Hi Julia, Regarding informal education, educational spaces, and educational communities on YouTube (e.g. the Nerdfighters), you will want to reach out to my fellow Ph.D. Candidate at USC Annenberg, Neta Kligler Vilenchik - kliglerv [at] usc [dot] edu. Her dissertation is on youth civic engagement online, and she has conducted a large case study with the Nerdfighters. Here is a specific link to a report she wrote for the MacArthur Digital Media & Learning Hub on fan community spaces and informal learning among youth: http://dmlhub.net/publications/decreasing-world-suck-fan-communities-mechani... Please also see this recent interview series between Henry Jenkins and Patricia Lange ( http://henryjenkins.org/2014/03/kids-on-youtube-an-interview-with-patricia-l...) on Lange's new book, *Kids on YouTube: Technical Identities and Digital Literacies (http://www.amazon.com/Kids-YouTube-Technical-Identities-Literacies/dp/161132... <http://www.amazon.com/Kids-YouTube-Technical-Identities-Literacies/dp/1611329361/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1389385033&sr=8-2&>)* Best, Meryl -- Meryl Alper Ph.D. Candidate in Communication Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism University of Southern California malper@usc.edu merylalper.com