My Immortal

• Descriptions of attire get progressively longer over time

• Spelling errors tend to appear in clusters based on type.

• Generally, chapters become more error heavy over course of story.

• Spikes in number of references correspond to chapters which are qualitatively worse

Trolling

The act of intentionally provoking emotions in others by baiting a text with rude, inappropriate, or otherwise outrageous suggestions.

Research Question and Goals

My Immortal

by Tara Gillespie

What are the characteristics of 'My Immortal' which differentiate the story from other works in the Harry Potter fandom?

A formal model of Internet trolling: the case of My Immortal

Janis Chinn, Jacob Deitloff, Eric Gratta

University of Pittsburgh

April 2012

http://imm.dh.obdurodon.org/

a 44-chapter fanfiction loosely based off the popular Harry Potter book series by J.K. Rowling

Conclusions

Markup Scheme

Tools of Analysis

Visualized Results

Analytical

Structural

SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)

- an XML syntax graphical tool

• XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
• XSLT (eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations)
• RelaxNG Compact Syntax
• Schematron

• <troll>, the entire story
• <chapter>
• number
• editor-- who did initial markup
• <an>, author's notes
• <paragraph>
• <sentence>

<sp> Spelling Mistake

<grammar> Grammatical Mistake

<omitted> Omitted Content

<char> Character

<dialogue> Story Dialogue

<speakingVP> Speaking Verb Phrase

<attire> Clothing Descriptions

<ref> External References

<lyrics> Lyrical References

<fwb> Fourth Wall Break

<aside> Parenthetical Comments

<paradox> Paradoxical Expressions

<redact> Word Choice

<kiss> Kissing

<sex> Sex

Miscellaneous

• <poc>, Points of Contention to examine as a group

• Although spelling errors are by far the most commonly used element in the story (5,228 instances), removing still leaves us with a troll
• Spelling errors are the easiest to exploit, which probably accounts for their overall prevalence within the story.
• Textual content, such as descriptions and external references contribute more significantly to the effectiveness of the story as a troll.
• Trolling methods do not carry equal weight.
• The author manipulates the trolling elements of the story based on reader response.
• The combination of each of the different elements create the unique reading experience which continues to induce outrage to this day.

XML

• XML: eXtensible Markup Language: descriptive, structured
• Grants access to the XML hierarchy, X-related technologies (XSLT, XPath)

Elements

• Can contain other elements
• Can have attributes

Attributes

• Give more information about an element
• Allow editor additions without corrupting text

Some Numbers

Trends

chapter - 44

paragraph - 777

sentence - 1884

an - 84

attire - 251

fwb - 23

grammar - 688

kiss - 23

omitted - 725

paradox - 28

redact - 44

ref - 902

sex - 11

sp - 5228

23765 words

Future Research

• MALLET topic modeling
• Analysis of other elements
• Addition of markup for profane language
• Statistical analysis of data