Behind the Scenes / Q&A with Team Cat

Really, the outpouring of support on the project has made me immensely proud to be a part of it. On a more personal level, I was really proud of the Lookbook section of the website. It wasn't something I had ever done before, so I had to really go out on a limb to try and find resources and inspiration on the web - especially I'm a developer first and a designer a far second. I was a lot of work, but now that it's up it's something that I'm really proud of. And I can't wait to dive back into it for Issue 2.[/quote]

The lookbook is actually one of my favorite things about the site- but I love goodies on webpages. I like that there are special things to be found if you're willing to look.
I'm dying for the shop to be open, too!

Me too!

Hey Will! Hope Chicago has gone well. I've been following the tweets and it's sounded like a great conference.

I have a question for Lucy, but others feel free to join in! How have you found working behind the scenes on MSCSI as an academic? Has it changed how you've viewed the comic or given you ideas for how fan studies might adapt and change to the convergence of fans and academics?

When I started university, I started my degree as a BA in Psychology. I thought I'd get my minor in Fine Arts or Illustration, but after my first year I determined that I wasn't cut out for the Fine Arts field. In the meantime, I had been taking Computer Science courses to help fill credits. By the end of my second year, I had determined that Psychology wasn't my passion any more, and that I had a knack and passion for Computer Science. It was too late for me to switch my degree from Psychology to CS (I didn't have enough money to add on the additional year I would require to get the proper credits to do that), so I ended up graduating with a BSc in Psychology, and a minor in CS.

During my time at University, I worked as the Production Manager for our student newspaper. It was a very fullfilling job, and I was sad to leave it when I graduated. After graduation, I had no idea what I career field I wanted to pursue, so I applied on a whim to a regional newspaper for a layout and design position. They were intrigued by my resume, and my background with CS, so they offered me a position doing work on their website instead. I took the job, and I've been doing work as a web developer and designer with multiple companies ever since.

Since I kind of fell into the field, I spent a lot of time learning on the go. But it also means that I've gotten into a habit of always trying to keep on top of new trends and ideas in website development. Web development is now a passion for me. I'm a stay at home mom, with my 1.5 yr old son, but as soon as I was able to make time in my schedule I was back taking contract work. I'm always at my happiest when I have a website project going on the side!

For the MSCSI website, Will and I did a lot of talking back and forth about how we wanted to build the website. Will was very keen that the site be designed keeping in mind that we were hoping to attract girls and women who'd be new to the comic genre. We decided to try and keep the design and layout clean and fresh, and used a myriad of fashion websites as our inspiration. I was particularly inspired by Lou Lou Magazine on the fashion side and Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong on the comics side. One of the other things that we took from the fashion industry was the idea of a fashion lookbook. We already knew that we wanted a section on the website that displayed some bonus material - sketches and drafts that were used in the making of Issue 1. And I think that we really got that section dead on when we made it.

Yeah I'd definitely love to do some more research on this! I'm wondering how I can fit MSCSI into a journal paper or something to be honest (once I get the other article I'm writing with Will done, before he reminds me again *g*).

I've found it interesting in terms of trying to put theoretical knowledge about social media and fan engagement into practice. There's so much we don't know about what makes a text take off while others get left behind, so having discussions like the best ways to engage with fans and how we should approach publishing the comic to ensure we maintain interest has been a great excercise in the practicalities of fan studies.

Will's role as academic/fan/producer has also really interested me because fans and producers are converging to a greater extent now, even if academics have continued to remain perhaps on the margins of that - observers rather than participants. How we navigate these positions and how they all converge is an area that I think has been really understudied, and so working behind the scenes on MSCSI has brought up lots more questions on those interactions and how they can affect the field of fan studies.