From time to time, the OTW will be hosting guest posts on our OTW News accounts. These guests will be providing an outside perspective on the OTW or aspects of fandom where our projects may have a presence. The posts express each author’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. We welcome suggestions from fans for future guest posts, which can be left as a comment here or by contacting us directly.
Patrick Doyle is a PhD student in social and personality psychology at the University of Georgia under the direction of W. Keith Campbell. His research combines data science methodology with social theory to better understand the influence of celebrities on their audiences, specializing in computational linguistic approaches. He can be found talking about science, music, his life on Twitter, Instagram, and the University of Georgia’s website.
How did you first find out about fandom or fanworks?
By being a part of some! I had a few thousand followers on tumblr thanks in part to my involvement in a couple of music fandoms. The insider understanding of how fans relate to each other and talk about their favorite artists, along with a familiarity with so many of the media outlets used, has definitely informed my research. While my (near) professional level blogging days are over, I keep in touch with a lot of friends from that time in my life and still keep tabs on a lot of the same artists. I actually think much of the mainstream fan behavior you can find on Twitter is incredibly similar to the content we were posting back in 2012 on tumblr.
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