Maria K Alberto
Biographic Data
| ID | 4603015 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Maria K Alberto |
| GIVEN NAMES | Maria K |
| FAMILY NAME | Alberto |
| SIGNATURE | ALBERTO M K |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Utah |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0830-5912 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 12 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Mytholudics
Review of: Mytholudics: Games and Myth , Dom Ford (2025) Berlin and Leiden: De Gruyter Brill, 358 pp., ISBN 978-3-11134-127-9, h/bk, USD 140
Creator/player interplay and fan-created paratexts
Fan studies as a field has rarely engaged with analog game players as fans, yet these communities clearly engage with game texts and participate in game-driven activities in ways that can be described as fannish. A clear example can be found in the creation of noncommercial, amateur expansions of analog games. We offer a survey of creator/fan interplay related to both board games and tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) and draw from this explora…
Fandom Is Ugly
Review of: Fandom Is Ugly: Networked Harassment in Participatory Culture , Mel Stanfill (2024) New York: New York University Press, 264 pp., ISBN 978-1-47982-496-0, p/bk, USD 30.00
So much for the prattling of sages
This article investigates gaming paratexts related to the popular tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) as heuristics. Gaming paratexts are accessible communication and media artifacts that influence what new players learn about games as cultural and ludic texts. In this work we examine ‘official' and ‘unofficial' gaming paratexts about drow, D&D’s dark elves. We highlight authorship, circulation, and accessibility as key impact fact…
Putting forward platforms in fan studies
Editorial for "Fandom and Platforms," edited by Maria K. Alberto, Effie Sapuridis, and Lesley Willard, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 42 (March 15, 2024)
A Portrait of the Auteur as Fanboy
Review of: A Portrait of the Auteur as Fanboy: The Construction of Authorship in Transmedia Franchises , Anastasia Salter and Mel Stanfill (2020) Jackson, MI: University Press of Mississippi, 234 pp., ISBN 978-1-49683-047-0, p/bk, $30.00
Representing kink
Sara K. Howe and Susan E. Cook, editors, Representing kink: Fringe sexuality and textuality in literature, digital narrative, and popular culture. Washington, DC: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019; paperback, $39.99 (194p), ISBN 9781498590877; hardcover, $95 (194p), ISBN 9781498590853
Self-Insert Fanfiction as Digital Technology of the Self
Self-insert fanfiction is a long-established but still controversial mode of writing, even within the already marginalized genre of fanfiction. Moreover, many of the specific terms and practices used to describe this kind of writing have not been formally explored or theorized. We maintain that self-insert fanfiction can be understood as a digital technology of the self, building upon Foucauldian roots and extending into digital platforms and the…
Working with fannish intermediaries
Fannish intermediaries occupy a unique position between individual fans and industry stakeholders, since they have affective ties to the fan object as well as commercial interests in the ways that individual fans interact with that fan object and related content. These differences raise new questions regarding the ethics of fan studies work conducted in collaboration with such fannish intermediaries, as demonstrated by the reach and results of th…
Anime Convention Attendance in Response to Covid-19
The following report is meant to be paired with the dataset collected through the “Anime Conventions and COVID-19” survey. Designed by Maria K. Alberto and Billy Tringali, this survey collected participants’ thoughts about their involvement in and perception of anime conventions before, during, and after the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. Both the dataset and associated survey questions can be found in the supplemental files paired with this report…
Politics for the love of fandom
Review of Ashley Hinck. Politics for the love of fandom: Fan-based citizenship in a digital world. Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press, 2019, hardcover, $45 (264p) ISBN 978-0807170342; e-book, $39.49 (2813KB) ASIN B07NWY5LMH
Fan users and platform studies
An analysis of the issues and limitations inherent in platform studies considers what the field could offer fan studies despite such obstacles and notes some key concepts to keep in mind when considering a platform studies approach to fan studies work. Fan studies scholars may need to adapt certain elements of platform studies in order to suit both fan studies work and the wider cultural idea of what a platform is
No prominent works on this page.
Politics for the love of fandom
Review of Ashley Hinck. Politics for the love of fandom: Fan-based citizenship in a digital world. Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press, 2019, hardcover, $45 (264p) ISBN 978-0807170342; e-book, $39.49 (2813KB) ASIN B07NWY5LMH
Fan users and platform studies
An analysis of the issues and limitations inherent in platform studies considers what the field could offer fan studies despite such obstacles and notes some key concepts to keep in mind when considering a platform studies approach to fan studies work. Fan studies scholars may need to adapt certain elements of platform studies in order to suit both fan studies work and the wider cultural idea of what a platform is
Self-Insert Fanfiction as Digital Technology of the Self
Self-insert fanfiction is a long-established but still controversial mode of writing, even within the already marginalized genre of fanfiction. Moreover, many of the specific terms and practices used to describe this kind of writing have not been formally explored or theorized. We maintain that self-insert fanfiction can be understood as a digital technology of the self, building upon Foucauldian roots and extending into digital platforms and the…
Working with fannish intermediaries
Fannish intermediaries occupy a unique position between individual fans and industry stakeholders, since they have affective ties to the fan object as well as commercial interests in the ways that individual fans interact with that fan object and related content. These differences raise new questions regarding the ethics of fan studies work conducted in collaboration with such fannish intermediaries, as demonstrated by the reach and results of th…
Anime Convention Attendance in Response to Covid-19
The following report is meant to be paired with the dataset collected through the “Anime Conventions and COVID-19” survey. Designed by Maria K. Alberto and Billy Tringali, this survey collected participants’ thoughts about their involvement in and perception of anime conventions before, during, and after the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. Both the dataset and associated survey questions can be found in the supplemental files paired with this report…
A Portrait of the Auteur as Fanboy
Review of: A Portrait of the Auteur as Fanboy: The Construction of Authorship in Transmedia Franchises , Anastasia Salter and Mel Stanfill (2020) Jackson, MI: University Press of Mississippi, 234 pp., ISBN 978-1-49683-047-0, p/bk, $30.00
Representing kink
Sara K. Howe and Susan E. Cook, editors, Representing kink: Fringe sexuality and textuality in literature, digital narrative, and popular culture. Washington, DC: Rowman & Littlefield, 2019; paperback, $39.99 (194p), ISBN 9781498590877; hardcover, $95 (194p), ISBN 9781498590853
Putting forward platforms in fan studies
Editorial for "Fandom and Platforms," edited by Maria K. Alberto, Effie Sapuridis, and Lesley Willard, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 42 (March 15, 2024)
Fandom Is Ugly
Review of: Fandom Is Ugly: Networked Harassment in Participatory Culture , Mel Stanfill (2024) New York: New York University Press, 264 pp., ISBN 978-1-47982-496-0, p/bk, USD 30.00
So much for the prattling of sages
This article investigates gaming paratexts related to the popular tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) as heuristics. Gaming paratexts are accessible communication and media artifacts that influence what new players learn about games as cultural and ludic texts. In this work we examine ‘official' and ‘unofficial' gaming paratexts about drow, D&D’s dark elves. We highlight authorship, circulation, and accessibility as key impact fact…
Mytholudics
Review of: Mytholudics: Games and Myth , Dom Ford (2025) Berlin and Leiden: De Gruyter Brill, 358 pp., ISBN 978-3-11134-127-9, h/bk, USD 140
Creator/player interplay and fan-created paratexts
Fan studies as a field has rarely engaged with analog game players as fans, yet these communities clearly engage with game texts and participate in game-driven activities in ways that can be described as fannish. A clear example can be found in the creation of noncommercial, amateur expansions of analog games. We offer a survey of creator/fan interplay related to both board games and tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) and draw from this explora…
Digital Games and Media (10 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Fandom (6 works) · Asian Culture and Media Studies (5 works) · Art (4 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Art history (3 works) · Artificial Intelligence (3 works) · Business (3 works) · Engineering (3 works)