Comments in Tags: Examining Bookmarking Cultures on AO3

Abstract

This paper examines the bookmarking tags present on Archive of Our Own (AO3) through a study into the practices from their public annotation. The probe examines the presence of cultures of practice, and usable research data available on the platform. Examined fics had minimums of 25.000 words and seven chapters, published over at least four months. In addition, the number of individual bookmarks was limited to works with 300 or more, selected from disparate fandoms. The number of relevant bookmarks averaged at 11% of the total, a significant representation in the data, pointing to general trends within the archive. The probe revealed several layers of communication, in the forms of interactive tags, pure text commentary, and connections to larger collections. Each of the individual bookmarks, based on content, are classed as “Annotation”, “Curation” and “Communication” for purposes of analysis. These categories also pointed to practices in annotations of targeting specific, individual, audiences. It shows several different trends in users’ application of the bookmark function. These trends of practice go beyond individual fandoms, pointing to cultures pervasive on AO3 as a platform. The probe also presents the difficulties this bring to the study of bookmark data.