Abstract
The intriguing name and inviting cover caught my attention and made me want to dive into this book by Jennifer Burek Pierce. The story of “Nerdfighters” starts with brothers Hank and John Green—authors who recognized the value of communicating with their readers and creating a space for them to gather, both virtually and face-to-face. While the brothers are award-winning authors of printed books, they have been innovative in their media use. They began a YouTube channel in 2007 called Vlogbrothers, which currently has 3.42 million subscribers, and they created a podcast in 2015 called Dear Hank and John.
The term “Nerdfighter” refers to “‘pro-nerd’ individuals whose distinctive interests often align outside the mainstream” (p. 28). Nerdfighteria—whose name was inspired by an arcade game—is “a community of readers who engage with narratives” (p. 4). Burek Pierce sought to document the group’s history while online sources remained available—podcasts, videos, viewers’ comments, social media posts, and newsletters—to explore the “nexus of texts, readers, and digital media” (p. 209). With Nerdfighters’ commentary spread across platforms, the author views “nerdfighteria as a constellation of sites” (p. 34).
Fandom
Burek Pierce’s curiosity of Nerdfighteria relates to readers, connections, and shifting technology: “In short, what does it mean to read in the early decades of the 21st century, years that have been declared ‘the late age of print’ and an ‘electronic’ era?” (p. 4). She explains the “dispersed yet connected” existence of fandoms as “individuals who respond to the same creators’ works,” and thus, Nerdfighteria qualifies (p. 9). But she points to other fitting descriptors, too, like “participatory culture” because members create and share content in response to reading (p. 10). Burek Pierce describes Nerdfighteria as “a community whose members felt a sense of connection and belonging through this online conversation, who followed John and his brother to whatever platform or medium they adopted for the stories they wanted to share” (p. 3), and thus, the book relates to the growing area of fandom research.
Topics Covered
Chapter 1 introduces the Nerdfighteria Census, first conducted in 2013 to help better understand the community; besides giving the Greens insights on their audience, it offers a chance for members to share their perspectives with the Greens and with each other. Chapter 1 also explains some of the community’s initiatives, such as the Project for Awesome (P4A)—an annual livestream fundraiser for charity. With this combination of book discussions and philanthropic efforts, Burek Pierce says Nerdfighteria “represents a place where people come together to share their passion for stories and ideas concentrating as well on the transformative effects that words can have in people’s lives” (p. 38). With its presence online and in person, Burek Pierce presents a vibrant, active community.
In Chapter 2, Burek Pierce explains characteristics of Nerdfighteria members and dives deeper into the “census” and its purpose “to confront assumptions with information” (p. 54). Although results are from a self-selected sample and could not be generalized to the entire community, Burek Pierce says “it is the most detailed accumulation of information about Nerdfighteria” (p. 55) and shows how the group’s characteristics have changed over time. Chapter 2 also offers information about the brothers’ podcast and their video production company, Complexly.
In Chapter 3, she describes the community’s focus on giving their attention to benefit others. During P4A, members make promotional videos for nonprofits and work to increase the amount of positive content featured on YouTube to reduce “world suck” (p. 84).
In Chapter 4, she focuses on the community’s love of reading. According to Burek Pierce, “Nerdfighters’ statements encourage us to see reading as an activity that reflects love, commitment, and sharing one’s inevitably limited time with someone else” (p. 109). In January 2019, John Green and Rosianna Halse Rojas created an online book club on Discord called Life’s Library, where members were divided into smaller, moderated groups called Shelves. During the pandemic, the club saw growth as “there was a shift to open-source, readily available titles” (p. 113).
Chapter 5 focuses on one particular book—The Fault in Our Stars—how it is consumed, understood, and co-created by fans. Through social media, readers have shared their “connection with story, place, and each other as aspects of the experience of reading” the book, and John has been open to this meaning-making (p. 121). Burek Pierce points out “traces of readers’ commitment to Green’s story, their demonstrations of having read, can be found across social media platforms, from YouTube to Goodreads to Pinterest and personal blogs” (p. 123). When a real location is mentioned, readers often take photos, leave messages behind, and share their experience with others. Instead of merely underlining their favorite passages in a dog-eared paperback, countless readers have engaged in “public, performative marginalia” by leaving notes on the famous bench from TFiOS in Amsterdam, for example (p. 125). Readers are excited to “have found a place where fiction and real worlds intersect, and they have been there and testified to that connection” (p. 128). Those who take photos of such places and post them online “transmit their experience to others, signaling their affiliations. It is a public communication of one’s relationship to the community and its canon” (p. 129). Burek Pierce points to readers who adopt a variety of media platforms to connect with authors or fellow readers and says, “the fact that there are so many iterations of this story, so many ways to grapple with Hazel’s love and loss, means we must prioritize the story over the medium that conveys it” (p. 133).
Reading is different than in previous centuries; it can be done using a multitude of platforms, and readers can easily respond. Burek Pierce says, “TFiOS readers write back. They write to the author, to themselves, to each other, and to the world at large” (p. 133). The downside of these digital records is that they “are all too likely to disappear” due to technology problems or updates, such as the Nerdfighter Tumblr and Ning accounts that are no longer available (p. 210).
Where it Fits in the Curriculum
Narratives, Nerdfighters, and New Media provides a detailed look at a community and points to “the vitality of contemporary reading” (p. 27). Narratives could be useful for courses related to fandom, identity, new media, production, media history, and research. The content and writing style would be most appropriate for graduate or upper-level undergraduate students.
After reading the book, students in classes related to media analysis, production, or technology could look for other examples of user-generated content connecting to a printed work (e.g., a classic novel referenced in a meme). They could analyze messages based on the focus of the course (e.g., relation to a theory; design effectiveness). Students could incorporate elements from classic stories into memes or short videos via Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, or TikTok. They could reflect on readers’ fascination with the bench in Amsterdam and share similar connections they have made with real places mentioned in fictional works. Students could choose an online community to examine. They could determine the type of data available, write research questions or hypotheses, and defend what methods would work best; they could write a proposal or conduct the research. Finally, students could reflect on the impact of the lack of permanence of online data and what that means for researchers.
