Last week we announced that we will be welcoming the German Speaking Slashers United archive to the AO3!

This is a reminder that the Open Doors Committee is holding the first of two public chats on Campfire (the online chat platform the OTW uses): 19 October 2013 at 10:00:00 UTC.

Anyone who has questions about the process is welcome to join the Open Doors team at those chats, and we’ll do our best to answer you. You can access OTW's public discussion chatroom using this link.

Sometimes fanworks vanish from the Web when they weren't intended to. Hosting services shut down; software becomes obsolete; archivists pass away or simply find that they no longer have the time or money to keep up their sites. Any of these occurrences can result in the loss of thousands of fanworks. The OTW's Open Doors project is a resource to help fans prevent such losses.

Open Doors works with fannish archivists to import fanworks from endangered archives into the Archive of Our Own. Approximately 11,600 works have been imported to date. Some archives can be imported automatically, but in most cases the Open Doors staff assist archive mods to manually import their archives into the the AO3. Manual importing involves creating an AO3 collection for the archive, contacting as many fanwork creators as possible, and then importing the works and editing them to indicate their original creators. These archives can be large or small — we’ve worked with designated archivists to import small collections of works of deceased fans, and we've worked with archives containing over 5,000 works. The process of manual importing can be time-consuming, but we think it’s worth it!

Open Doors has completed imports for three archives so far. The Foresmutters Project, an archive of early Star Trek slash that is also mirrored on OTW servers, has been migrated to a forever home on the AO3 where it is more accessible. The Smallville Slash Archive and 852 Prospect, an archive for The Sentinel fanfiction, have been imported as well. We also imported Kista and Demeter, two early Star Trek novels, which were first hosted on OTW servers as scanned PDFs. This involved using optical character recognition to turn the PDFs into editable text and then, in the case of Demeter, painstakingly comparing the results to a print copy of the original 304-page zine to correct any errors in the electronic copy.

Imports currently in progress include The Good Omens Library; GSSU - German Speaking Slashers United; the Dannell Lites Collection, a memorial archive consisting chiefly of DC and Marvel comics fanfiction; the Leah Adezio Archive, a memorial archive consisting chiefly of DC Comics fanfiction and fanart, and original comics; and Stargatefan, an archive of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis gen fanfiction and fanart.

We also have several archives stored as backups in case of failing hardware, software, and/or hosting issues, and are working with the mods to manually import them or to keep them safe until automated import code is available.

To inquire about preserving an archive, please contact the Open Doors committee. And to support our ongoing preservation efforts, please donate to the OTW today! Your support will help to ensure that the fanworks you love will be around for future generations of fans to enjoy.

Welcome to our Events Calendar roundup for the month of October! The Events Calendar can be found on the OTW website and is open to submissions by anyone with news of an event. These can be viewed by event type, such as Academic Events, Fan Gatherings, Legal Events, OTW Events, or Technology Events taking place around the world.

• Festivids is a yearly small-fandom giftvid exchange. It's modeled on Yuletide; every vidder signs up with fandoms they request, and fandoms they can offer. Each vidder receives a secret assignment and makes a giftvid for their recipient. The vids are posted anonymously in January, and after two weeks, the identities of the vidders are revealed.
  Signups to participate run from October 10 through October 20.

  More about Festivids on Fanlore

We have six calls for papers this month.

• Loncon 3 is looking for academic papers to reflect the history and population of London, the host city. The theme of the academic programme is ‘Diversity’. We will be exploring science fiction, fantasy, horror, and all forms of speculative fiction, whether in novels, comics, television, and movies or in fanworks, art, radio plays, games, advertising, and music. Submissions are due 1 October 2013 with notification by 31 December 2013. A 300 word abstract should be sent to emma.england[at]loncon3.org.
• International Journal of Audience Research: “Masters of the Universe: World-Building and World-Exploring is interested in a mapping of specific communities and their rich relationships with world-building. Any medium (or combination thereof) that engages with story-worlds and world-building: examples include prose fiction, comic books, TV, film, theme parks. Proposals will be considered depending upon their validity for audience studies. Abstracts of 350 words are to be forwarded by October 31st, 2013.
• In the contemporary media landscape the fan is an active player who participates, creates and collaborates in the construction of any type of media content. Through a multidisciplinary approach to Fandom Studies,V Congreso Internacional Latina de Comuncación Social in Tenerife, Spain aims to explore questions such as: What is the role of fans in the commercial communication of brands? In which ways can the fandom of a particular fictional work contribute to the expansion of the original text? What types of works and sources are used by fans in order to construct their own messages? The deadline for the submission of abstracts is the 31st October, 2013. If you are interested, please send a 300-word abstract with your name and university affiliation to jlozano@uloyola.es.
• This special issue of Journal of Fandom Studies responds to the well-established and global subculture of fans of Korean popular music (K-pop) and Korean television drama (K-drama) and seeks to examine the uniqueness of K-pop and K-drama fandoms and their contribution to global fandom scholarship. Deadline for submission of Abstracts is 31 October 2013. For more information see the Call for Papers.
• SW Popular Culture and American Culture Association Conference is looking for papers on any aspect of stardom or fandom and also, specifically on topics related to Doctor Who and Torchwood. Deadline for 250 word proposals is November 1st.

The OTW encourages anyone to submit an event that's not already listed, and to check out the events calendar throughout the year!

Welcome to our Events Calendar roundup for the month of July! The Events Calendar can be found on the OTW website and is open to submissions by anyone with news of an event. These can be viewed by event-type, such as Academic Events, Fan Gatherings, Legal Events, OTW Events, or Technology Events taking place around the world.

• Celebrating the 50th anniversary of global phenomenon, The University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, England, will be hosting Doctor Who: Walking in Eternity, an academic conference from 3-5 September 2013. The interdisciplinary conference "explore Doctor Who's universal and timeless appeal."
• The Organization for Transformative Works was officially founded on September 5, 2007, so this year the OTW celebrates six amazing years of serving and advocating for fans.
• Programmers' Day (Russian: День программи́ста) is an international professional holiday that is celebrated on the 256th (hexadecimal 100th, or the 28th) day of each year (September 13 during common years and on September 12 in leap years). It became an official holiday in Russia in 2009.
• "Arrr!" Be sure to practice your pirate slang so you're ready in time for International Talk Like a Pirate Day on 19 September. Originally celebrated in 1995, the day came to popularity following a mention by Dave Barry in his syndicated newspaper column in 2002. The day is an excellent opportunity to show off your pirate fandom.
  Pirate Day information on Fanlore
• Hobbit Day celebrates the birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins from J. R. R. Tolkien's books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In the books both Bilbo and Frodo were said to be born on September 22. Hobbit Day is part of Tolkien Week.

  Hobbit Day information on Fanlore

• SGMS: Mechademia Conference on Asian Popular Cultures is an internationally recognized conference explores the global innovations and creative and cultural implications of Japanese anime and manga. The enriched and unique experience combines the vibrancy of fan practices, the fashion show and anime screenings with the presentations and discussions of academic papers. The conference is hosted by Minneapolis College of Art and Design from September 27-29.

We have a call for papers this month.

LonCon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention, is "offering the opportunity for academics from across the globe to share their ideas with their peers and convention attendees. To reflect the history and population of London, the host city, the theme of the academic programme is ‘Diversity’. We will be exploring science fiction, fantasy, horror, and all forms of speculative fiction, whether in novels, comics, television, and movies or in fanworks, art, radio plays, games, advertising, and music."

Submissions are due 1 October 2013 with notification by 31 December 2013. A 300 word abstract should be sent to emma.england[at]loncon3.org.

The OTW encourages anyone to submit an event that's not already listed, and to check out the calendar throughout the year!