• A few posts have recently discussed fannish audiovisual works. One was at Learned Fangirl which examined musical remix culture. "One advantage in analyzing the creativity surrounding Daft Punk’s Get Lucky is that the original visuals doesn’t matter to the re-imaginings at all. This allows the public to focus on the brilliance that is possible with just the reuse and re-purposing of the music." Addressing a frequent criticism, writer Raizel insisted "All of these works **are** transformative – all of them have the original and change it into something new and different. Instead of stripping away the economic value of the song, they have increased it. Fans found this song meaningful and 'made it their own', helping others find the fun as well."
• At The Daily Dot, Gavia Baker-Whitelaw explored the evolution of fandom mixtape culture. "Fanmixes can be created as the soundtrack to a fanfic, but they’re just as likely to be like a normal mixtape: capturing a particular moment or mood. It’s just [rather] than being 'breakup songs of 2007,' the mood in question is more likely to be 'music on the theme of defeating Voldemort.'" The importance of new online platforms was cited as a breakthrough. "With the advent of playlist sites like 8tracks and Spotify, fanmixing has become a lot more accessible. Up until recently, mixes were mostly uploaded onto file-sharing websites and then posted to LiveJournal communities, meaning listeners had to commit to downloading the whole thing. Plus, there was the ever-present threat of copyright infringement (the boogeyman of fandom), so a lot of those communities were members only."
• Polygon.com featured "an eight-minute CGI piece called The Lord Inquisitor: Prologue" which "represents a reaction, of sorts, to an official 2010 film called Warhammer Ultramarines, which failed to meet the hopes of many in the 40K community." While the creators hope to eventually make a 40 minute film that's financed by outside producers, they feel they are taking a fannish angle to the project. "'They take your favorite thing and they make it crappy. You get disappointed. You want something better, You realize that in order to do that you need to engage and spend your own time to make that happen. That is the fundamental thing our group is trying to prove...Hollywood has this money-driven agenda to produce things that sell. But fans can create things that are more in-depth, more challenging, more fun.'"

What audiovisual histories do you know about? Write about them 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.

• Mother Jones wrote about Jennie Lamere, who recently won the "best in show" award at the national TVnext Hack event by helping fans avoid spoilers on Twitter. She did it by writing "Twivo, a new program that allows Twitter users to censor their feeds from mentioning a certain TV show (and its characters) for a set time period." She was the only solo woman participating. "Hackathons (which have nothing to do with illegal hacking) bring together programmers, developers, and designers, who compete to code an innovative new program in a limited amount of time." Lamere has already been approached by a company to market her creation. "She came up with the idea for Twivo the night before the competition, and it took her 10 hours and 150 lines of code to complete."
• Fan creativity isn't just becoming a given, it's beginning to be demanded as well. Kotaku posted about "Little Witch Academia...an animated 30-minute short released by Studio Trigger on YouTube" which was "produced as a part of the 'Young Animator Training Project'." Noting that anime fandom had successfully instigated a series from their response to an ad, writer Patricia Hernandez urged them to do the same with this project.
• While non-scripted TV shows tend to lag in terms of fanwork creations, there's at least one fan video out there, "Hold Up, Bro" that can make people take note that they exist. "Lisa Ferreira recreated last week’s episode in Legos, showing how three idols led to Phillip’s exit. It’s fantastic and kind of shocking that Legos are so effective at representing Survivor cast members and locations." Ferreira then added " a full-length song and musical number...written and performed by Lisa and her brother Matthew Willcott."

What cool fanworks have you seen lately? Write about them 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.

Welcome to our Events Calendar roundup for the month of May! 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.

• MISTI-Con, Harry Potter convention hosted by The Group Who Shall Not Be Named (the New York City Harry Potter Meetup) in cooperation with Ray "The Dark Lord Bartender" Smith and the Margate Hotel, will be held in Laconia, New Hampsire, USA from 9-13 May 2013. The convention will feature panels, programs, academic presentations, exhibits, wizard rock performances, and much more.
  Read and Share about MISTI-Con on Fanlore
• Vidukon, a United Kingdom-based fan-run convention focused on vidding, will be held in Cardiff, Wales on 18-19 May 2013. The con welcomes vids and vidders from all fandoms and features video shows along with workshops, panels, and even a 'Vid Bazaar' where vidders can swap DVDs of their work.
  Read and Share about Vidukon on Fanlore
• Celebrating its 31st incarnation, BayCon, the San Francisco Bay area's regional science fiction convention will be held 24-27 May 2013. In honor of this celebration, the program organizers have chosen the theme 'Triskaidekaphobicon' and are planning to explore the darker sides of science fiction and fantasy: phobias, superstitions, thrills, horror, and more. The con features panels, workshops, special guests, meet and greet opportunities, and gaming spaces for fans across the genre.
  Read and Share about BayCon on Fanlore
• The First Annual Fandom and Neomedia Studies (FANS) Conference will be held in Dallas, TX, on 1 and 2 June 2013. The FANS Conference is hosted and sponsored by A-Kon, the longest continually running anime and manga convention in North America. It will be held at the Dallas Hilton Anatole Hotel. Topics at the conference will include all aspects of being a fan, ranging from being a passive audience member to producing one’s own parafictive or interfictive creations. Neomedia includes both new media, as it is customarily defined, as well as new ways of using and conceptualizing traditional media.

A Call for Papers this month comes from Intensities - The Journal of Cult Media. Intensities has recently relaunched and has issued a call for papers for issue six focusing on television shows "that have achieved cult status at a historical distance". Papers are sought for both established shows and for shows that have received limited critical attention. According to the call: "[T]he papers will locate those shows historically, either by drawing on archive materials or suggesting new cultural, historical or institutional contexts in which they might be understood."

Submissions should be 6000-8000 words with a 200 word abstract (sent as separate documents) and made via e-mail to intensities[at]brunel.ac.uk. The deadline for submissions is 31 May 2013. See the official call website for more information.

This month we have received a request for research participation from Lucy Neville, a lecturer in criminology and sociology at the University of Middlesex. Dr. Neville's study is entitled "Women's Production and Consumption of (Male) Homosexual Erotica". The study has been approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Middlesex.

Her contact information is available within the survey's cover page and she can be reached via e-mail at l.neville[at]mdx.ac.uk. The research results will be shared on the researcher's LiveJournal following the completion of the study.

If you are interested in participating, the survey questionnaire has additional information regarding the study and your rights as a participant.

If you have requests for research participation, please view our policy for inclusion at our website.

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

• Although there's been a lot of talk recently regarding fanfic authors going pro, there's been less focus on fan video makers. Tessa Stuart wrote in L.A. Weekly about Machinima's overreaching contracts with fan producers on YouTube. "Over the last two years, YouTube has quietly transformed from the province of amateurs to an increasingly cutthroat ecosystem where everyone — stars, networks, advertisers — is competing for views, viewers and view time." As a result "Internet and intellectual-property lawyers say that a rash of public disputes between networks and their talent suggests a serious problem in the emerging industry." The article talks about the origins of the machinima community and how the practice was co-opted by for-profit entities. One of the latest is a new organization called Union for Gamers. "Everyone in Union for Gamers, Duncan says, would be entitled to the same CPM, which would be raised every year. Gamers no longer would be forced into restrictive contracts — union members would have the right to leave whenever they saw fit. He promises 'resources to help people create better videos,' adding, 'and we'll do the labor, the administration and ad-serving side, allowing them to monetize their content.'"
• An AP article on Nerdist described the site as "the purest expression of fanboy-ism" following "a kind of manifesto...of an 'artful nerd' — one whose fandom isn't merely critical and passive, but is passionately proactive." The analogy to a growing empire seems apt, "As Hardwick says, there's something of 'a land grab with nerd culture right now'" and they are following it with podcasts, a YouTube channel, book, talk show, etc. "Nerds can be out about the stuff that they love without as much as the stigma against it as when I was growing up," says Hardwick. "I just want people to feel OK about what they love. Unless that thing is murder and you're a Murder Nerd."
• Writing for New Republic, Marc Tracy talks about the effect of gambling on sports fandom. "I am a football obsessive. I’m also something of a purist. Not counting fantasy football and March Madness pools, I had made maybe four sports bets in my life until last month, when I decided to bet throughout the NFL playoffs. I wanted to see if, as I’d long believed, betting distorts one’s appreciation of the game; if the psychic benefits outweighed the costs, literal or otherwise; and if I could balance one type of entertainment (elite competition) with another (risking money)." He found "Nothing is as bewitching as money. When it’s at risk, your mind can think of nothing else...There was great football being played, and here I was thinking about money—not even money that I had risked, but rather money that I had not risked." His conclusion? "Our pastimes, whatever they may be, should be sacrosanct. They are part of why we go to work, save money, and take time for ourselves."

What commercialization of fandom stories do you have to tell? Write about 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.