ABSTRACT
Alongside the growth of academic journals, networks, books, and articles devoted to the study of fans, scholars within related fields ranging from digital media studies to performance studies to industry studies have also begun focusing on fans as a distinct consumer category. Just as in the original Star Trek series, the friction between the profit-driven motivations of media producers to monetize what fans love, and fans' desires to consume, possess, and rework their favorite media. Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, in truth a principle not fully realized in the Star Trek franchise or in its fan communities, remains an essential aspiration, and thus we feel the simplicity of the image, in combination with the black hand making the gesture, makes the image a worthy representation of the cutting-edge work in our collection.
