ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the extant research exploring young people's digital literacy practices as they participate in such spaces. It discusses how various theoretical perspectives have shaped or might shape understanding of fan-based online affinity spaces, share educational and methodological implications, and offer insights into the productive tensions revealed by this review. The chapter focuses on discussion of adolescents' digital lives on the literate identities they enact in fan-based online affinity spaces. Research on fan-based online affinity spaces additionally investigates the relationships between readers and writers, highlighting how audiences shape the writing shared in these spaces. Prior research on fan-based online affinity spaces has demonstrated the importance of having a supportive audience, though the extent to which writers' identities and practices develop directly from the feedback received from readers remains less clear. The chapter illuminates key themes in the research on adolescents' literate identities in fan-based online affinity spaces.
