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How Does the Web Impact Doll Events?

While at the Tonner Collectors’ Convention in Lombard, Ill., last weekend, a fellow writer and I got into a discussion about the impact of the Internet on doll collecting. She mentioned her concern that youthful doll collectors of today use the Web as the only source to feed their doll-collecting passion, and in the process, shows/conventions will be forgotten or never even discovered in the first place. And if that’s what’s happening, it’s a shame, she contended, because nothing can replace the face-to-face interaction to be had with fellow doll enthusiasts at an event, and the energy experienced at one simply can’t be substituted electronically. I tend to agree with her viewpoint and think the Web should be a place to interact and enrich one’s doll world experience; however, it’s an accessory, a side dish if you will, not the main course.

What do you think? Does the Internet replace the need for doll shows/conventions and events? And while we’re on the subject, how does the Web change the role of a magazine?

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I don't think that doll conventions are very central to a collector's experience anymore. But then, in my mid-thirties, I may be considered a 'younger' collector.

I live on the west coast and rarely do doll conventions come out here. I have been to a couple but in no way did I get anything out of them that I could not have received off the internet. I speak of knowledge about our hobby here, not about social camaraderie with other collectors. Yes, the social aspect cannot be replicated as well by online interaction, but I have to disagree with your statement. I feel it is the convention that is the accessory, the happy extra.

Does the internet replace the 'need' for conventions? That depends on what you think the need is. If the need is to learn about the latest doll coming out then yes, the internet does the job just fine. If the need is to meet and mingle with collectors and creators, get your hands on some exclusive dolls and attend yet another Goth-themed banquet then no, I don't think the internet can fill that need. People still flock to them- conventions do not seem to have a problem filling up. But I didn't see a whole lot of 'young people' at the conventions I went to. Perhaps there is a need to move them around every year so younger collectors can get a feel for them without having to go into serious debt to get there.

I started collecting just as the internet was booming in the early nineties and while I originally got a lot of information from Doll Magazines eventually the internet began to make their content irrelevant. Magazines have had to shift their roles. They cannot just show new product and feature Doll Company press releases, any reader can find that information out online. Successful magazines have had to 'up their game',give readers more original material and even develop a community of their own. Otherwise their content is dated before it even goes to press.
Amy1592 , July 03, 2009

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