Although there appears to be a very distinctive collaborative divide between the provider (the show) and the consumer (the fan), there is a middle ground. These communities are becoming increasingly important to providers and never before have artists, musicians, producers, and politicians been so aware of their followers. The Internet has enabled fans to connect more easily with their heroes, and this has developed a kind of collaboration. There are many examples of this. Stephen Fry, a well-respected British actor, started using the Twitter microblogging service and within months he had 400,000 people following his updates. The Obama administration has made use of blogging and YouTube extensively to distribute content and invite feedback. One producer who has engaged repeatedly with his fan community is Joss Whedon, the Academy Award-nominated and Hugo Award-winning American writer, director, and executive producer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Whedon has been known to use a range of online media to interact with fans, and has even referenced fan contributions in his work. One such example was a reference in an episode to a “Polgara demon.” The name “Polgara” originally comes from books written by American author David Eddings. Whedon’s decision to use the name was inspired by a fan who posted regularly to the official Buffy the Vampire Slayer forum with the same name. Whedon and producer David Fury used the name as a tribute to her regular contributions in the community. Another example of Whedon’s commitment to his community bubbled to the surface during a writers’ strike. He worked with other writers to write and produce Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, a 45-minute short musical that was released on the Internet. Each episode of the musical went online for only a few days, and Whedon generated interest inside the community using Twitter to interact with the fans. These are all examples of community building in action. Producers are uniting groups of interested people together, providing communications facilities, and encouraging and enabling those people to collaborate. Even if the extent of that collaboration is a group of fans providing feedback on a forum, collaboration still happens. This is how most communities work. Collaboration is an unofficial by-product, and although it may not change or improve on the creation of the producer, it is still likely to offer real value. The primary focus in these communities is to ensure that the community (a) always has available access to the product, and (b) that they can communicate about it with others. The foundation of these kinds of communities is access. While each community has the characteristic of people gathering around a shared belief or interest, the actual impact of the community on this shared belief or interest varies greatly.
Write-centered communities For some communities, collaboration goes much further. It becomes much deeper, more intrinsic, and more accessible to all. Instead of merely enjoying things together, collaboration
PLANNING YOUR COMMUNITY
35