The Fan Studies Network

World Hobbit Project (www.worldhobbitproject.org)

The World Hobbit Project, the most ambitious film audience research project yet undertaken, launched on December 1 of this year to coincide with the premiere of the final film of The Hobbit trilogy. Research groups in 46 countries, operating in over 30 languages, will be gathering a range of demographic data (age, sex, country, education, occupation, etc), asking a series of orientation questions (designed to show patterns in responses, kinds of evaluation, modal questions about the kind of story The Hobbit is seen to be, etc.) and probing how people watch (and like to watch) a film of this kind. We are also interested in what else audiences do in connection with watching the films (reading the book, taking part in online discussions, following particular stars, creating fanworks, etc.). Crucially, the survey is designed on the principle of linked quantitative and qualitative questions. We believe that if we can recruit a large and diverse array of respondents, we can make contributions to many current debates: about globalisation, cultural identities, the role of online participation, and the role of film and cinema, among them.

What can we offer In return? All our findings will be made publicly available, in as many forms as we are able; and once we have completed our own work on the database, the entire body of data and materials will be placed in the public domain for other researchers to use in whatever way they choose. Please, help us in simple ways:

By completing the survey yourself, of course, if you have seen the films.
By passing on this information to students, colleagues, family, friends, and asking them to do the same.
By mentioning and pointing to the project’s address in blogs, postings, and conversations.
By mentioning the project and showing the link on Facebook and the like, so that it is as widely visible as we can possibly make it.

Our survey is available at: http://www.worldhobbitproject.org . If you have any questions about the project, we will do our best to answer them. Please contact either:

Martin Barker (mib@aber.ac.uk)
Matt Hills (mjh37@aber.ac.uk)
Ernest Mathijs (ernest.mathijs@gmail.com)

This entry was posted on January 9, 2015 at 1:03 pm and is filed under Announcement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.