Audio Fanworks

  • OTW Fannews: Separate by intention?

    By Claudia Rebaza on Tuesday, 14 May 2013 - 4:55pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Gender and Sexuality, Television, Audio Fanworks, Cosplay, Fan Videos
    • Given media representations apparently a lot of people continue to think that female fandom projects are rare, although this may have to do with how gender segregated fandom projects often are. In a feature on the "Hello Sweetie" podcast, its founder discusses why it came into being. "She and others were listening...to 'Geek Show Podcast,' the popular online show started by X96’s 'Radio From Hell' host Kerry Jackson, local movie critics Jeff Vice and Jimmy Martin, and Tribune TV critic Scott D. Pierce. "'They never have any female panelists, rarely had female guests, and a lot of people were complaining about that,'"...On one episode of 'Geek Show Podcast,' one of the hosts said, 'If you [women] want to have a podcast, you should start one.'"
    • One reason for the separation may have to do with how female characters in fandoms are frequently depicted. One of the latest fans to address that issue uses cosplaying girls to create artwork depicting superheroes as they might really be. "It's not only combatting the myth that girls don't read or care about comics, but it’s showing that girls, too, can play the male superheroes that so often overshadow their female counterparts. And it's also proving just how easy it is to upend the sexist conventions that keep the women of comics in scantily clad, unrealistic uniforms for the purpose of sexually objectifying them."
    • The site Machinima.com pitches itself as equivalent with the fanwork in the tagline "a programming movement that captures the hard-to-reach 18 to 34-year-old male demographic." They have decided to try crowdsourcing video production on its Happy Hour Tales series. “Fans are invited to submit ideas for what happens in the second part of Trial of the Songbird…I wonder if there’s some branded intentions here; after all, inviting viewers to write about a brand new video game is a good way to get them to play that game. Happy Hour Tales is the overarching name of the series, which suggests that we will get crowdsourced stories set in other video game worlds before long.” Since fans have little need for an invitation to create new fannish content, the plan seems more in line with further commercializing fannish creativity rather than encouraging its independent development.
    • Another fannish site that's looking for fannish contributions has a long history of female participation, though Aja Romano wonders if the creative team is taking that into account. For one thing the fandom already has major fandom wiki projects, although they don't "emphasize fan creations and fanworks the way that Roddenberry's Trek Initiative does." But "it seems odd that Roddenberry has gone the traditional route of archives, wikis, and fan forums, rather than the more web 2.0 route emphasizing social media, media sharing, and interactive media. It's possible he hasn't registered just how big Star Trek is on Tumblr, where the new reboot reigns supreme among millions of fans, mostly women."

    Do the fandom sites you visit seem to target one gender over another? 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.

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  • OTW Fannews: Honoring fanworks

    By Claudia Rebaza on Monday, 29 October 2012 - 6:59pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Gender and Sexuality, Gaming, Television, Fannish Practices, Audio Fanworks, OTW Sightings
    • Fan films tend to be a particularly difficult and time consuming type of fanwork given their collaborative nature, whether they are animated or live action. At least for some gamers though, the best sort of fanwork is that which creates new games, though having projects shut down after so much time and effort are always a concern. Perhaps this was why the site EuroGamer had to clarify an earlier story that suggested Microsoft was barring fanworks from utilizing Halo content. "The majority of everything the community makes currently is fine, as long as they are not basically running a big Halo-based business or using Halo as if the IP was its own property. That isn't a change to our policy, simply a clarification and update of the dry legal language, and as we've mentioned, even that 'new' language was actually updated months ago. We don't have squads of lawyers waiting in the wings to go after folks making machinima, or showing off their skills in Halo."
    • Discussions such as these, which focus on content owner permission, tend to crop up with other fanworks as well, such as this take on a brand designer's house sigils for Game of Thrones. "Crescenzi's finished product, which comprises some 42 crests on a poster, is undeniably beautiful. However, he is selling them as prints, which somewhat alters the project from being a labor of love to a vehicle for profit. That makes us very curious to see GoT author Martin's take on them, as he is famously prickly about fan fiction, particularly where it concerns profit."
    • Yet fans, too, can be concerned about focusing on creators, even when discussing other fanworks, such as this one on podfic vs. written fanfiction. As one fan quoted by the Daily Dot stated "'I wonder how the fic author feels about the fact that the podfic is apparently oh so special and famous (with the fic itself being apparently unimportant compared to the reader's performance)'.” Meanwhile, "Fans of podfic, feeling battered by arguments likening them to unoriginal plagiarists and bad cover artists, rallied with a podfic appreciation meme, where appreciative readers and other podficcers could praise podficcers in comments. "
    • Another often unappreciated fan creation, albeit usually outside of fandom, is slash. At least one site though, After Elton, decided that it should be celebrated. "We were blown away by the internet explosion that was the Ultimate Slash Madness Tourney, and it occurred to us that a regular weekly column on the subject of slash might be a great fit for AfterElton. The name for such a column was easy: The Shipping News. The only catch was who to write it?...Even after reluctantly eliminating a dozen impressive submissions, we we're [sic] still left with five great people we wanted to work with. The happy solution we came up with was a weekly column penned by a rotating roster of slash experts." And the appreciation wasn't only by the AE site. As one of their contributors noted in the inaugural column, "Can we just take a moment to appreciate how many celebrities pimped their show's fave pairings in the AfterElton Ultimate Slash Madness Tourney? In addition to Misha Collins, Colton Haynes and the rest, we had John Barrowman and David Hewlett urging their fanbases to vote. Gone are the days when fans were on one side of canon and creators, producers, and actors were on the other."
    • At least one fanwork that definitely got a place of honor recently was the AO3, which has had its kudos icon memorialized on a user's skin. Consider us chuffed!

    If you're a slash lover, a fan film maker, a gamer, or have your own OTW-related tattoos, why not put together an entry 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.

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  • Links roundup for 13 September 2012

    By Claudia Rebaza on Thursday, 13 September 2012 - 5:03pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Intellectual Property, Fandoms, Music, Sports, Audio Fanworks, OTW Sightings, Technology, YouTube

    Here's a roundup of legal and technology audio stories that might be of interest to fans:

    • The Baker Street Babes Podcast spoke with OTW Legal Committee member Betsy Rosenblatt about legal issues surrounding fanworks, what the OTW's Legal Advocacy project does, and what makes the AO3 different from other online spaces for fanfic (starting 13 minutes in). The podcast also includes more general musings on the nature of fandoms and the reasons fans want to create fanworks. (No transcript available).
    • Various segments relating to intellectual property have been airing on On the Media. Key among these were their interview with the author of Year Zero, a science fiction novel which revolved around how U.S. copyright laws would result in the annihilation of the planet (transcript available), and their segment on how advertising agencies support a musical fanfic industry to avoid paying copyright on the originals (transcript available). They also pointed out the alarming lengths to which corporate entities are going to control brand visibility: "Olympic copyright cops stood ready to enforce the sponsors’ marketing deals" in sporting venues and "London organizers gave businesses a list of key words to avoid" in any advertising. "[W]hat’s interesting about this law is it goes beyond [any] kind of copyright law. This actually introduces a criminal offense, so you could technically be criminally prosecuted. It’s really been described as some of the most draconian legislation in this area that’s ever been introduced." (Transcript available at the link.)
    • The measure of draconian lengths may have to keep being revised upwards though. In the past month the Scripps News Service instigated a YouTube takedown against NASA for its video of the landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars. (The video was later restored with an apology). But the effort to control Olympics discussion was less effective against Olympic fans online. The effort by fans at circumventing both broadcast network restrictions as well as national viewing restrictions was the subject of an NPR segment on proxy servers. As Electronic Frontier Foundation representative Mike Stoltz explained, this is the "technology that people use to bypass censorship of the Internet in countries like China and Iran. And it's used by people both in the U.S. and in other countries to watch TV on the Internet that they can't get where they are." Asked if the practice was ethical, Stoltz replied "I think doing something like this in order to avoid paying for something is unethical. Doing something like this to get content that you as a person in the U.S. cannot get any other way is not necessarily unethical, it's more practical." (Transcript available at the link.)

    Do you have a fannish technology or legal story to tell? Why not contribute it to 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.

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  • Links roundup for 24 July 2012

    By Claudia Rebaza on Tuesday, 24 July 2012 - 5:02pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Academia, Studies, Commercialization of Fans, Fandoms, Audio Fanworks, Fanfiction , Fannish Histories

    Here's a roundup of stories about how fandom has arrived that might be of interest to fans:

    • YPulse, a Millenial marketing site, focused on fan fiction as part of their check-in on youth trends. "What once was a nerdy pastime is now the norm, and fan fiction goes well beyond creative writing. Teens are still writing fan fiction stories, but now they're also creating videos of themselves acting out scenes from books and movies, crafting animations of their favorite stars in stories they devise, and recording covers of songs with their own twists to the music and lyrics. And Millennial stars and brands are embracing this form of co-creation."
    • Indeed, discussions of brands and marketing revolves around fandom talk. "Stephenie Rodriguez, of social-media consultancy Mighty Media Group, says there's no question the internet is enabling people to become more verbal about their views. Without the passionate few, Rodriguez says, the online world would be contrived and disengaged. 'I believe the presence of a hater or fanboy is an indication of a healthy community,' she says. 'A forum or community without conflict reeks of artifice. For brands, nothing sounds as dead as no discussion, no query, no conflict, no advocates.'"
    • Fandom is also the focus of many an academic, one of whom recently discussed "Minions, Memes, and Meta: The Varieties of Online Media Fandom Experience" at The University of South Carolina, Sumter. The presentation focused on "the origins of media fandom, its activities and...fannishness as a philosophy of engaging texts."
    • Of course the OTW itself hosts many an academic work about fans as well as various other fannish projects, at least one of which led us to believe we've arrived when someone created a "me/ao3 otp" fanmix.

    If you're in "brandom", create fanworks or are an acafan, why not write about it in 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 at transformativeworks.org. 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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  • Links roundup for 21 July 2012

    By Claudia Rebaza on Saturday, 21 July 2012 - 4:33pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Movies, Audio Fanworks, Fan Conventions, Fanart, Fanfiction , Support Committee

    Here's a roundup of troubling issues that might be of interest to fans:

    • Last week, the OTW posted a news alert to fanfic writers and podfic makers about a contest for fanfic recordings being held at ComicCon. Our post pointed out troubling aspects of the contract fans would be required to sign, which led to additional discussion of the terms and contest by other fans. One was semaphore-drivethru on Tumblr who concluded "This, guys, is why you should always, always read a contract/release before signing. There is no length of contract on this, so I’m assuming it’s in perpetuity. There’s no language at all to protect you, either. Just an agreement for you to give them everything for a chance at a twenty minute recording. If you feel it’s a worthwhile trade, an opportunity with[sic] taking, then go for it. But be aware that in no reputable publishing circles would a contract like this be considered reasonable." Since then, it's been announced that Random House will be extending the contest to the upcoming Star Wars Celebration VI in Orlando next month. We urge those fans to also do a careful read through if they're considering entering their material.
    • Fanwork contests in general have proliferated wildly through many fandoms and media properties. In many cases the contests are just a form of spotlight on fan work and there is an absence of contracts or, for that matter, prizes. However the fact that legal rights and financial rewards are now on offer in many places sheds a particularly troubling light on the longstanding problem of fanworks plagiarism. Many fans have at some time found their fanworks reposted with credit to them removed or left unclear, or have had their fanworks slightly altered and presented as someone else's work. The rise of frequent contests has now also led to fans having their work entered in those contests without their knowledge. Given that professional publications of all kinds have had plagiarism scandals of their own makes it seem unlikely that the plagiarists will come to light due to careful research by the contest hosts.
    • Also on a front closer to home, a recent complaint was circulating on Tumblr involving an ad being shown to an AO3 user who was reading at the archive. The reader assumed that the ads were coming from the Archive of Our Own. We want to clarify that this is not the case, as the AO3 does not host ads. Rather the problem likely stemmed from the user's own browser, which may have been infected with malware to produce the ad content. If users encounter a problem like this, please report it to the AO3's Support team. We would appreciate it if fans could signal boost this information.

    If you've experienced plagiarism or have perspectives to share about fans and fandom, why not write about it in 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. 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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  • Alert to Podfic Makers and Fanfic Writers!

    By Curtis Jefferson on Wednesday, 11 July 2012 - 12:33pm
    Message type:
    Announcement
    Tags:
    Audio Fanworks, Intellectual Property, Fanfiction

    There are a number of discussions in fan circles right now regarding the Random House Audio Fan Fiction Contest being held at this year's San Diego Comic-Con International. The publisher is offering fan fiction authors the opportunity to record their own original work of fan fiction during Comic-Con for a chance to have their work published as a downloadable audio book on their website or featured in a Random House podcast.

    The Organization for Transformative Works was initially contacted by Random House in May asking if the OTW could help promote the contest through its various news outlets. At that time, we asked for additional details - including the terms of the contest and a copy of the participant agreement. Random House responded indicating that the details were not yet complete, but that it would forward the requested information once it was available. That was the last direct communication we received from the publisher two months ago.

    Over the past few days, the OTW has received inquiries from fans regarding the terms of the contest, particularly the Submission Form/Release participants are being asked to sign. We suggest that participants should carefully read and consider the terms before signing the agreement. The form asks participants to acknowledge that they have no right to create their fan fiction--even fan fiction they're not submitting to the contest--without permission from the author of the original work (for example, "I acknowledge and agree that I may not use the Underlying Copyrighted Work, in any other manner or for any other purpose."). We think that's not accurate, and we think it's unfortunate that Random House isn't fully supporting the freedom of fans to create noncommercial transformative works. Language like this, though it doesn't bind people who don't participate, also has the potential to increase confusion over fair use. In the future, it would be much more fan-friendly to use principles like those of Creative Commons licenses, which specifically provide that they don't attempt to restrict fair use.

    The form also says that submissions are "works made for hire," which is a specific category in U.S. law: the creator of a "work for hire" is never considered an author; the person or entity for whom the work was created is deemed to be the author. While we aren't convinced that it's possible to call a submission like this a work for hire, that's not really the issue; the form provides that even if the submission isn't really a work for hire the fan author still gives up all her rights. The overall terms reflect the view of some authors and publishers that all transformative works inherently 'belong' to the publisher who bought rights to the original work. Of course even standard publishing contracts involve trading away many rights of authorship, but signing over all rights to one's creative work is not a decision that should be entered into lightly.

    The Organization for Transformative Works is always excited to see recognition of talented fans involved in the creation of transformative works. At the same time, however, it is important that fans be well-informed, especially as publishers experiment with new models and sometimes try to assert greater control over fan activities. We would suggest that interested fans read the agreement carefully and consider their level of comfort in complying with its terms.

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