Panel: Online Fandom: Boldly Going Where Few CSCW Researchers Have Gone Before

Communities focused on creating and sharing fanworks have existed since before the internet, but have thrived in the presence of online platforms. From young people learning literacy skills through writing fanfiction about their favorite media to complex infrastructural work in fans creating their own platforms to longstanding social norms that promote inclusivity, these communities showcase many core interests of CSCW—however, there has been little research focused on fan creation and communities within social computing and HCI. This panel brings together scholars who have conducted research related to online fandom communities to discuss their experiences, the challenges they have faced, and the vast opportunity for more work in this area from a range of perspectives.