Literary Prosumers: Young People’s Reading and Writing

TLDR

Young people are key prosumers in user‑generated culture, creating fan works such as stories, pictures, and films based on existing media. The article investigates what drives fan‑culture online communities and argues that fan‑fiction sites function as informal learning environments. The study applies the rhetoric principle of imitatio to analyze how interactive reader‑writer processes in fan communities foster literacy development and gendered identity construction. The analysis shows that fan interactions cultivate literacies and shape gendered identities through imitatio. Keywords: fan fiction, informal learning, literacy, prosumer, imitatio rhetoric, literature.

Abstract

The production of culture is today a matter of 'user generated content' and young people are vital participants as 'prosumers', i.e. both producers and consumers, of cultural products. Among other things, they are busy creating fan works (stories, pictures, films) based on already published material. Using the genre fan fiction as a point of departure, this article explores the drivers behind net communities organised around fan culture and argues that fan fiction sites can in many aspects be regarded as informal learning settings. By turning to the rhetoric principle of imitatio, the article shows how in the collective interactive processes between readers and writers such fans develop literacies and construct gendered identities.Keywords: fan fiction, informal learning settings, literacy, prosumer, rhetoric principle of imitatio, literature