OTW

The academic journal Transformative Works and Cultures, a project of OTW, released its latest issue on March 15, 2010: an issue on Supernatural guest-edited by acafan Catherine Tosenberger. Rush over here to read and comment on the essays! This is the first issue of TWC to focus on a single text.

In addition to academic essays, the issue contains shorter Symposium articles. There are close readings of specific SPN eps and the show as a whole as well as essays that discuss fan-created artworks and fandom itself. We also interviewed SPN profic writer Keith R. A. DeCandido, members of the Super-wiki team, and Wincon organizer Ethrosdemon.

The full press release appears below the cut. Feel free to disseminate widely!

Welcome to our first newsletter of the 2010 term! We've re-formed our committees and completed our first month of goals. Read all about it beneath the cut!

* Fanlore has hit 10,000 articles!!! We're not 100 percent sure, but we think the 10,000th article was on fan Virginia Lee Smith. For Valentine's Day, consider adding someone or something you love to Fanlore!

* Author, 17, Says It's 'Mixing,' Not Plagiarism: A young German novelist has published a bestselling novel called Axolotl Roadkill which cites--or as the author says, remixes--chunks of various other published works without attribution. While some have called this plagiarism, others see the quotations as thematic, and the accusations have not stopped the book from being nominated for a major prize.

* NPR did a story about World's Fair Use Day called When Fair Use Isn't Fair: the story features interviews with Jonathan McIntosh, Public Knowledge president Gigi Sohn, and others.

* Last but not least, friend of the OTW Nina Paley, the animator who made Sita Sings The Blues, has been making "minute memes" for QuestionCopyright.org. Her latest work is called All Creative Work Is Derivative; that link will take you to a description of her process in making this video.

A few events that might be of interest to readers of this blog:

* Göttingen, Germany. REMAKE │REMODEL: New Perspectives on Remakes, Film Adaptations, and Fan Productions: is an interdisciplinary conference taking place June 30 - July 2, 2010. The deadline for submissions is February 15, 2010; more information can be found on the linked call for papers.

* Boston, MA (and elsewhere!) On February 25, 2010, Lawrence Lessig will deliver a talk on fair use and politics in online video at the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School. The Open Video Alliance is webcasting the talk at http://openvideoalliance.org/lessig, or you can attend local screenings and events in many cities (check online for more details.)

* Los Angeles, CA, On March 25, 2010, Jonathan McIntosh, Julie Levin Russo (Stanford) and Alexis Lothian (USC) will curate an exhibition called "Subverting Gender and Sexuality with Remix Video" at California State University, Northridge that will feature PRVs (political remix videos) as well as vids. A question and answer session will follow the presentation.

The OTW has formally been on haitus for much of this month as we reconstitute ourselves for the 2010 term. But of course, "on haitus" doesn't mean "shut down"--some of us can't leave (OH HAI POOR SYSADMINS), some of us don't leave (the Board and VolCom have to put the org back together again!), and some of us really should take a well deserved break but can't help but add a bit--more--code--!! (You know who you are.)

In our next newsletter, you'll meet the new committees and hear about what they've got planned for 2010. But for now: a few words from your favorite workaholics...

It's worth reading OK GO's open letter to the people of the world in which they discuss their record label's refusal to make their new YouTube videos embeddable - despite the fact that the immense popularity of OK GO's viral YouTube videos is what made the band rich and famous in the first place. OK GO apparently argued with EMI and lost, but they clearly think their label is being penny wise and pound foolish: the penny per play on YouTube may not be worth the loss of spreadability. To counter this, the band has also put their video up on Vimeo, which does (for the moment) still allow embedding, though they're aware this will split their hit count. But: "With or without this embedding problem, we'll never get 50 zillion views on a YouTube video again. That moment – the dawn of internet video – is gone. The internet isn’t as anarchic as it was then. Now there are Madison Avenue firms that specialize in "viral marketing” and the success of our videos is now taught in business school." (Meanwhile, its worth saying that the band are clearly geniuses when it comes to spreadability: their new song and video feature the Notre Dame Marching Band. The sound you hear is that of a million high school and college marching bands tuning up: there's more than one way to get your song out there!)



OK Go - This Too Shall Pass (vimeo.com)

In other news, you can watch yours truly give a talk called Things We Don't Have In The Future...and How Fan Arts Can Help to the freshmen class at the University of the Arts, which is doing a shared First Year Experience called ReMix, ReWrite, ReAct. I served as tour guide to some fantastic fan art and vids: if anyone needs to be thinking about remixing and read-write culture, it's the artists of the future!

Public Knowledge sponsored the first annual World's Fair Use Day on Jan 12, 2009. You can see podcasts and read recaps of the events on World's Fair Use Day site, and OTW Board member Rebecca Tushnet blogged many of the panels: see her detailed notes on day one and day two.

Welcome to our last newsletter of 2009: committee updates below the cut! We'll be back, better than ever, in 2010, so catch you on the flip side!

Se viene el fin de año, y todas estamos deseando hacer cosas findeañeras: abrir el bronceador (Hemisferio Sur), arrastrarnos a través de la nieve (Hemiferio Norte), chillar de alegría y/o terror (Yuletiders), y compartir el pan con nuestros seres queridos (los que celebran las festividades). Pero algo que quizá hayan olvidado es que las siguientes semanas son su última oportunidad para calificar para deducciones de impuestos en el 2009 (Estados Unidos). Si haz estado pensando acerca de donar a la OTW pero todavía no lo haz hecho, puede que quieras echar un vistazo a tus finanzas y ver si sería beneficioso hacerlo antes del 31 de diciembre. Y si tienes trabajo, por favor, ¡Averigua si tu empleador ofrece igualar las donaciones! Cada dolar que nos des podría equivaler a dos dólares para la organización. Puedes enterarte cómo hacer que tu donación sea igualada por tu empleador en la página de apoyo de la OTW (baja hasta donde dice, "Si tu empleador ofrece igualar tus donaciones, ¡Podrías doblar tu regalo!").

Por supuesto, las donaciones de dinero o ayuda nos hacen felices en cualquier momento -- especialmente ahora que celebramos el beta abierto de Un Archivo Propio, ¡Con más de 25.000 historias en casi 3.100 fandoms! Si quieres una cuenta en AOOO, puedes incorporate a la cola de invitaciones; un amigo que ya tenga una cuenta podría darte una invitación. Y si lo que quieres es dar tu tiempo y esfuerzo también, o en lugar de, tu dinero, por favor fíjate en nuestro anuncio Dispuesto a ayudar para ver una descripción acerca de cómo podrías ayudar con los distintos proyectos de la OTW.

Y mientras tanto, disfruta del sol, o la nieve, o los chillidos -- y en todo caso, ¡Disfruta de las historias!