• Crunchyroll displayed a slew of artwork when taking note of a new fanart meme. "The last week has given rise to bit of obvious genius on Japanese art portal Pixiv. Suitable for some awesome wallpapers, the hot trend of the moment in fanart is to draw characters trapped behind the glass of a smartphone."
• Meanwhile, io9 pointed out how fans are drawing the next Disney princess even though her details haven't been released yet. "Only one image associated with Moana has come out, and Disney has said that it isn't concept art for the movie, which focuses on Moana Waialiki, the only daughter of a chief from a long line of navigators. But based on that artwork and the setting of the film, a handful of artists have started drawing their own visions of Moana, drawing from various South Pacific cultures."
• Bowing to user demand, the World of Warcraft site battle.net added a fanfiction forum. "That's right, you asked for it and now you've got it. We hope you have your creative juices flowing because now is the time to share just what it is that's been crawling through your brain and itching to be be shared beyond the confines of your skull. Those voices you hear? Those are your own characters or interpretations of the world (of Warcraft) whispering in your ear and begging to be set free upon your fellows."
• IGN looked at audio fanworks for games. "Fans go to great lengths to celebrate the games they love. Some write fan fiction, draw beautiful images, or cosplay as their favorite characters. Others channel their reverence and admiration into rap albums. Some video game-themed rap songs make a big impact, but several more fall under the radar. The following are some of the best songs that didn't quite nab the recognition they deserve."

What fanwork discussions have you come across? Write about it on 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.

• Death and Taxes complained about What happens when fan fiction takes over the original? "It’s not unusual to do a concept production of a play or musical." But "Playbill has just announced a national tour of the long-running musical The Fantasticks that is 're-envisioned as a steampunk-inspired production.'" Writer Madeline Raynor complained "not only are you foisting a misguided concept onto the show, but you’re not actually integrating it in?" and concludes "[W]hen the creative team behind the source material uses fan fiction-like elements to change the original? That gets weird."
• Some reviewers agreed with this sentiment in regards to the third season of Sherlock. The International Business Times said "Some people have not been too happy that the series has catered to its online fan base over more casual viewers. 'While any successful TV drama these days should generate fan fiction, it can not afford to become entirely fan fiction itself,' said Mark Lawson in The Guardian." But IBT countered "It's an interesting point, but fails to recognise the unique position of Sherlock as fan fiction since its inception, as well as how over recent years the boundaries between professional media and fan fiction have become increasingly blurred."
• Laurie Penny at The New Statesman agreed, claiming "The BBC's Sherlock doesn’t just engage with fan fiction - it is fan fiction." However she goes further to note "What is significant about unofficial, extra-canonical fan fiction is that it often spins the kind of stories that showrunners wouldn’t think to tell, because fanficcers often come from a different demographic. The discomfort seems to be not that the shows are being reinterpreted by fans, but that they are being reinterpreted by the wrong sorts of fans - women, people of colour, queer kids, horny teenagers, people who are not professional writers, people who actually care about continuity (sorry). The proper way for cultural mythmaking to progress, it is implied, is for privileged men to recreate the works of privileged men from previous generations whilst everyone else listens quietly."
• NPR's Monkey See blog discussed both Sherlock and the opening episode of Community when questioning the amount of outside intrusion. "Fan service is kind of a cheap gimmick, like a drug thrown out to keep the fans quiet for now, in case something happens down the line that will really upset them. It may feel really good, but it doesn't last, and like a lot of other temporary boosts, it will one day lead to withdrawal...I didn't tune in to Sherlock to see slash fiction or to Community for jokes about the people writing the dialogue. It's great that they know their fans, but they should also remember what they did to get fans in the first place."

What percolating fandom influences have you noticed in media texts? Write about it on 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.

Welcome to our Events Calendar roundup for the month of February! The Events Calendar can be found on the OTW website

• XenaCon, The official Xena Convention, is a "must attend" for any Xena fan! Meet fellow fans and special guests in Burbank, CA February 7-9

  More about Xena: Warrior Princess on Fanlore

• Popular and American Culture Studies: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow With a mission to "promote innovative and nontraditional academic movement in Humanities and Social Sciences celebrating America’s cultural heritages," The Southwest Popular/American Culture Association's 35th conference will be in Albuquerque, New Mexico February 19-22nd.
• Like slash? Then Escapade is where you want to be February 28th-March 2nd! Escapade has been celebrating slash for over two decades! The fan designed convention and includes an art show, dealer's room, panels, a zine library and a songvid show.

  More about Escapade on Fanlore

We have four calls for papers for coming up in the next month!

• Call for Papers: Twitter, Celebrity and online public identity

  Contact and submissions to: Sarah Thomas skt [at] aber.ac.uk

  The ongoing adoption of Twitter as a tool for communication, broadcasting and interaction has meant that the social media platform has emerged as a significant site for re-thinking some of the key relationships between celebrity, performance and the presentation of the self. This CFP seeks short articles for Celebrity Studies Journal Forum section that explore Twitter and its usage beyond its status as a ‘new’ platform (that positions its singular significance through comparison with traditional representational media).

  The special issue of the journal will incorporate the style and ethos of Twitter in the submissions: Abstracts should be 140 words and are due on February 28.

  The short articles should begin with reference to a specific Tweet that sparks the analysis within the rest of the article. The final word count for the article will be between 750 and 1,500 words, depending on the number of accepted submissions.

• Call For Papers: New Directions in Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes

  The BBC "Sherlock" is now one of the most commercially and critically successful series of all time. This one-day symposium focuses on the series to look back at its roots in Conan Doyle’s stories, and examines its treatment of a range of issues including race, gender, terrorism, and international relations.

  The fruits of this symposium will lead to the publication of a special journal issue dedicated to the series. Please email your 200-word abstract for a 20-minute presentation and 50-word biography to ue_tom at hotmail.com by February 28.

  More about Sherlock on Fanlore

• CFP: FanPhenomena: Fan Studies & Fandom

  The Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand (Popcaanz) is devoted to the scholarly understanding of everyday cultures. Proposals for both panels and individual papers are now being accepted for all aspects of Fan Studies, including, but not limited to, the following areas: Fan Fiction, Fan/Creator interaction, Diversity in Fandom, The Internet and Fandom.

• CFP: Fan Phenomena: Rocky Horror Picture Show

  Now accepting abstracts to be considered for a new book Fan Phenomena: The Rocky Horror Picture Show from Intellect Press. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Fan Phenomena) title will examine the film’s fan culture, its essential role in creating the midnight movie, audience participation, and cult film cultures, as well as other areas of influence and social impact. Abstracts, along with CV or resume, are due March, 3rd 2014 and should be 300 words long.

  More about The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Fanlore

The Events Calendar is here to inform and connect fans about upcoming fan events both face to face and online! We are always open to submissions by anyone with news of an event. Events come in many categories such as Academic Events, Fan Gatherings, Legal Events, OTW Events, Announcements of fanwork fests and challenges, or Technology Events taking place around the world and online. New ideas and categories are encouraged! If you know about any upcoming fan events please let us know!

• A study of primarily gaming-related fanworks was posted on Gamasutra. The study "used empirical methods to investigate how contemporary user-generated content ('UGC') platforms and practices related to United States copyright law. The motivation for the project was the relative absence of data about the copyright status of most UGC and competing claims about UGC’s predominant nature."
• The researchers interviewed both fans and game creators and found that "There is, apparently, not very much 'groupthink' among our industry respondents about questions of IP, fair use, and user-generated content." Many also really enjoyed User Generated Content. However, industry pros creating fanworks prior to becoming paid assumed that most game players are not like them. "25% agreed that 'UGC is appealing only to a minority of gamers.'" In fact, when gamers were asked "if they had ever created new content related to video games...70% stated that they had. They reported that they spent, on average, about 5 hours per week creating content related to video games."
• The researchers compared activity by gamers to that of fans of other mediums, specifically Harry Potter story activity on Mugglenet and Fanfiction.net. "Though we were tempted to code for works that were parodies or that somehow altered the meaning of Harry Potter, we doubted that there would or should be a clear dividing line between infringing and non-infringing fan fiction practices."
• Researchers also "asked respondents about the fair use doctrine in the United States. 91% were aware of the doctrine. We asked those respondents if they thought fair use rights should be broaden[sic], narrowed, or if they should remain the same...64% thought it should be broadened, 26% said it should be narrowed, and 10% had no opinion."
• Wattpad also released numbers about fan activity. "The Wattpad community spent 87 million minutes each day reading and sharing stories from their phones and tablets last year. Readers also created more than 4.4 million story covers and YouTube trailers to support their favorite stories and writers on Wattpad." The site considers mobile access vital to their success, as "85 percent of time spent on Wattpad is via a phone or tablet. Half of the writers on Wattpad have written a story from a phone or tablet."

What fandom studies have you seen? Write about them on 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.