In 1992 when I was working on my Ph.D. dissertation about rec.arts.tv.soaps, the Usenet fan group that talked about soap operas, I was told to get ahold of Henry Jenkins, who had just finished a book about fandom. Henry was generous enough to send me the page proofs of the not-yet-released Textual Poachers, to read my work, and to provide encouragement.

I knew he was destined to be one of my favorite writers and thinkers when I got to the chapter (#2) about “how texts become real,” and saw how he used the relationship between a boy and his favorite stuffed animal in my favorite children’s story, The Velveteen Rabbit (a story that moves me to tears every time I read it, and which I can get choked up just thinking about) as a metaphor for the fan/text relationship.

In a child’s room, the stuffed animals that look the best are the ones that haven’t been loved. The ones that have been loved the hardest are all beat up. It’s a brilliant way to think about how very critical fans are, yet how the “damage” they do is evidence of the depth — and magically transformative potential — of their love.

All of which is a very roundabout way to provide some deep background for how pleased I am to now be a “consulting researcher” with the Convergence Culture Consortium Henry’s put together at MIT. Many regular readers of this blog already know C3, but those who don’t will recognize many of my core interests in how they describe their focus:

The logics of convergence culture are quickly becoming ubiquitous within the media world. Audiences are being encouraged to participate in a wider range of sites, transmedia principals are being adopted by content producers in a broad range of fields, and ‘engagement’ is being discussed as crucial to measurements of success. Housed within MIT’s uniquely cross-discipline Program in Comparative Media Studies, C3 has the experience and expertise to help make sense of the interplay between media platforms, media producers, and media consumers. These elements interact dynamically with each other, reshaping the contexts of consumption and generating new trends in the process. C3 extrapolates the insights gained from studying these leading sites of cultural consumption to understand current developments and future trends.

C3 researchers seek to answer the following questions:

• How has the intersection between old and new technologies affected the ways people consume entertainment, relate to branded content, and experience mediated culture?

• How can the behaviors of bleeding-edge media consumers (such as fans and brand enthusiasts) inform us about new ways to engage more general audiences?

• What new methods and models can be used to build lasting emotional connections with brands? (e.g. product placements, advergaming, and viral marketing)

• How can content producers adapt to the global environment entertainment content circulates within?

• How can content producers be prepared to respond to newly emerging events and a rapidly changing media landscape?

• Where do companies “cross the line” in their efforts to attach themselves to particular entertainment franchises through product placements and tie-ins?

I look forward to the opportunity to talk more and work more closely with all the researchers involved in the consortium.

I’ll be speaking this spring at Mesh, “Canada’s Web Conference” as part of a panel looking at the increasingly blurry boundaries between public and private. Today they launched registration. Here’s how they describe Mesh:

Canada’s premier Web conference, being held in Toronto on May 21st & 22nd, 2008, is a chance to connect with people who are as excited about the potential of the Web as you are — people who want to know more about how it is changing the way we live, work and interact with the world. And you won’t just connect with them in the hallways — at mesh, every panel and workshop is interactive.

The Web is disrupting virtually every industry and marketplace. mesh is a chance for you to hear real-world examples of how the Web and social media are affecting you as a marketer or public relations professional, as an entrepreneur or investor, as a member of the media or just someone interested in the world around them. Share your insights and learn from those of others like you at mesh.

The evolution of the Web as a social medium is dismantling old business models, but it is also creating new ways for us to communicate, collaborate, entertain and inform. At mesh, you will hear from people who are using these tools in creative ways. We believe that by connecting and sharing our ideas, we can help inspire each other to do something great, whether it’s running a startup or building a community.

Among the other speakers are two people I’ve long been following: Ethan Kaplan, CTO for Warner Brothers, and founder of the hugely successful REM fansite Murmurs.com is one of the keynoters. He was one of the first people I interviewed when I started this blog, and he is a great exemplar of how the internet provides fans a platform that can reshape fan/label relationships (see, for instance, the keynote I gave at the Norwegian music conference by:Larm).

I’m also looking forward to seeing Michael Masnick speak — his Techdirt blog is by far my favorite source of insightful technology news analysis. Somedays I think I could lazily write half of this blog by pointing to his coverage of the music industry and saying “what he said.” I expect to learn a lot from all the speakers and those who attend, and really look forward to being there myself.

Back next week!

If you’re in Canada (or close enough to get Canadian TV reception), I’ll be participating in a panel discussion on The Agenda tonight about socializing online. Episode description: “How do we socialize online … and how does being online changes the way we socialize?” Presumably there will be a video podcast to follow. I’ll post that link when it’s up. The Agenda airs at 8 PM on TVO.

Video is now up - click March 4 link on the left. You can also download it as an audio or video podcast from iTunes. Very good 45 minute discussion.

I’ve spent a lot of time advocating for the idea that fans are not insane — that we are perfectly sensible people who are generally quite capable of recognizing the differences between, say, characters and actors, or rock star personae and the people who wear those masks.

So it troubles me no end when people try to post comments on this blog that confuse the fact that I have written ABOUT someone with the illusion that the someone about whom I have written is either behind this blog or likely to be reading it.

This happens a lot with … I fear to use their names lest they generate even more misguided search hits than they already do, so I’ll just say… a really big British pop star whose fan site manager I interviewed and a youtube teenage sensation who’s happy to take credit for having gained his success online.

It makes me wonder what is going on … are these people totally internet illiterate and really don’t understand that a comment on my blog will never ever be read by the person to whom they’re addressing it? Or are they just throwing comments up everywhere figuring eventually he’s going to see one somewhere? Messing with me? Just not paying attention? Or what?

I just don’t get it.

Actually, now that I think about it, it also happened when I wrote about that really beloved racehorse whose name I won’t use but whose fan community became an activist community following his death. I got all kinds of creepy comments submitted on that one, as though the horse’s trainer were reading the comments, in which case I’d have hoped he was standing by with his lawyers cuz that was some ugly stuff they were trying to do through me.

Strangely, it never happens when I write about people (or animals) who aren’t really famous. Guess it’s some sort of natural law — the more fans you get, the more likely you are to get some who can’t tell comment@onlinefandom.com from YourFavoriteStar@Personal.TopSecret.EmailAddress.com

It makes me want to institute universal internet literacy education in grade schools throughout the world. Because if they’re confused about that, what else are they confused about?

Any other bloggers want to tell weird-comments-i-delete-that-aren’t-spam stories?