“I found what I needed, which was a supportive community”: an ethnographic study of shared information practices in an online cosplay community

Abstract

PurposeThis study explored the information practices of cosplayers, as well as the social norms, social types and information infrastructure of an online cosplay Facebook group, the Rey Cosplay Community (RCC).Design/methodology/approachTo better understand individual behavior, the authors made use of ethnographic methods and semi-structured interviews. Observation of the RCC was combined with information gleaned from select participant interviews.FindingsThe results suggest that the RCC can be conceived of as an information community where fans obtain and share information about cosplay costume making. Sufficient and well-organized information and positive community culture greatly help community members make their costumes.Originality/valueThis works serves as a bridge between fan studies and information science research in its exploration of online communities, shared information practices and creating non-toxic virtual environments. It also lends support to the idea that positivity, respect for community rules and a tight-knit connection between members play essential roles in building a non-toxic fan and information community.

The informational “cosplay journey” of Star Wars cosplayers in the context of a Facebook group

“…Our current study adds to the body of serious leisure research by exploring the information practices of cosplayers, thereby building on the small number of publications (e.g., Hill and Pecoskie, 2017;Hirsch, 2021;Vardell et al, 2020;Vardell et al, 2022) that have explored fan studies through the lens of information behaviour. Price (2017) investigated the information behaviour of fan groups on the Internet in her doctoral dissertation, where she found that the organization of fans' works was usually based on the community-generated ontology.…”

“…This, too, was noted by Hirsch (2021), who documented a variety of creative information literacy practices employed by cosplayers. In a study on fans' use of an online community to obtain information about making costumes, Vardell et al (2020) and Vardell et al (2022) found that wellorganized online communities could provide significant assistance for making costumes. However, there has been little research on the information practices of cosplayers and how fans manage and organize information obtained from online communities.…”

The impact of @jharnabhagwani content as instagram influencer

“…Some people argue that cosplay promotes unrealistic beauty standards and encourages fans to obsess over fictional characters. Others argue that cosplay is a harmless hobby that allows fans to express their creativity and connect with like-minded individuals (Vardell et al, 2022).…”