Executive Summary

This research project employs a qualitative mixed-methods approach, integrating digital ethnography and small-N interviews, to explore the intricate relationship between platform rules and fan governance within K-pop’s transnational communities, specifically in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and MENA. The core objective is to move beyond quantitative metrics and delve into the lived experiences, power dynamics, and interpretive frameworks of K-pop fans and community leaders. The synergy between digital ethnography, offering a broad contextual understanding of online fan ecosystems, and small-N interviews, providing deep individual perspectives, aims to yield a comprehensive and layered analysis of this interplay.

The digital ethnography component is designed to immerse researchers in the naturalistic settings of online K-pop communities. This involves prolonged participant observation across various platforms, including Twitter, Reddit, Discord, fan-specific forums (e.g., Daum Cafe, The Qoo), and official platforms like Weverse, each chosen for its distinct role in the K-pop fan ecosystem. The observation will encompass both passive monitoring to understand community norms and power structures, and limited, ethically sound active participation. A systematic qualitative content analysis will be conducted on diverse online content, interpreting themes, narratives, and discursive strategies employed by fans, particularly how they discuss, interpret, and navigate platform rules and establish their own community norms. Crucially, the research will critically analyze official platform policies, terms of service, and technical affordances, examining how these are communicated, interpreted, and enforced, and how fans adaptively use or subvert platform features. Throughout this digital ethnographic process, stringent ethical considerations will be applied, focusing on participant privacy, informed consent for direct interactions, and rigorous anonymization of publicly available data. Data collection and analysis will be iterative, grounded in principles of grounded theory, prioritizing qualitative depth to understand the “how” and “why” of phenomena rather than mere frequency.

Complementing the digital ethnography, small-N interviews will provide in-depth, insider perspectives from key informants: moderators (mods) and fan leaders. Approximately 18-27 interviews are anticipated across the three target regions, with the final number determined by theoretical saturation. Mods are selected for their direct involvement in enforcing community rules and mediating disputes, offering insights into managing online communities under platform constraints. Fan leaders are chosen for their role in initiating collective actions and articulating community interests, providing perspectives on fan organization and agency. A semi-structured interview protocol will guide conversations, eliciting rich narratives about their experiences with platform rules, strategies for fan governance, challenges in balancing platform requirements with community needs, perceptions of power dynamics, and specific examples of collective action or innovation. Recruitment will utilize snowball sampling and direct outreach, with a focus on ensuring diversity across various community characteristics. Comprehensive informed consent will be obtained, and interviews will be conducted virtually, audio-recorded, and rigorously anonymized during transcription to protect participant identities. These interviews are expected to provide invaluable subjective interpretations and strategic rationales behind observed online behaviors, illuminating the motivations, decision-making processes, and emotional labor involved in fan governance. This dual methodological approach ensures a holistic and deeply contextualized understanding of the complex interplay of power, community, and culture within K-pop’s transnational communities, moving beyond superficial metrics.

Table of Contents

1. Methodology: Integrating Digital Ethnography and Small-N Interviews to Unpack K-pop Transnational Fan Governance
2. Digital Ethnography: Navigating the Online K-pop Ecosystems
   • Platform Selection and Justification
   • Participant Observation (Passive and Active)
   • Qualitative Content Analysis of Online Interactions
   • Analysis of Platform Policies and Affordances
   • Ethical Considerations for Online Research
   • Strategies for Data Collection and Analysis
3. Small-N Interviews: Unpacking Lived Experiences of Governance
   • Justifying the Selection of Key Informants and Sample Size
   • Developing a Semi-Structured Interview Protocol
   • Participant Recruitment, Informed Consent, and Data Transcription
   • Unique Insights and Complementarity