Preserving Marvels of Fandom: Constructing the Context of Marvel Cinematic Universe Fandom on Reddit and Tumblr

Abstract

Fan engagement on social media platforms presents significant challenges for digital preservation due to their dynamic and evolving character, spurred by the platforms’ data-generative and algorithmic features, as well as commercial logic. These characteristics pose problems when capturing information about the context of fan engagement. Context sheds light on the environment, setting or circumstances in which a phenomenon occurs; it helps clarify the meaning of fans’ creations and is crucial for future access, use, and interpretation of the preserved material. Anchored in information studies, my thesis provides a deepened understanding of preserving digital fan culture on platforms by focusing on how to construct context. I focus on the notion of context as defined and delineated through two key archival concepts: provenance (e.g., the contextual origins) and appraisal (e.g., what is valuable to preserve).

Drawing on a sociomaterial outlook on practices and infrastructure, I conduct my study using ethnographic methods in two steps: 1) examining how fan engagement becomes meaningful in their information activities and 2) how to develop provenance and appraisal based on my insights from examining fans’ information activities. The thesis’s findings contribute to expanding the current state of knowledge concerning fan engagement on social media platforms and how to approach them in digital preservation. In the study’s findings, I show that 1) fans’ engagement with information becomes meaningful in different ways for different fans; 2) various actors on and beyond the platforms create conditions that co-shape fan engagement; and 3) fans’ information activities change because they are continuously being negotiated and interpreted over time. Drawing on these findings, I develop the concepts of cutting and binding context to identify context information. Cutting and binding seek to construct context for preservation by focusing on movement and change in the scope and constitution of fan engagements over time. I propose understanding provenance as shifting, following how fan engagement evolves through time, and appraisal as situated, anchored in how activities on the platform become meaningful for fans.

Abstract (Swedish)

Fan engagement on social media platforms presents significant challenges for digital preservation due to their dynamic and evolving character, spurred by the platforms’ data-generative and algorithmic features, as well as commercial logic. These characteristics pose problems when capturing information about the context of fan engagement. Context sheds light on the environment, setting or circumstances in which a phenomenon occurs; it helps clarify the meaning of fans’ creations and is crucial for future access, use, and interpretation of the preserved material. Anchored in information studies, my thesis provides a deepened understanding of preserving digital fan culture on platforms by focusing on how to construct context. I focus on the notion of context as defined and delineated through two key archival concepts: provenance (e.g., the contextual origins) and appraisal (e.g., what is valuable to preserve).

Drawing on a sociomaterial outlook on practices and infrastructure, I conduct my study using ethnographic methods in two steps: 1) examining how fan engagement becomes meaningful in their information activities and 2) how to develop provenance and appraisal based on my insights from examining fans’ information activities. The thesis’s findings contribute to expanding the current state of knowledge concerning fan engagement on social media platforms and how to approach them in digital preservation. In the study’s findings, I show that 1) fans’ engagement with information becomes meaningful in different ways for different fans; 2) various actors on and beyond the platforms create conditions that co-shape fan engagement; and 3) fans’ information activities change because they are continuously being negotiated and interpreted over time. Drawing on these findings, I develop the concepts of cutting and binding context to identify context information. Cutting and binding seek to construct context for preservation by focusing on movement and change in the scope and constitution of fan engagements over time. I propose understanding provenance as shifting, following how fan engagement evolves through time, and appraisal as situated, anchored in how activities on the platform become meaningful for fans.

• author: Chan, Shirley
• supervisor: Olof Sundin; Ann-Sofie Klareld; Olle Sköld
• opponent: lektor Nanna Bonde Thylstrup, Københavns universitet
• organization: Information Studies
• publishing date: 2025
• type: Thesis
• publication status: published
• subject: Cultural Studies; Information Studies; Media and Communication Studies
• keywords: digital preservation, archives, fans, fandom, fan culture, fan practices, context, provenance, appraisal, social media platforms, ethnography, digital culture, infrastructure, sociomateriality, digital preservation, fans, fan practices, fandom, archives, fan culture, digital culture, infrastructure, sociomateriality, context, provenance, appraisal, social media platforms, ethnography
• in: Lund Studies in Arts and Cultural Sciences
• issue: 37
• pages: 338 pages
• defense location: LUX C121
• defense date: 2025-10-03 10:15:00
• ISSN: 2001-7529
• ISSN: 2001-7510
• ISBN: 978-91-90055-16-8
• ISBN: 978-91-90055-17-5
• project: Preserving Marvels of Fandom: Constructing the Context of Marvel Cinematic Universe Fandom on Reddit and Tumblr
• language: English
• LU publication?: yes
• id: 221a0189-9ad4-497c-9613-47dbb6b8b692
• date added to LUP: 2025-08-22 08:50:43
• date last changed: 2025-09-04 03:30:09