Chapter 28 Exercises

Exercise 1: Platform Affordance Audit (Individual, 45–60 minutes)

Select one fan community you belong to or have observed. For each of the five platform dimensions — persistence, searchability, scale, synchrony, and monetization model — analyze how that dimension affects the community's practice.

Deliverable: A 500–750 word report structured around the five dimensions, with specific examples of how each dimension shapes community behavior.

Guiding questions for each dimension: - What specific community practices are enabled by this dimension? - What specific practices are constrained by this dimension? - Has the community developed workarounds for constraints? What are they? - How would the community change if this dimension were different?

Exercise 2: Platform Comparison Matrix (Small Group, 60–90 minutes)

In groups of three to four, complete a platform comparison matrix for at least four platforms used by fan communities (you may use the six analyzed in Case Study 2 as a starting point, or select four different platforms).

Matrix structure:

After completing the matrix, write a 300–500 word group reflection: If you were starting a new fan community today and could choose any combination of platforms, what would you choose and why? What would you sacrifice?

Exercise 3: Algorithmic Audit (Individual, 2–3 hours over one week)

This exercise requires a week of observation.

Setup: Identify one social media platform you use regularly that has an algorithmic feed (not chronological). Spend one week observing and recording what appears in your feed as it relates to fan content.

Recording protocol: Each day for seven days, spend 10 minutes on the platform and record: - How many fan-related items appear - Whether they are positive (fan creation, community celebration, fan news) or conflict-focused (fan war, controversy, criticism) - What types of engagement (likes, comments, shares) each type receives

Analysis: After seven days, calculate: - Ratio of positive to conflict-focused fan content - Average engagement difference between positive and conflict-focused content - Any patterns in timing or content type

Deliverable: 500–750 word analysis of what your audit reveals about the platform's engagement-optimization effects on fan content.

Exercise 4: Platform Ownership Change Research (Individual, 2–3 hours)

Research one historical example of a platform ownership change affecting fan communities (options: Geocities, LiveJournal, Vine, Tumblr/Verizon, Vine, or a platform of your choice with instructor approval).

Required sources: At least three sources, including at least one academic source (fan studies journal, media studies journal) and at least one primary source (fan community post, forum discussion, news coverage from the time).

Deliverable: 750–1000 word analysis addressing: 1. What was the platform, and what fan community practices did it support? 2. What change occurred (ownership, policy, or closure)? 3. What were the immediate effects on fan communities? 4. What were the long-term effects (one year or more later)? 5. How does this case illustrate the platform dependency vulnerability discussed in Section 28.5?

Exercise 5: AO3 and Platform Resistance (Individual or Pair, 45 minutes)

Read the Organization for Transformative Works' mission statement and AO3's "About" page. Then answer the following questions:

1. What specific platform dependency risks is AO3 designed to address? Quote specific language from the OTW mission that addresses these risks.
2. What are the costs of AO3's platform-resistant model? (What does a nonprofit, volunteer-run archive sacrifice compared to a commercial platform?)
3. AO3 is not fully platform-independent — it still depends on commercial infrastructure (servers, internet service providers, search engines). Identify at least two dependencies that AO3 maintains despite its nonprofit structure.
4. Could AO3's model be applied to other fan community platforms (equivalent of an "OTW for Discord")? What would be required? What would be the challenges?

Deliverable: 500–700 word response addressing all four questions.

Exercise 6: Fan Labor Calculation (Individual, 30–45 minutes)

This exercise asks you to quantify (approximately) the value of fan community platform labor.

Step 1: Estimate, as concretely as possible, the labor input for moderating one major fan community subreddit for one year. Consider: - Hours per week for each moderator - Number of moderators - Activities performed

Step 2: Apply a wage rate. Use the median hourly wage for content moderation work (research this; it varies by market). Calculate an annual labor cost.

Step 3: Research the platform's revenue model and estimate what percentage of that platform's value is generated by moderated community content.

Deliverable: 300–500 word analysis of what this calculation reveals about the platform labor economy, plus a clearly stated estimate of annual unpaid labor value for your chosen community.

Exercise 7: KingdomKeeper_7's Governance Decision (Case Analysis, 45–60 minutes)

Read the following scenario and answer the questions:

KingdomKeeper_7 has been managing the Kalosverse community across five platforms for three years. A new social media platform — "Nexus" — has just launched with significantly better affordances for fan communities: excellent persistence, sophisticated search, built-in archiving, nonprofit governance model, and a growing user base of 2 million. However, migrating to Nexus would require: (1) rebuilding the entire community archive, (2) convincing existing members to create new accounts, and (3) maintaining the existing platforms during a transition period that might take six to eighteen months.

Questions: 1. Using the platform dimensions framework, analyze whether the migration is worth the cost. 2. What factors would make the migration more or less advisable? 3. How would KingdomKeeper_7 know when a migration is "successful"? 4. What governance process should KingdomKeeper_7 use to make this decision? Who should have input? Who should make the final call?

Deliverable: 500–750 word case analysis addressing all four questions.