- The paper identifies distributed mentoring as a dynamic model that empowers amateur authors through seven key attributes like aggregation and affect.
- It employs a nine-month ethnographic study with participant observation, interviews, and thematic analysis of thousands of reader reviews.
- Findings reveal that fanfiction communities offer cumulative, targeted, and positive peer feedback that challenges traditional hierarchical mentoring models.
Analysis of Distributed Mentoring in Online Fanfiction Communities
The paper "More Than Peer Production: Fanfiction Communities as Sites of Distributed Mentoring" by Evans et al. investigates the informal mentoring dynamics inherent within online fanfiction communities, primarily focusing on how these communities support amateur authors through distributed mentoring. Utilizing a nine-month ethnographic investigation, the authors conducted participant observation, interviews, thematic analysis of thousands of reader reviews, and a case paper of a My Little Pony discussion group. This multifaceted approach enabled the authors to delineate the characteristics of distributed mentoring as observed in fanfiction networks.
Key Findings
The research identifies seven attributes of distributed mentoring: aggregation, accretion, acceleration, abundance, availability, asynchronicity, and affect. These features distinguish distributed mentoring from traditional mentoring models by emphasizing fluid, non-hierarchical relationships and interactions across time and space facilitated by networked technologies. The findings contribute empirical evidence to the theory of distributed mentoring, indicating that fanfiction authors receive valuable instrumental and psychosocial support from the feedback of diverse community members.
Notably, the paper finds that over half of the evaluated reader reviews provided substantive, targeted feedback beyond mere positive remarks, representing the aggregation and abundance of feedback. The research also highlights the prevalence of positive and constructive feedback contrary to the expectation of negativity common on many platforms. The interactions among reviewers demonstrated accretion and acceleration through discussions leading to rich, cumulative insights that enhance authors' learning experiences. Moreover, the case paper illustrated how asynchronous and available communication on platform-discussion groups further supports knowledge exchange among community members.
Theoretical Implications
The paper expands the understanding of mentoring within networked environments, situated within participatory culture and affinity spaces frameworks. Distributed mentoring challenges conventional mentoring definitions by showcasing how informal, spontaneous mentoring practices emerge in interest-driven communities supported by digital media's affordances. This positions distributed mentoring as an important concept for digital ethnography and literacy studies, suggesting pathways for mentoring beyond professional settings and traditional pedagogies.
Practical Applications and Future Directions
This paper proposes practical implications for designing online learning environments that utilize distributed mentoring attributes to enhance educational experiences. The insights gleaned could inform the development of platforms in educational contexts where learners receive formative feedback from a broader array of peers and experts electronically. Furthermore, understanding the dynamics of distributed mentoring could be beneficial in crafting supportive atmospheres within various online affinity spaces, potentially extending these mentoring principles to sites such as Wikipedia and DeviantArt.
Future research could explore distributed mentoring's applicability across different types of fandoms and digital knowledge-sharing communities. Investigating further into how distributed mentoring influences authors' skill development over time would also be valuable. Given these foundational insights, broader investigations into distributed mentoring's positive and negative consequences in diverse digital domains could significantly advance the field.
In summary, this paper effectively elucidates how fanfiction communities operate as vibrant hubs of distributed mentoring, where amateur authors benefit from the collective feedback and engagement facilitated by networked technologies. The research encourages us to reconsider and expand the scope of informal mentoring models to adapt to the evolving digital age.