Understanding Thai fansubbing practices in the digital era: a network of fans and online technologies in fansubbing communities

Abstract

© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This article seeks to explain fansubbing in a Thai context with a particular focus on the interrelationships between fansubbers and digital technologies in selected fansubbing communities. The study takes a socio-technical approach to investigate such interrelationships, which have been largely unexplored to date. Virtual ethnographic data were analysed using an Actor-Network Theory (ANT) framework. The findings show empirical evidence of an intricate interrelationship between the human (i.e., fans) and non-human contributors (i.e., digital technologies) to fansubbing. This relationship helps to maintain collaboration in these communities and sustain fansubbing practices as a whole, despite legal complications.