• Publishers Weekly reported on a panel at the Frankfurt Book Fair that focused on technology and fanfiction. Publisher Anna von Veh discussed various aspects of fan fiction including"'beta readers,' those that offer feedback and response on writing placed online 'to be commented on by others and improved.' She particularly noted the disclaimers placed on fan fiction by its creators to make sure the derivation of the properties is acknowledged and she likened it to 'a performance, an art more like theater, where you take a script and do other things to it; these properties are a starting point.'" Representatives from Wattpad also discussed the popularity of fanfic on their site. "Wattpad has released new online tools that allow its members to write on their phones, 'for a generation that lives online, through their phones, writing is part of their entertainment, it’s a hobby and with fragmented times, when the inspiration comes you can write, right on the spot.' Now 30% of Wattpad’s uploads come from iOS devices."
• Although it's not clear that fanfic content was discussed in Frankfurt, those at the Ada Initiative were concerned about what can occur at technology conferences when discussions of porn take place. "A brief explanation of why pornography and sex are off-putting to women and LGBTQ people of any gender: Most pornography shown in this situation assumes that the audience is male and heterosexual, and sends the message that everyone who is not a heterosexual man is not the intended audience. Also, shifting people’s minds towards sex often triggers people to view women as sexual objects, in a context in which women want to be treated as humans with a shared interest. But showing pornography and talking about sex in public are not necessarily a “women not wanted” sign. Women are using open tech/culture to create erotica by and for women, and to have open discussions about sexuality in general." The post cited the OTW's Archive of Our Own as "designed and created by a majority women community, and hosts erotic fan fiction written by women among many other fan works."
• Speaking of the archive, in a post about fanfiction, blogger A. Nolen makes three mistaken assertions about the A03. In the first Nolen lumps together the OTW with Wikipedia as co-creators of the AO3, and secondly proposes that the invite system was instituted to create exclusivity for the site (rather than to maintain the site's stability during unpredictable surges in use). The most troubling assertion suggests that the OTW's purpose for the archive is to create marketable works from its content. The Archive is noncommercial, as are the fanworks posted thereon, and the Archive doesn’t claim any “development” rights, whatever those are. As our Terms of Service explain, “The OTW does not claim any ownership or copyright in your Content. Repeat: we do not own your content. Nothing in this agreement changes that in any way. Running the Archive, however, requires us to make copies, and backup copies, on servers that may be located anywhere around the world.”

If you're a fanfiction writer, or have your own conference experiences to share, why not do it in Fanlore? Contributions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, podcast, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent OTW Fannews post. 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.

Here's a roundup of fandom celebration stories that might be of interest to fans:

• A South by Southwest (SXSW) panel with OTW connections has been proposed for inclusion at the event's 2013 lineup. "Catching Fire? Or Not. Fans, Creativity & Fair Use" would include Joshua Wattles of deviantART, Inc., Flourish Klink of The Alchemists, Heidi Tandy of HP Education Fanon, Inc. (HPEF) and FAWC, Inc. and Lisa Bunker of the Pima County Public Library. "This panel will be a frank discussion about the laws that protect fan-creators of transformative works, the gray areas of copyright and fair use, why fan creativity is usually not infringement, and the issues that corporations will have when trying to capitalize on fan culture." (Visitors must create an account to vote for the panel proposal).
• For a lot of fans, fandom doesn't end with their death -- at least not immediately. Filmmaker Errol Morris recently produced a short film titled Team Spirit about the funeral plans of hardcore fans. He probably should have included the obituary of baseball fan Marylou Belles. While acknowledging she was a fan of Stephen King, her loved ones noted "She was also a lifelong Mets fan, though surprisingly, that wasn't what killed her."
• Given the strife that occurs in some fandoms, death-by-fannishness might not be so farfetched, but at least one member of Fringe fandom took to the Huffington Post to declare how welcoming it was. "The support I received was overwhelming. I was the new kid on the block but I was met with an incredible welcome. I continue to post my reactions after each episode because I love interacting with the show's fans. They have enriched my Fringe viewing experience. They shield me from spoilers and even created a Twitter hashtag (#HurryUpMary) to get me caught up by the season five premiere. How many fandoms treat their newbies like that?"
• Of course, sometimes when fannish work crosses over to pro, the result doesn't make fans stand up and cheer. Such was the case with the Mortal Kombat fanfilm that became the officially sponsored web series "Legacy." However, in the sixth episode, fan creator, Tancharoen, stated that he was now given sole creative control and that it was written in the original style he had first envisioned. The result? "It was 10-times better than the previous five that I had struggled to sit through," said Jordan McCollam, writing for Gamebeat. McCollam then concluded, "I guess the main point I’m trying to make is this: Fan-made media is awesome, but it’s only awesome because it’s fan-made. Until making movies and television shows stops being about the money, and until studio heads stop feeling the need to pander to the lowest-common denominator, fan-made media will never have a home at major studios. Maybe we should just leave it alone, no matter how excited we are about a favorite franchise."

If you've got things to celebrate about fandom, make sure they're remembered with an entry in Fanlore. Contributions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup. 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.

Here's a roundup of group gathering stories that might be of interest to fans:

• The Walt Disney Archives and Disney fan club D23 is putting on a show called Fanniversary. The presentaton is "a celebration of movies, TV shows, attractions, characters and all things Disney that are celebrating milestones in 2012. It’s a roughly 90-minute presentation filled with rare and never-seen-in-public clips, audio, photographs, art and more, touring the country for the first time ever." The six city tour had already sold out when it launched.
• Another fannish event in Southern California was centered on bronies, and the first ever local meeting got an extensive write-up in The Los Angeles Times. "Stephen Thomas, from Claremont, became something of a brony celebrity when he based his senior high school physics presentation on 'MLP' last year. A video shot in the classroom and posted online quickly went viral; it has racked up nearly 1 million views. Thomas, now at Cal Poly Pomona, said he’d been concerned initially about reaction from his schoolmates. 'I wondered if I’d be a laughingstock for admitting how much I liked the show,' he said. 'But people didn’t think it was silly or dumb.'" They plan to hold their first convention in November.
• Sequential Tart wrote about yet another Southern California gathering, this one academic and business oriented, Transmedia, Hollywood 3: Rethinking Creative Relations. Unfortunately, one of the panels that was perhaps of particular concern to fans, "Working on the Margins: Who Pays for Transformative Works of Art?", was rather inconclusive. "One of the audience questions posted to the question website asked the panelists to actually address the questions posed in the title of the panel. I had been enjoying the panel, but as soon as that question popped up on the screen, I reflected on it. I'm not sure that the panel addressed the question at all. They talked about their personal experiences, and Mike Farah was pinned down on a question about where Funny or Die pays for stuff, but even then the answer was not super informative. I came away from the panel wondering who indeed pays for transformative works of art and multimedia projects like those being mentioned at this conference? How do some of these people make a living? Where is the profit in things done for free and / or by the Average Joe?"
• Finally in France a conference on "La Culture du Fan Symposium" was held, which took a more fan-focused approach to some of the same issues, featuring a panel on fan-subbing, brand fans, opera fans, an examination of the term "acafan" and a panel looking at "cultural policy and copyright law in fan production...[and] how fan activity had now entered the political arena, with their practices increasingly monitored by media producers."

If you're a fan of Disney, My Little Pony, or have your own fan gathering stories, why not contribute them to Fanlore? Additions are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — 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.

Here's a roundup of stories about "next generation fandom" that may be of interest to fans:

• The Wharton business school recently held a For the Win: Serious Gamification conference in which business, government, and education providers came together to discuss how to motivate behavior in work spaces and the marketplace by leveraging their experience with motivating television viewers and fans in online game spaces. The participants noted, however, that success in leveraging fannish behavior in the workspace was dependent on both good design and projects "that really get at something core that people really, genuinely want to do."
• In this ESPN post, a sports journalist notes that Twitter has not only given athletes a way to interact with fans, but has also colored the way that he reports on those athletes based upon what he learns about them through those interactions. He concludes that "Twitter has given fans a vehicle to root for players as human beings rather than as characterless objects, numerical fractions of a team." Twitter is also enabling fans to root for shows before they air. This Adweek article describes how advertisers are pre-identifying audiences by following conversations about upcoming TV shows. This advertiser attention could allow fans to draw in financial commitments for favorite stars' or producers' projects before they even air.

If you're part of gaming or sports fandoms why not contribute your experiences to Fanlore? Additions to the site are welcome from all fans.

We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — 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.