ABSTRACT
The most basic form of curation is suggested canon: simply suggesting, loaning, copying, or gifting additional material to interested fans. Online, curators can help socialize fans into the customs and manners of particular forums or platforms, and can facilitate connections and participation. Fan curators have always been people and groups of stature within their fandoms, and have influential roles as gatekeepers. In the 1970s, new, relatively inexpensive media-copying technology became available, in the forms of the photocopier and audio and video cassette recorder. In the 1990s and 2000s, the internet added new levels of depth and speed to fan curation. Matt Hills' work on fans as subcultural celebrities argues, it's important to understand how particular individual fans may function within particular fandoms. Print newsletters and fanzines are perhaps the most venerable form of curation, dating back at least as far as the 1920s.
