Now you get to have a taste of my personal research track throughout grad school. This was one of the articles I used for reference in an early assignment, and it’s one of the few that managed to stay on my mind—and in my heart—ever since: The Fading of the Elves: Techno-Volunteerism and the Disappearance of Tolkien Fan Fiction Archives.
Folks outside of academic spheres are often surprised to find that there’s scholarly research being done on things they consider hobbies, fun, or “wastes of time”. It’s like the Rule 34 of the internet: if it exists, there’s porn of it.
Let’s call this Rule 90: if it exists, there’s research on it.*
And if the presence of research done on the Tolkien fandom surprises you, just wait until I start sharing what I found on video games, parasocial relationships, and streamers and content creators.
* I don’t know how many rules there are at this point, but 90 felt like a nice, unclaimed number.