Lostpedia
Lostpedia is a wiki based on the hit television show Lost. It was designed as a place for viewers to come together to learn, discuss, and theorize about the show. Lostpedia has been extremely successful, and it is constantly regarded as one of the best internet fansites in existence. As of this writing, Lostpedia has been viewed 125,849,007 times and it has 3,738 "legitimate content" pages. Anything and everything that one could ever want to know about Lost exists somewhere within this site. Lostpedia is a perfect example of how many modern television shows are becoming more interactive and expansive. 
Page Creation
Main article: Page Creation
The main idea behind Lostpedia is that anyone can create and edit pages. Although Lostpedia locks certain pages here and there (to prevent spoilers being leaked), Lost viewers from around the world are able to visit Lostpedia and add their thoughts to the site. New pages are constantly created as new aspects of the show are revealed, and a page exists for just about anything that has ever been mentioned on Lost. Lostpedia truly creates a communal setting for viewers to pool their creativity and writing skills to create finished products that others then use to learn from.
Instant Information
Main article: Instant Information
Another key concept that Lostpedia encompasses is the ability to access any desired information about Lost immediately. With just a few keystrokes one can read all about season 1 or find all of the nicknames Sawyer (James) has created for people. This capability is a relatively new phenomenon in the world of digital media. It is no longer necessary to scour the internet for bits and pieces of information, for it is all consolidated into one organized area within Lostpedia. The convenience of Lostpedia is one of its most attractive assets.
Easter Eggs
Main article: Easter Eggs
Lostpedia is able to function so well only because of the way Lost is produced. There is so much to analyze and discover within the show that spending hours just reading up on Lost material seems quite reasonable. The producers of Lost encourage this outside involvement, and they throw things into the show especially for the viewers who really enjoy picking apart scenes, screenshots and dialogue. These "special treats" are called Easter eggs, and they are a great source of entertainment for devoted fans. The vast inclusion of Easter eggs is something that Lost does that no television show had really done before. Since the launch of Lost, some other shows have picked up on this idea, but none follow it through to the same extent. I believe that Lost is paving the pathway for future generations of shows in the ways that it reaches out to its fans.
Alternate Reality Games
Main article: Alternate Reality Games
Lost was also one of the first television shows to incorporate alternate reality games (ARGs) into its experience. An alternate reality game is an interactive adventure that users are able to embark on, and the story is usually influenced by the decisions, actions, and skills of the user. Lost has launched two of these games: The Lost Experience and Find 815. These games were designed as a way for viewers to interact with the storyline, while at the same time it allowed for another avenue of advertising. By playing these games, viewers were able to find out facts about Lost that they could not have garnered from the show.
Hypertext
Main article: Hypertext
The notion of any wiki is centered around the idea of hypertext. Hypertext, in the context of the web, consists of "static links that allow the user to jump from page to page" (Wardrip-Fruin, 133). Hypertext allows for the "series of trails" that Vannevar Bush envisioned back in 1945. His idea has been improved upon, because now the trails are not limited to the individual. When using a wiki, anyone can access a hyperlink that will take them to some other related page. From there they can follow another link and get to yet another related page. The series of trials here is infinite, for anyone can add another link and each link is a portal to hundreds of pages.
Blast Door Map
One of the best examples of the collaborative possibilities of Lostpedia is the blast door map, which was briefly shown during Lost episode 2x17, Lockdown. In this episode, John Locke gets trapped under the blast door in the hatch. While he is stuck, the lights go off, black lights come on, and a map is briefly seen painted on the blast door. This clip only lasted a couple of seconds, but it generated enormous amounts of interest online.
In his talk on March 1, 2008, Jason Mittell spoke about the blast door in his talk entitled Media Studies as a Liberal Art: The Case of Television Storytelling in the Digital Era. Mittell discussed how after 24 hours, viewers had analyzed the blast door map to the point where they had done all that was doable. He noted that the translation of the map required the skills of all different kinds of people, including graphic artists and translators. Thus places like Lostpedia became a gathering ground for people to pool their knowledge and resources. Today the blast door map is the 5th most viewed Lostpedia page, which is pretty remarkable considering the page is based off of a 2-second clip.
Effect on Television
The link between Lostpedia and Lost is not just a one-sided relationship. Although what goes on in Lost obviously affects Lostpedia, sometimes the reverse is true as well. Producers have recognized that sites like Lostpedia exist, and they take measures to encourage viewers to stay involved with the show even while it isn't airing. It is for this reason that special features like ARGs and Easter eggs have their place in Lost. Even more importantly, sites like Lostpedia allow the narrative of Lost to become complex and expansive. The producers can afford to throw in confusing or shocking moments because they know that those moments will be thoroughly discussed and analyzed. Lostpedia and similar sites give producers the ability to experiment with complex ideas like varying temporality and perspectives. Lost and Lostpedia together are helping to transform television away from the passive medium that it as always been and into an active, collective medium that people can be collectively engaged in.
Sources
Bush, Vannevar. "As We May Think." The New Media Reader. Ed. Noah Wardrip-Fruin. London, England: The MIT P, 1945. 46.
Dharma_stations.jpg. Lostpedia. 4 Mar. 2008 <http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Image:Dharma_stations.jpg>.
Find815_3.jpg. Lostpedia. 4 Mar. 2008 <http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Image:Find815_3.jpg>.
Fullblastdoor.jpg. Lostpedia. 4 Mar. 2008 <http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Image:Fullblastdoor.jpg>.
Licklider, J. C. R. "Man-Computer Symbiosis." The New Media Reader. Ed. Noah Wardrip-Fruin. London, England: The MIT P, 1960. 77.
Lost_experience_big.jpg. 4 Mar. 2008 <http://www.lost.cz/galerie/serial/lost_experience_big.jpg>.
Lost.jpg. 4 Mar. 2008 <http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b54/lukepearson/e9cef1ab.jpg>.
Lostoctagonshark.jpg. Lostpedia. 4 Mar. 2008 <http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Image:Lostoctagonshark.jpg>.
Lostpedia. 1 Mar. 2008 <http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Main_Page>.
Lostpedia.jpg. 29 Feb. 2008 <http://antoniogenna.files.wordpress.com/2006/09/lostpedia.jpg>.
Media Studies as a Liberal Art: the Case of Television Storytelling in the Digital Era. By Jason Mittell. Rose Hills Theatre, Smith Campus Center, Pomona College. 1 Mar. 2008.
Memex-1.jpg. Futureofthebook. 4 Mar. 2008 <http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/archives/memex-1.jpg>.
Nelson, Theodor H. "A File Structure for the Complex, the Changing, and the Indeterminate." The New Media Reader. Ed. Noah Wardrip-Fruin. London, England: The MIT P, 1965.
135-137.
Sayidtv.jpg. Lostpedia. 4 Mar. 2008 <http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Image:Sayidtv.jpg>.
Wardrip-Fruin, Noah, ed. "[Introduction] a File Structure for the Complex, the Changing, and the Indeterminate." The New Media Reader. London, England: The MIT P, 2003. 133.