offered recommendations, primarily because they were broadening their interests. What’s more, sharing recommendations increased a sense of community. “The authors found that all kinds of users — close as well as far — became closer to one another on their networks in the [group given recommendations] relative to [those who did not get them].”
- Writers and readers working together to further develop stories has also been a staple of fan communities. Now Amazon is developing an infrastructure for readers to have conversations with authors and Nieman Labs suggests that this will change what books are about by creating extensions to the original texts. “Authorship in that sense being not just about creation, but about influence more diffusively…Amazon is encouraging, in other words, questions whose answers aren’t just supplemental to the books they address, but also literally extensive to them. The answers, in effect, become part of the books.”
- Lastly, this blog post uses Harry Potter to speculate on how movies, books, and fan fiction are on a detail-oriented spectrum. “[M]ovies can pare away your details and get at the core of your story” while if “you think the world of the books can—nay, should—be fleshed out even more…you may find fanfiction…right up your (Diagon) alley.”
We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!
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