ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation A NICE PLACE ON THE INTERNET: AN EXPLORATORY CASE STUDY OF TEEN INFORMATION PRACTICES IN AN ONLINE FAN COMMUNITY Amanda Joan Waugh Doctor of Philosophy, 2018 Dissertation Directed by: Dr. Mega Subramaniam Associate Professor College of Information Studies This dissertation focuses on the everyday life information practices of teens in the Nerdfighter online fan community known as Nerdfighteria. Nerdfighteria is the community of fans of vloggers John and Hank Green. This study examines aspects of everyday life information seeking (ELIS) by 1) focusing on an understudied demographic, teens between the ages of 13 to 17; 2) focusing on a fan community, Nerdfighteria, which has many members, but has been rarely studied in the academic literature; and 3) investigating everyday life information practices using a single community that utilizes multiple online platforms (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Discord, and YouTube), rather than centering on a single platform. This dissertation is a case study incorporating a survey of 241 teens and semi- structured interviews with 15 teens about their experiences in Nerdfighteria, followed by a month-long diary activities. The study also included observations of public communities and review of documents related to the Nerdfighter community. Data analysis was iterative and incorporated grounded theory techniques. This study finds that teen Nerdfighters use their fan community to engage in a wide variety of everyday life information seeking around topics that are related to their personal development. Social, cognitive, emotional, and fan topics were predominant. Teen Nerdfighters engaged across platforms and were likely to switch platforms to find the optimal technical affordances while staying in Nerdfighteria. The teens viewed these changes as staying within the community rather than changing from one platform to another—illustrating the primacy of the community to the teens in meeting their information needs. Teens were drawn to Nerdfighteria because they believed it to be a unique place on the Internet, which valued intellectualism, positivity, and kindness. In many cases, teens preferred to observe other’s interactions in order to gain the information they needed or wanted, and waited to engage via posting or responding when certain criteria were met. These findings describe the complicated interplay of the ELIS topics sought, the preferred practices for meeting an information need, and the reasons for choosing one community over another. A NICE PLACE ON THE INTERNET: AN EXPLORATORY CASE STUDY OF TEEN INFORMATION PRACTICES IN AN ONLINE FAN COMMUNITY By Amanda Joan Waugh Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2018 Advisory Committee: Professor Mega Subramaniam, Chair Professor Brian Butler Professor Tamara Clegg Professor Kari Kraus Professor Ronald A. Yaros, Dean’s Representative © Copyright by Amanda Joan Waugh 2018 DEDICATION For Daniel, Lily, and Jack, without whom this would not be possible and without whom I would not want to finish. In thanks and gratitude for understanding and respecting this work even in light of stress, skipped dinners, travel, and so on. Thank you. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As this dissertation focuses on a community, I have spent a great deal of time thinking about what makes a community and how it impacts an individual. It is hard to imagine that someone could complete a dissertation without the love and support of a community behind them. In this aspect, I am truly blessed with abundance. Indeed, it will be impossible to list all the people who have shown me support, help, and kindness over the years of my doctoral study. That said, there are several people who deserve recognition for their outsized role in helping me reach this milestone. My academic community has been without peer. My advisor, Dr. Mega Subramaniam, and I have known each other a long time now. My first course as an advanced special student in the school library concentration was her first course as faculty. Mega pushed me to excel even when I did not want to, but I am the better for it. Though she did not recall giving this advice, Mega told me at the outset that completing this journey was less a matter of brilliance than of persistence. When I did not feel so brilliant and was ready to walk away, I just had to remember those words and stick it out another day, week, or semester. My committee—Dr. Brian Butler, Dr. Tammy Clegg, Dr. Kari Kraus, and Dr. Ron Yaros—I need to thank for offering sage advice and a critical eye. I have had the privilege to know and study with some amazing doctoral students, who all refined my thinking over the years: Natalie Greene Taylor, Jeff DiScala, Rebecca Follman, Christie Kodama, Donal Heidenblad, and many others. All have become good iii friends and wise sounding boards. As a graduate assistant, I have had the good fortune to work with some amazing iSchool colleagues, including Lindsay Sarin, Tricia Donovan, and Jeff Waters. I also want to express my gratitude to my fellow iSchool librarians— who were smart enough to move on, but kind enough to still hang with me (Becca Oxley, I am looking at you). The teens who participated in this study were thoughtful and giving of their time and perspective. They generously shared their experiences with Nerdfighteria and I am eternally grateful to them. I have an amazing community of friends and neighbors who helped me complete this project in a variety of ways. Christine Martin listened when I cried and assured me that I could do it, always and about everything. Julia Porter, Claire Dejou, and Elena Papina provided wisdom, friendship, and fun in equal measure and with equal abandon. Likewise, my neighbors Lynn Trane, Carolyn Huitema, and Kira Plagge have been kind and supportive, the type of women who will walk your dog or bring you a bottle of wine…sometimes both. It turns out that I cannot write alone in my basement day after day. Therefore, I must thank the staff at the Daily Dish—Zena, Jerry, and everyone else who let me borrow the Wi-Fi and a table when I needed to escape the basement. Finally, I must thank and recognize my family. My kids, Lily and Jack, have been amazing. When I started on my masters they were little kids worried that I was going to move into a dorm, and now they are almost grown. They have given me support, pride, iv patience, help, dank memes, and dark chocolate (usually Neuhaus because they know me so well). These two are truly all the things a Mom could hope for. My mother, who has believed in me since the start, and by start I mean preschool. I have to thank her for literally everything. My husband Dan has been a loving, supportive partner in all my endeavors no matter how insane. He is the one who reminded me to keep going and facilitated the hours in the basement required. He is the one who always saw in me what sometimes I could not see in myself. I strive to be the kind of spouse to him that he is to me. It helps that we both think we got the better end of the deal with this marriage. Thank you. v Table of Contents Dedication ...................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ................................................................................................................. xii List of Figures............................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 Background ................................................................................................................. 2 Problem statement ..................................................................................................... 4 Objectives and Research Questions ............................................................................ 5 Scope of Study ............................................................................................................ 5 Significance of Study ................................................................................................... 6 Explanation of Key Terms ........................................................................................... 7 Information Behavior and Information Seeking ........................................................ 7 Everyday Life Information Seeking ........................................................................... 7 Teen vs. Young Adult ................................................................................................ 8 Nerdfighter .............................................................................................................. 9 Online Fan Community............................................................................................. 9 Lurker / Observer ................................................................................................... 10 Gender Neutral Language ...................................................................................... 10 Structure of Dissertation ........................................................................................... 11 Chapter 2 Literature Review ........................................................................................