An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar, delivered by Dr Suzanne Black (Digital Research Postdoctoral Fellow, 2024)
Alternative canons: Topic modelling fanfiction reviews on Goodreads.com
This project uses computational analysis of reviews of fanfiction texts (non-commercial works using characters, settings and plots from existing media properties) on the site Goodreads.com to interrogate how contemporary readers construct and discuss literary value.
Fanfiction texts have typically existed outside of commercial and institutional forms of organisation and categorisation. However, the crowd-sourced book review site Goodreads allows fanfiction to be listed and reviewed along with commercially published novels. This sharing of digital space by commercial and amateur writing challenges literary boundaries and definitions.
Using topic modelling – a form of machine learning – on a dataset compiled from a selection of the reviews of fanfiction on Goodreads, this project examines how readers use the terminology of canonicity and what constitutes a ‘classic’ to negotiate the place of fanfiction amongst other forms of literature and capture insight into contemporary readers’ views on literary value.
In this Work in Progress talk I will introduce the materials and methods used, talk about the larger implications of this research, and share some initial findings.
Please join in-person, or click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81857401179
Passcode: 6aSe7GF7