Reflection Blog #7: Emerging Technologies in the MLP-Community

Emerging technologies developed since the 21^st century began have made possible the Web 2.0 system explored in great depth by Michael Stephens (2006)—where users accessing the internet through a variety of means could interact or collaborate on on-line forums or similar information communities. Also included in that research is an emphasis on generating new content, which can benefit all the possible recipients involved while building the skills of the creators. With this said, the participatory cultures Henry Jenkins and his team (n.d.) studied as part of the Pew Internet & American Life Project have since flourished, breaking down barriers constructed by society, location, backgrounds, etc. and bringing people together (often) in creative harmony.

The fan base for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is a perfect example of an information community and participatory culture that uses emerging technologies in this way—including coordinating social media platforms with fan websites—to help facilitate communication between members and provide a fulfilling experience for them.

For this blog post, I decided to interview members of the MLP: FIM community who frequented one of the main fan fiction sites for MLP-related materials, FimFiction.net. This I did by posting a notice through my personal user account on the site, hoping fellow fans might come across or respond to it. And imagine my surprise when—within a few hours—not just one but two writers volunteered to do the interview! This, in and of itself, illustrates the ease with which members on such sites can connect or stay updated on what other fans are doing within the community on-line. For the convenience of these two members, I put together a survey-style interview that FimFiction.net allowed me to send to them by Personal Message (PM).

Here were their wonderful responses:

1) How did you learn about the series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic?

Dustin Lange: I first learned about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic through my friend at school. I saw he was listening to a song called "Lullaby For a Princess," by Ponyphonic on his computer and asked him why he was litening to a song about ponies. He then told me about it, and I have loved the show ever since.

Weeping Angel of Darkness: I was on Netflix and clicked a random show. My Little Pony.

2) What are your favorite MLP-related sites (such as Equestria Daily, Derpybooru, Fimfiction.net, etc) to visit, and why?

Dustin Lange: My favorite site to visit is FIMFiction.net because I love to read and write.

Weeping Angel of Darkness: I only get on FIMfiction, I like the stories that I find....

 
3) Which types of social media sites (such as Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, etc.) do you use the most frequently to find news, fan works, or connect with other fans? Are there any you prefer over others, and why?

Dustin Lange: I use FIMFiction.net to get news about the show, read fan stories, and connect with other bronies. I prefer using this site over others because it has the highest density of stories and fans of any site I have used.

Weeping Angel of Darkness: [Same as #2]

4) How often do you interact with other members? Is this usually by commenting on their works, contacting them individually (like by email/PM), or both?

Dustin Lange: I interact with other members on a daily basis by both commenting on their works and by private messages.

Weeping Angel of Darkness: I really only get on here, but a friend is a brony, so I talk to him. But that isn't exactly social media is it?

5) What aspect of the MLP: FIM fan community do you enjoy the most?

Dustin Lange: The aspect I enjoy the most about the MLP:FIM fan community is how friendly and caring other fans are! I have gotten a lot of help from a lot of people who have no reason to care for me – a total stranger on the internet – but they still took the time out of their day to try and help me!

Weeping Angel of Darkness: Reading/writing fanfics of course. It is like singing. I know that I cannot do it, but I do it anyway. I love it.

6) What are some of your favorite ways to participate in this fandom?

Dustin Lange: I love to participate in the fandom in many ways! I love to read and write, listen to and make music, as well as discuss the show with other bronies!

Weeping Angel of Darkness: I write fanfics, and give strength to other bronies by announcing that I am one and being persecuted.

7) Are there any areas regarding either the show or fan community you would like to see studied in greater detail (for example, scholarly articles, books, or scientific studies on the growth of the fan base or its impact on our society)?

Dustin Lange: I would love to see how bronies have effected the way society views masculinity. I have always heard that bronies have made an impact, but I haven't seen anyone look into just how much it has changed.

Weeping Angel of Darkness: Well, I WOULD like to see more polls and stuff, and a book or two would be nice. I am thinking of having a study similar to this one on fave characters and seeing how it works. I think they should in fact take more surveys on the impact that the show has on our lives.

8) Finally, what advice or wisdom would you like to share with those new to MLP: FIM and the fan base about this community?

Dustin Lange: If you are friendly, (most) people will be friendly back. If you are a jerk, people will try to reason with you. If you continue to be a jerk, people will rip you apart.

Weeping Angel of Darkness: Be bold. I have to admit that this show unites us, and we are often great communities of... well, love. Have fun, and express yourself!

From these interviews with Dustin Lange and Weeping Angel of Darkness, it is clear to see that the MLP: FIM fandom is a friendly community where members go out of their way to help others succeed. Fans will also tend to gravitate towards sites relevant to their interests, such as FimFiction.net—where they can share their writings, enjoy those of other fans, and strengthen their skills. Regardless of which site they visit, however, all participants in this culture have a well-founded desire to know how their information community has impacted the world even beyond on-line spaces. They want to know how this type of interaction and similar show-related members will affect their lives and the lives of other people.

And that sense of belonging within this information community, and the wish to make the world a better place as a result, are powerful messages stressed by the MLP: FIM fan base.

 

References

- Darkness, W. (Personal communication, November 16, 2014).

- Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A. J., & Weigel, M. (n.d.) Confronting the challenge of participatory culture: Media education for the 21^st century. [PDF File]. Building the Field of Digital Media and Learning: An Occasional Paper on Digital Media and Learning. Retrieved from http://www.macfound.org/media/article_pdfs/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF (Links to an external site.) 

-Lange, D. (personal communication, November 15, 2014).

- Stephens, M. (2006). Exploring web 2.0 and libraries. Library Technology Reports 42(4), 8-14. Retrieved from http://libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=23317356&site=ehost-live (Links to an external site.)

Reflection Blog #6: Librarian Guides and Adventurous Information Professionals

Our LIBR 200 lesson on librarian stereotypes has been among the most thought-provoking so far (which is saying a lot, given how much material we have covered already)—and it has made me rethink how this profession appears in popular culture or gets viewed by society as a whole. Ever since childhood, it seems, I had been acquainted with the stereotype of the “old maid librarian,” as mentioned by Debbie Hansen in her lecture, and the no-nonsense “enforcer” touched on by Ellen Greenblatt.

But I will always remember how my earliest impressions of librarians were as the silent guardians to vast collections of books. They worked behind the scenes at a public library, pointing those who either needed help or had no idea how to use a library in the right direction. In that light, I suppose they seemed like a type of technical support—or as if they simply “came with” a library and embodied all the knowledge contained therein. For there was no doubt in my mind that librarians were wise or knew a great deal. In my imagination, they would have been the ones the main character of a story came to for hard-to-find information or sage advice in locating some mystical object or unraveling a mystery.

In hindsight, a lot of movies did enforced this image while I was growing up. For instance, the film Matilda (and the children’s story that it came from) featured a young girl named Matilda who managed to fulfil her love of reading—and empower herself in many other ways—by visiting the public library. The librarian, an older woman in sharp-framed glasses notices the child coming in day after day and finally gives her a library card. After that, she disappears while Matilda continues to grow intellectually in-between implied visits to the library. She no longer needs to be there for the storyline to work.

Even in children’s cartoons like Peanuts, where the characters did spend time using a library, the emphasis was more on books and the facilities. And if anyone spoke above a whisper or grew too loud, librarians were the silent and invisible force that kicked them (like Snoopy) out of the building. Other cartoons such as Rugrats did have library episodes where the young cast of characters tended to get introduced to the world-opening wonders of their public library. Yet then the adults would have to fill out tons of paperwork for the library card, while the librarian herself (usually always a woman in these cases) would stare them down like a vulture—searching for the smallest flaw on which to call them out. Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends even had an episode where a young boy has an overdue book and has to dodge an array of ninja-like librarians who are out to get him (as if he were a criminal) to slip it into the return slot—neglecting to realize that he would have to deal with the librarians anyway.

Such cartoons tended to use librarians for humor or comedic effect. And while I didn’t think much of that at the time, it was clear these shows perpetuated the overall cultural stereotypes against librarians and warned me as a child not to cross them in any way.

As an adult, I have come to know better—that librarians are highly educated information professionals who fight for intellectual freedom and truly want to help their patrons in every possible way. Still, I regret to say there are few stories I have read (despite being an ardent bibliophile) or heard where the main character is a librarian and performs in that role throughout the tale. The lists for these books on the Canvas website were helpful, but it still stands.

One example is Geraldine Brooks’ People of the Book, where the rare book expert and conservator Hanna Heath gets the offer to help save the Sarajevo Haggadah—a religious text passed from one person to the next during a period when illuminated bibles had been banned. Using clues found in the book’s gutter, and at different points in the text, Hanna manages to piece together the journey this text must have made over the last few centuries. This information helps to form the basis for the rest of the story, which veers between a historical novel and a romance. Yet Hannah as a rare book expert gets the assignment due to her background in helping to preserve illuminated manuscripts and goes on a long journey as a result. Although, Hannah even goes so far as say she was far more used to the quiet comfort of her scientific lab to such an active or dangerous environment at one point, implying that her line of work is pretty reclusive. So while Brooks does go out of his way to portray the rare book expert as delighting in her work, and some of the process involved, it becomes the launching point used for an adventure that he suggests wouldn’t have been available to someone in that profession.

This perspective is interesting, especially when combined with the thought of an “information professional.”

In fact, I have read quite a wide selection of stories and watched several movies with main characters who would fall into the information professional category. They may not work in libraries or assist patrons within a library setting, yet in many ways their interaction with resources (often books) and use of vast knowledge to help people overcome difficulties or make a variety of contributions places them in this role.

One example is Walter Moers’ The 13 ½ Lives of Captain Bluebear. In this novel, the title character relates one long wild yarn about many of the different places he had visited or seen during his life. From his first memory as a baby set adrift in an acorn shell on the high seas, to entertaining ghastly goblins with crying displays, to tramping over a desert made of dried brown sugar, he covers a lot of ground while searching for the perfect place to settle. Each location has a problem or issue that provides a social commentary in some way, but Bluebear is able to overcome them all with the help of a mental encyclopedia inserted into his head by a seven-brained professor who studies dark matter called Professor Nightingale (and yes, this story is as wacky and complicated as it sounds).

So Bluebear especially is the “walking encyclopedia” sometimes attributed to librarians, and using this knowledge he is able to help those he meets along the way and get out of more than one tough scrape. There is also a point, closer to the end of the novel, where he participates in an event in Atlantis (before it disappears off the earth; though this time it doesn’t sink beneath the waves) known as the “Duel of Lies.” The event is actually an oral storytelling gladiator-style competition, more or less, and the participants spend all their time preparing for it by reading books or learning the subtle fact of creating fictions (which he wins, by the way).

By the end of the novel, Bluebear retires to a forest where he becomes a teacher, researcher, and boasts an archive of literature. He writes stories about his adventures and is a guide to whom everyone in the surrounding community comes when in need.

With this said, Bluebear is essentially a librarian in the sense of his education (both from his worldly experiences and knowledge of literature) and the role he performs in helping those he meets. Yet “information professional” might be the term used to describe him best in this capacity because of all the stereotypes connected with the librarian profession—whereas, saying he is an “information professional” makes him sound more active and up to speed on the latest developments.

With this said, the implication I have begun to notice again and again is that “librarians” tend to get stereotyped as slower, quieter, and older individuals (unless they lead a double life as mentioned by Greenblatt). But an “information professional” is a term without the same stereotyped connected to it, and almost gives the impression of a tech-savvy or adventurous person.

Of course, I believe this impression is gradually changing. There is hope that librarians and this job title might have begun to shrug off those stereotypes in popular media.

For example, my chosen fan community is My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic—and the main character in this series is a librarian. Twilight Sparkle lived (up until the season 4 finale) in a library and acted as the librarian for the town. But she also became an authority, resource, and guide for all the residents. And when trouble struck, she leaps into action with magic and knowledge at the ready.

With any luck, this might signal a change in how people view librarians as a whole—regardless of whether or not they are also “information professionals.”