Barriers to fanfiction access: Results from a usability inspection of Fanfiction.net

Abstract

As researchers encourage teachers to bring fanfiction into classrooms, questions remain about whether online fanfiction communities are accessible to all students. This paper presents results from a practitioner-oriented usability inspection of FanFiction.net, investigating challenges students with disabilities might encounter as they participate. Operating this website with screen reader assistive technology reveals navigation, social connection, and reading barriers users may face when trying to engage in typical fanfiction practices. This study offers implications for media literacy educators to consider as they work to bring online media into classrooms without further marginalizing students with disabilities. As the Internet becomes an increasingly important site of media production and dissemination, recognizing the opportunities and challenges posed by online spaces becomes vital for media literacy education. While others have explored the media literacy education implications of and practices within social networking sites (e.g., Vanderhoven, Schellens, & Valcke, 2013) and blogs (e.g., Thein, Oldakowski, & Sloan, 2010), here we focus on Fanfiction.net, one of the largest online communities for sharing fanfiction texts. We explore the barriers to full participation that may be encountered in this site by students with disabilities. We recognize, as the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE, 2007) does, that technology-mediated digital spaces are rich sites of media literacy education, though we remain acutely aware that the Internet may https://doi.