Lev Grossman's The Boy Who Lived Forever, about fanfiction, was published online this morning and will be available in Friday's print issue of Time. Thanks to everyone who gave interviews or background information for the piece.
News of Note
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Fanfiction hits the big Time
By .fcoppa on Thursday, 7 July 2011 - 2:16pmMessage type:Tags:- Log in to post comments
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LOTR and Twilight Fan Fiction Archives Bought - For Profit
By .fcoppa on Friday, 1 July 2011 - 5:54pmMessage type:Two fan archives in The Lord of the Rings and Twilight fandoms — LOTRfanfiction.com and The Twilight Archives — have been bought by a web developer named Keith Mander, who plans to develop these archives' features and to generate profit by increasing traffic and adding advertising.
In a FAQ posted to LOTRfanfiction.com, Mr. Mander states that "The site will never become a cash cow, the intention is only to cover costs and facilitate future investment into the site." However, in a post on Dreamwidth, fan esteliel quotes from Mr. Mander's personal blog that his business plan is "to directly contact site owners who are unaware of their site’s value," and "to concentrate on topics that are not immediately commercial in nature as you’re more likely to discover a site created out of passion, rather than for profit."
First, to reassure those authors with works on these sites: we believe that people who create fanworks without making money from them are engaging in noncommercial fair uses, no matter where they post those fanworks. Just because your noncommercial fanwork is on an ad-supported site (including for instance a LiveJournal Plus account or on YouTube) does not mean your work is any less of a fair use. If you have any legal concerns about your work now or in the future, please contact the OTW and we will do our best to help you regardless if your work is on an ad-supported site or not.
However, there are clearly grounds for concern for the users of these sites, and we at OTW want to offer whatever support we can.
What we're doing right now:
* Our coders are already working on a custom importer to make it easier and quicker for writers to import their stories from these sites and back them up or transfer them to the Archive of Our Own. Our next deploy is coming soon and will hopefully include this update.
* If you are a user of these archives and don't already have an AO3 account, you can sign up for an AO3 invitation, or contact our Open Doors team, who will have accounts ready to give away.
Please boost the signal on this to users of these archives if you can!
We also want to add that we do ourselves feel that this sale is a risky thing for these archives and for their users. Many of us at the OTW are ourselves fandom archivists, and we know how hard it is for a single individual to keep a site running even with the best of intentions. When an archive is intended to be a profit-making venture for the person running it, it then becomes dependent not just on a single person, but also on the archive being profitable (and not more trouble than it's worth). As Mr. Mander says, he needs an "income stream" to justify investing in the site. So this raises the question of what happens to the site if it's not profitable or if the site as a whole gets a legal threat, or what will happen if some content on the site troubles advertisers.
In a posted response to Mander, esteliel says that she "did not agree that my stories will earn money for the owner of this website when I signed up for the archive," and reiterates she sees her stories as a gift to fandom. This is a feeling that many of us share, and which the OTW is committed to supporting. Fans have provided decades of labor and creativity without outside investors. Many users object in principle to having profit generated by monetizing their fanworks, and many users who put their work on these archives in the expectation that the archives themselves were labors of love by other fans are not interested in having their work taken over by a for-profit business.
The OTW will keep working to preserve a robust and lasting home for fanworks and fan cultures, regardless of whether or not a particular fandom provides a revenue stream. For individual archivists who are overwhelmed by the work of supporting an archive, please consider contacting us for assistance.
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Links Roundup for May 24, 2011
By .fcoppa on Tuesday, 24 May 2011 - 11:02pmMessage type:Tags:Here’s a roundup of stories that might be of interest to fans: news about Google Video, Blogger, "A Billion Wicked Thoughts," Creative Commons, and "Con or Bust," just beneath the cut!
* Google Video is being subsumed into YouTube for all but "Google Video for Business" and "Google Video for Education" users. If fans are using Google Video to host their fanworks, they can either move them to YouTube or download and save copies. (This is, for the record, more courtesy than Imeem showed its users when it eliminated its video hosting service, as it did not give patrons the chance to download their works before deleting them.) You can find more information in this Google Video Help article.
* Many fans have been closely following the coverage of the publication of Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam's book, "A Billion Wicked Thoughts: What the World's Largest Experiment Reveals about Human Desire." Ogas and Gaddam attempted to survey fans two years ago both individually and by means of an online survey that fans found to be a blunt and badly-designed instrument; many fans are now giving the resulting book a decisive thumbs-down. Read Doctor Science's article at Obsidian Wings, A Billion Made-Up Conclusions, for one fan's perspective.
* For Blogger Users: While Blogger has moved to using the Google accounts system for logins, legacy users have up till now been able to maintain their own accounts. This will soon no longer be the case: if you have a Blogger account and haven’t logged in since 2007, you will lose access to the account and associated content permanently unless you update to the Google Account system before June 25th.
* In its most recent alumni magazine, Cambridge University professor Dr. Rupert Gatti argues something that the OTW (and its gold standard, Open Access journal Transformative Works and Cultures) has believed for years: that Open Access models and Creative Commons are the future of academic scholarship. (See p. 40-41 for the whole article.)
* Lastly, "Con or Bust" is taking applications to fund con attendance for fans of color. "Con or Bust" is a sub-project of the Carl Brandon Society, an organization whose goal is "is to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the production of and audience for speculative fiction." Grants are being administered by Kate Nepveu.
We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about you can submit it in three easy ways: comment on the most recent Link Roundup on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW, tag a link with "for:otw_news" on Delicious or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!
Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.
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Animé, manga y video juegos de Japón amenazados por legislación local
By .Helka Lantto on Sunday, 8 May 2011 - 10:20pmMessage type:Escrito por Electra
Fans de animé, manga, y video juegos producidos en Japón podrían muy pronto notar cambios en el acceso a y el contenido producido tanto profesionalmente como por fans. La Ley de la ordenanza metropolitana de Tokyo Nº 156 [NT: en inglés], la "ley de crímenes inexistentes”, la cual entrará en efecto a partir de este año, busca limitar la distribución y el contenido de dichos materiales en la metrópolis.
La ley aumentará los poderes del gobierno metropolitano de Tokio para regular la venta y renta de material multimedia “dañino” para menores de 18 años. También extenderá la definición vigente de “dañino” para cubrir material que “injustificadamente glorifique o exagere” ciertos actos sexuales o pseudo-sexuales; leyes anteriores sólo limitaban la distribución de material para menores de 18 años que fuera “sexualmente estimulante, que promoviera la crueldad y/o pudiera forzar al suicidio o comportamiento criminal”.
La ley es aplicable a “publicaciones”, incluyendo libros, DVDs y CDs, tanto profesionales como hechos por fans. Sin embargo, parece no aplicarse a sitios móviles (telefonía celular) y descargas [NT: en inglés], a pesar de exigir que sean aplicados filtros de contenido para los teléfonos celulares de todos los usuarios menores de 18 años.
El proyecto de ley [NT: en inglés] podría desalentar a los proveedores en Tokyo, uno de los principales centros de las industrias del animé, manga y video juegos, de crear nuevo contenido o continuar promocionando aquel contenido que violen la nueva ley, aun si estuviera dirigido a mayores de 18 años. Este efecto es especialmente probable dado que el proyecto de ley no especifica los mecanismos que regulan su aplicación, así que deja a los creadores sin conocer las consecuencias de no seguirla.
El proyecto de ley fue aprobado en medio de una condena generalizada por parte de creadores y miembros del gobierno nacional así como de fans. Fans han expresado su oposición en la forma de trabajos dôjin (hechos-por-fans), incluyendo comics [NT: en japonés] y videos [NT: en japonés] (estos enlaces requieren registro) que combinan la transformación de trabajos existentes con análisis y crítica de la legislación.
Mientras tanto, la Asociación Japonesa de Animación (AJA) condenó el proyecto de ley [NT: en inglés] por intentar regular la libertad de expresión y la expresión creativa, mientras que un grupo de editors de manga anunciaron un boycott [NT: en inglés] a la (ahora cancelada) Feria del Anime 2011 en Tokio, una impresionante muestra de contenido patrocinada por el gobierno metropolitano de Tokyo. Algunos otros, incluyendo el Primer Ministro japonés Kan Naoto [NT: en inglés], han expresado su preocupación sobre el impacto de este proyecto de ley sobre la industria de creación de contenido asentada en Tokyo.
La regulación voluntaria de contenidos realizada por creadores de la industria y fans entró en efecto a principios de abril. La represión del contenido se intensificará en julio, cuando la regulación de la venta y renta de material para menores de 18 años sea implementada.
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Anime, Manga und Videospiele aus Japan von dortiger Gesetzgebung bedroht
By .Helka Lantto on Sunday, 8 May 2011 - 10:19pmMessage type:Verfasst von Electra
Anm. d. Übers.: Linkziele sind auf Englisch & Japanisch.
Fans von Animes, Mangas, und Videospielen könnten bald Änderungen sowohl im Zugang zu als auch in den Inhalten von professional produzierten japanischen Werken und Fanwerken bemerken. Die Verordnung 156 der Metropolregion Tokio, genannt "Gesetz für nichtexistente Verbrechen", die dieses Jahr in Kraft tritt, soll den Vetrieb und den Inhalt dieser Produkte im Stadtgebiet einschränken.
Der Gesetzentwurf erweitert die Befugnisse der Tokioter Metropolregierung, den Verkauf und den Verleih von "schädlichen" Medien an Menschen unter 18 zu regulieren. Er dehnt außerdem die aktuelle Definition von "schädlich" auf Material aus, das gewisse sexuelle oder pseudo-sexuelle Handlungen "grundlos glorifiziert oder übertreibt". Frühere Gesetze schränkten nur den Vertrieb von Material an Unter-18-Jährige ein, das "sexuell stimuliert, zu Grausamkeit anregt, und/oder zu Selbstmord oder kriminellem Verhalten aufrufen könnte."
Der Gesetzentwurf bezieht sich auf "Veröffentlichungen", darunter sowohl professionelle als auch von Fans produzierte Bücher, DVDs und CDs. Allerdings scheint es sich nicht auf Handy-Seiten oder Downloads zu beziehen, obwohl es festlegt, dass auf Handys aller Unter-18-Jährigen Inhaltsfilter anzuwenden sind.
Das Gesetz könnte Produzenten in Tokio, einem bedeutenden Zentrum der Anime-, Manga-, und Videospielindustrie, davon abschrecken Inhalte zu produzieren, die gegen das neue Gesetz verstoßen könnten, bzw. bestehende zu vermarkten, selbst wenn diese für Über-18-Jährige gedacht sind. Dieser abschreckende Effekt wird höchstwahrscheinlich eintreten, denn der Gesetzentwurf beschreibt keine genauen Durchsetzungsmechanismen, weshalb Produzenten sich beim Verstoß gegen das Gesetz undefinierten Konsequenzen ausgesetzt sehen.
Das Gesetz wurde unter breiten Protesten verabschiedet, nicht nur von Seiten der Fans und professioneller Produzenten, sondern auch von Mitgliedern der nationalen Regierung. Fans haben ihren Protest in Form von dôjin (fangemachten) Werken zum Ausdruck gebracht, darunter Comics und Videos (Registrierung zum Ansehen nötig), die eine Transformation bestehender Werke mit Analyse und Kritik der Gesetzgebung verbinden.
Mittlerweile verurteilte auch die Association of Japanese Animations (AJA) den Gesetzentwurf als Versuch, Redefreiheit und künstlerische Freiheit zu begrenzen, und eine Gruppe führender Manga-Verlage kündigte einen Boykott der (mittlerweile abgesagten) Tokyo Anime Fair 2011 an, einer wichtigen, von der Tokioter Metropolregierung gesponserten Handelsmesse. Andere, unter ihnen Japans Premierminister Naoto Kan, drückten Besorgnis über den Einfluss des Gesetzentwurfs auf die in Tokio konzentrierte Kreativbranche aus.
Eine freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Branche wurde Anfang April eingeführt und eine strenge Verfolgung nun verbotener Inhalte wird ab Juli erwartet, wenn die Regelung zu Verkauf und Verleih von Material an Unter-18-Jährige in Kraft tritt.
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Des animés, mangas et jeux vidéos japonais menacés par la législation locale.
By .Helka Lantto on Sunday, 8 May 2011 - 10:17pmMessage type:Écrit par Electra
Les fans d'animés, de mangas et de jeux vidéos produits au Japon vont sûrement bientôt remarquer des changements dans l'accessibilité et le contenu des productions professionnelles aussi bien qu'amateurs. Le décret du 13 décembre 2010 concernant la jeunesse et afférent à la loi 156 de Tokyo, 'loi sur les crimes non existants', qui entre en vigueur cette année, a pour objectif de limiter la distribution et le contenu de ces productions dans la métropole.
La loi augmente les pouvoirs de la préfecture de Tokyo pour réguler la vente et la location de ces média 'dangereux' pour les personnes de moins de 18 ans. Il étend également la définition actuelle de 'dangereux' pour les productions qui "glorifient ou exagèrent de manière injustifiée' certains actes ou pseudo-actes sexuels; les lois précédentes limitaient seulement la distribution aux moins de 18 ans, de productions 'sexuellement incitatives, encourageant la cruauté, et/ou pouvant inspirer un comportement suicidaire ou criminel'.
La loi concerne les 'publications', y compris les livres, DVDs et CDs, réalisés professionnellement ou par des fans. Cependant, elle ne semble pas s'appliquer aux sites mobiles ou téléchargements, malgré l'obligation d'installer des filtres de contenus sur tous les téléphones mobiles des moins de 18 ans.
Le 15 décembre 2010, l'assemblée générale de Tokyo a passé cette loi concernant la jeunesse qui pourrait décourager les fournisseurs de contenu à Tokyo, un centre majeur pour les industries d'animés, de manga et de jeux vidéos, de créer de nouveaux contenus susceptibles de violer cette nouvelle loi, même si la cible était les plus de 18 ans. Cette répercussion est d'autant plus probable que la loi ne spécifie pas les moyens exacts de contraintes prévus, d'où l'incertitude des créateurs sur les conséquences d'être victimes de la loi.
La loi a été votée au milieu d'une condamnation de grande envergure de la part des créateurs professionnels et de membres du gouvernement national, et aussi de fans. Les fans ont exprimé leur opposition sous forme de créations dôjin (réalisées par des fans), y compris des bandes dessinées et des vidéos (le lien requiert une inscription) qui combinent la transformation de travaux existant et l'analyse et la critique de la législation.
En parallèle, l'Association des Animations Japonaises condamne la loi pour sa tentative de réguler la liberté de parole et d'expression créative, pendant qu'un groupe important d'éditeurs de manga annoncent un boycott de la convention d'animé de Tokyo 2011 (finalement annulée), un évènement majeur sponsorisé par le gouvernement de Tokyo. D'autres personnes, comme le premier ministre japonais Kan Naoto, ont exprimé leur inquiétude concernant l'impact de la loi sur l'industrie de contenu créatif centralisée à Tokyo.
La régulation volontarisée de contenu par les créateurs industriels et les fans est entrée en vigueur au début du mois d'avril. Les applications de la loi s'intensifieront courant juillet, lors que la loi pour la vente et la location de produits aux moins de 18 ans sera effective.
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Anime, manga and video games from Japan threatened by local legislation
By .Helka Lantto on Sunday, 8 May 2011 - 10:14pmMessage type:Written by Electra
Fans of anime, manga, and video games produced in Japan may soon notice changes in access to and the content of both professionally produced content and fanworks. The Tokyo metropolitan ordinance Bill 156, the “nonexistent crimes bill”, which goes into effect this year, aims to limit the distribution and content of these items in the metropolis.
The bill increases the powers of the Tokyo metropolitan government to regulate the sale and rental of “harmful” media to people under the age of 18. It also extends the current definition of “harmful” to cover material that "unjustifiably glorifies or exaggerates" certain sexual or pseudo-sexual acts; previous laws only limited distribution of material to under-18s that is "sexually stimulating, encourages cruelty, and/or may compel suicide or criminal behavior".
The bill applies to “publications”, including books, DVDs and CDs, both professional and fan-made. However, it does not appear to apply to mobile sites or downloads, despite mandating that content filters be applied to the cell phones of all under-18s.
The bill may discourage content providers in Tokyo, a major center for the anime, manga and video games industries, from creating new content or continuing to market content that may violate the new bill, even if it would be aimed at over 18s. This chilling effect is especially likely given that the bill doesn’t specify exact enforcement mechanisms, so creators are uncertain of the consequences of falling foul of the law.
The bill was passed amid widespread condemnation on the part of professional creators and members of the national government as well as fans. Fans have expressed their opposition in the form of dôjin (fan-made) works, including comics and videos (link requires registration) that combine transformation of existing works with analysis and critique of the legislation.
Meanwhile, the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA) condemned the bill for attempting to regulate freedom of speech and of creative expression, while a group of leading manga publishers announced a boycott of the (now cancelled) 2011 Tokyo Anime Fair, a major content showcase sponsored by the Tokyo metropolitan government. Others, including Japanese Prime Minister Kan Naoto, have expressed concern over the bill’s impact on the content creation industry centered in Tokyo.
Voluntary regulation of content by industry creators and fans went into effect at the beginning of April. The crackdown on content will intensify in July, when regulation of the sale and rental of material to under-18s will be implemented.
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Links Roundup for April 27, 2011
By .fcoppa on Wednesday, 27 April 2011 - 10:56pmMessage type:* The big news of the day: YouTube founders buy Delicious from Yahoo; this is also the big story on the blog at delicious.com. So far, there's not much in the way of details, though geek.com is reporting that users will have the ability to opt out when the service changes hands.
* Fans, beware: Tumblr may push you out of your account name without warning if a corporation decides it wants it. danah boyd is reporting that Tumblr moved her account without notice or warning at the behest of a corporate entity who had trademarked her long-term internet handle, "zephoria." Gawker.com reports another case in their story Tumblr Screws Hipster Underclass to Appease Hipster Overlords at Pitchfork, reporting that the person who blogged at pitchfork before Pitchfork Magazine got involved was moved, without permission or notice, to pitchfork1.tumblr.com.
* New Zealand snuck a '3 strikes you're out' copyright law into a larger emergency bill meant to help earthquake victims. Not only are these new amendments to the Copyright Act widely disliked, but there is resentment against the process of attaching them to an urgent emergency bill. A series of protests are planned for May 1st.
* Alison Croggon's talk, The Rise of the Amateur, is now online; in it, Croggon argues that the internet has created new excitement in the arts - both in terms of amateur art and amateur criticism.
* The Atlantic has published an interview with Kembrew McLeod, co-author of Creative License: The Law and Culture of Digital Sampling, called, How Copyright Law Hurts Music, From Chuck D to Girl Talk .
We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about you can submit it in three easy ways: comment on the most recent Link Roundup on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW, tag a link with "for:otw_news" on Delicious or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!
Submitting a link doesn't guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn't mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.
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Copyright School Video Challenge!
By .fcoppa on Friday, 22 April 2011 - 5:59pmMessage type:Calling all vidders and remix artists! Public Knowledge is holding a Copyright School Video Challenge: to explain what you can and can't do under fair use better than YouTube's "copyright school", which has been criticized for focusing more on the CAN'T than on the CAN. As Public Knowledge explains, "While 'Copyright School' does a great job of telling you what you can't do with copyrighted content, it does a very poor job of telling you what you can do with copyrighted content--namely, remix, reuse and repurpose it without permission from the rightsholder as allowed under the doctirine of fair use." The winning video will get a $1000 prize and be featured on the Public Knowledge website. Judges include political remixers Jonathan McIntosh and Elisa Kreisinger, activist and scholar Brian Rowe, and Kirby Ferguson, director of the web series Everything is a Remix.
You can find out more at publicknowledge.org and at politicalremixvideo.com. (Important: the challenge deadline is May 23, 2011!)
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Mixed Messages from YouTube’s "Copyright School"
By .fcoppa on Thursday, 21 April 2011 - 12:32amMessage type:Tags:by Rachael Vaughn and the OTW Legal Committee
Last week, YouTube announced revisions to its copyright policy, which may impact vidders and other fans using YouTube. In short, YouTube has eliminated its one-size-fits-all three strike termination policy in favor of a revamped Copyright Education Center and an official Copyright School. Unfortunately, the Copyright School is presented in the form of a very one-sided tutorial cartoon that attempts to summarize a complicated and constantly evolving area of law using a teal squirrel in a pirate hat.
Before discussing the content of the Copyright School video, it is useful to review how YouTube’s policy has actually changed. Known as the “three strikes rule,” YouTube’s old policy stipulated automatic suspension of user accounts receiving three uncontested copyright takedown notifications. It is important to differentiate between copyright takedown notifications and content ID matches (http://www.youtube.com/t/copyright_strike), which do not result in “strikes,” but may lead to uploads being automatically blocked. Only notifications from a copyright owner result in strikes. YouTube’s new policy retains the basic “three strikes” framework, but adds two additional provisions. First, if a user receives a copyright notification, the user is required to view the Copyright School video and pass a corresponding quiz. Second, YouTube may remove strikes from an account if the user: (1) successfully completes Copyright School; and (2) has demonstrated good behavior over time.
As characterized in an informative post from EFF, the end result of the policy change is a bit of a “mixed bag” for YouTube users. The new rules will arguably result in fewer account suspensions, but at what price? In exchange for removing the infamous strikes that lead to account suspension, users must graduate from a Copyright School with a questionable pedigree.
Although the Copyright School video does not explicitly make statements that are legally incorrect, it does employ a number of traditional scare tactics to dissuade users from uploading certain types of content. Mashups and remixes are two examples of content that is portrayed in a particularly unfavorable light. In the video, the pirate squirrel is repeatedly warned by a voice-of-god narrator about the harsh penalties associated with uploading video that is not 100% original. When the poor little guy tries to make a suitably original video by recording a band performing in a park with his phone, he is told that he will be subjected to a variety of punishments including jail, lawsuits, and getting smashed over the head with a giant gavel.
The video’s explanation of fair use is relegated to a short section in which the narrator reads portions of the statute in a humorously fast voice while the animations on the screen are replaced with cramped text, suggesting that fair use is just mumbo jumbo that no ordinary person should try to understand. Users are advised that if they do not understand fair use, that they should seek the counsel of a copyright attorney. As one blogger points out: “all children have copyright lawyers, so this is a workable solution.” (http://copyrightlitigation.blogspot.com/2011/04/fair-use-fridays-youtube-flunks.html)
Generally YouTube’s Copyright School does a fantastic job educating users about what cannot be done with copyrighted content. Unfortunately, it neglects to acknowledge that there are many situations in which copyrighted content can be lawfully transformed to further the promotion of science and the useful arts. In those situations, YouTube’s copyright dispute processes and the DMCA counter notification procedures are available. For more information, EFF’s Fair Use Principles for User Generated content and the Center for Social Media’s code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video provide useful principles for ordinary videomakers considering fair use.
But that might be telling stories out of school.
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