OTW Sightings

  • OTW Fannews: Legal and Technology

    By Claudia Rebaza on Monday, 22 October 2012 - 8:09pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Conferences, Gender and Sexuality, Entertainment Industries, Fanfiction , Legal Committee, OTW Sightings, Technology
    • 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.

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  • Links roundup for 16 September 2012

    By Claudia Rebaza on Sunday, 16 September 2012 - 9:37pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Gender and Sexuality, Fanfiction , OTW Sightings

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

    • AfterEllen stepped up to explore "Why smart lesbians read (and write) fan fiction." They write, "We lose ourselves in stories, but we also find ourselves in stories. Fan fiction isn't just a way for us to gay-up straight characters (or sex-up gay characters); it's an exercise in molding narratives that resonate with our unique life experiences. Fan fiction readers and writers aren't waiting for networks and showrunners to hand them a beautiful bouquet of freshly picked roses. They're planting their own gardens and fertilizing their own imaginations and pruning and weeding and growing something proud and strong. They may have borrowed the seeds, but the blossoms are all their own."
    • A post at the i.b.taurus blog also took issue with the idea of focusing only on the sex in fanfiction while overlooking the gender issues. While discussing the practice of kink memes, writer Hannah Elison points out how "journalists continue to paint fanfiction as a world of ‘creepy’ anonymous erotica, despite erotic work making up a small percentage of stories" while "they ignore the fact that though these stories may unashamedly portray acts of bdsm, intersexuality and even bestiality, they have yet to escape the ever-present force of dominant gender paradigms."
    • An NPR look at the origins of Fifty Shades of Grey managed to avoid a discussion of the sexual, but neither did it provide much on the topic of fanfiction at all. OTW Staffers Suzanne Scott and Francesca Coppa provided some input, but the focus remained rather firmly on E.L. James.
    • A better look at fanfiction appeared in The Boston Globe. While it focused on that other favorite topic, copyright, the disclaimer "Full disclosure: I write and read fan fiction as a hobby" may account for the observation that "Yes, the vast majority of fan fiction falls woefully below such lofty standards [as Shakespeare]. But so does most original writing, particularly the self-published kind — and some fan-written stories would hold their own against much professional fiction. (Granted, “Fifty Shades of Grey” is appallingly bad, but then “Twilight” is no “Jane Eyre,” either.)"

    If your fanfiction focuses on the sexual, the copyright, or just the fun, why not write about it on 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 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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  • Can Fandom Change Society?

    By Claudia Rebaza on Monday, 10 September 2012 - 2:34pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Gender and Sexuality, Sports, Fandoms, Fannish Practices, OTW Sightings

    The PBS production OffBook has created a new video about the spectrum of fannish behavior and motivations, and it features discussion from board members Francesca Coppa and Naomi Novik. The 7:20 minute video explores the diversity of fandom, the way its fanworks may challenge dominant views expressed in mass media, and fair use and its meaning for fans. The segment concludes with "Fandom lets many more people have a voice, and it lets many people tell stories that would otherwise not get heard." (No transcript available)

    This video was released within days of two other discussions about fandom and society:

    • Brett White writes in Comic Book Resources about women represented in comics and the vital role of women in fandom: "Women engage in fandom to levels that men do not. When women get behind something, their sheer numbers and passion force it into the mainstream." To that end he believes that "I want other people to be inspired. I'm a white male...I had my heroes who 'looked like me' and that I could identify with or aspire to be. I want girls to have that chance too. And as much as I want boys to see women as equals, I want girls to know that they don't have to identify with Disney Princesses or Really Cool Disney Channel Starlet if they don't want to. They can identify with Wasp and Invisible Woman or Kitty Pryde. They can be Stephanie Brown or Batwoman or Black Canary. They have as many awesome superheroes as their brothers do. Everyone needs female heroes as much as male ones."
    • Richard Just wrote in The Daily Beast that as American culture becomes increasingly politicized and polarized that sports fandom may be a neutral meeting ground, and thus a vitally important space for discussion and common cause.

    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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  • OTW Staff in the News

    By Claudia Rebaza on Saturday, 25 August 2012 - 7:28pm
    Message type:
    Media Mentions
    Tags:
    Open Doors Committee, Development & Membership Committee, Legal Committee, OTW Sections, OTW Sightings, Technology

    These past two months have seen a spike in interviews with OTW staff by various media outlets. Here's a rundown on some of the places online where you can read their discussions about fandom, fanworks, and the OTW.

    • Geek Girl Con did an interview with Anna Zola Miller, who serves on the Open Doors Committee. Anna talks about her increased perception of fandom history, the challenges the project has faced, her favorite archived item, and what she's feeling fannish about.
    • Board member Francesca Coppa wrote Fandom: Open Culture Vs. Closed Platforms at OrgZine which also brings up the work of Open Doors and looked at the importance of fans' ability to keep their work from disappearing from online sites. "The social networks of Web 2.0 are mostly for-profit, commercial enterprises; the web is no longer the loose network of university and government servers it was twenty years ago. Fans used to roll their own code and make their own webpages; now others own the ground beneath their feet. And the priorities of these businesses may or may not be the priorities of fans."
    • Rebecca Tushnet discussed the legality of fanworks with Lauren Davis at io9 which formed the basis of a lengthy piece on this issue, required reading for anyone wanting to debate the topic, and sporting a nifty piece of fan art to boot.
    • Development & Membership staffer Aja Romano is delivering some excellent discussions of fandoms and fannish activities over at The Daily Dot. A notable recent piece provided recs to online sites for people wanting to find the next Fifty Shades of Grey, a badly needed guide if some of the rec lists appearing in the media over this summer are anything to go by.
    • Francesca Coppa and Tisha Turk of the OTW's Vidding Committee were the guests on talk show Hearsay Culture on KZSU-FM, Stanford, 90.1 FM, a show which focuses on the intersection of technology and society. They discussed their personal histories in vidding, what transformative works and vids are, the work of the OTW, and what our legal team's effort to secure a DMCA exemption for remixing is all about. Asked what they want the typical non-vidder to do, they exhort listeners to both know their rights and exercise them. (No transcript available).
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  • Reason magazine interview with Rebecca Tushnet

    By Claudia Rebaza on Thursday, 26 July 2012 - 6:36pm
    Message type:
    Media Mentions
    Tags:
    Intellectual Property, Legal Committee, OTW Sightings

    OTW Legal Committee chair Rebecca Tushnet was recently interviewed by Reason magazine and a 7 1/2 minute video of it was posted on their site as well as on their YouTube channel.

    Tushnet discusses the origins of copyright law in the United States and explains the fair use principle, including what factors are looked at when judging whether or not something is infringing. She then points out how fanworks can co-exist with the material produced by content owners as they provide a broader spectrum of storytelling, which many content creators are realizing amplify the reach of their own work.

    Interviewer Nick Gillespie then asks Tushnet about the OTW and its work, and they finish by discussing where the good ideas on copyright law are expected to come from. Tushnet says that it is unlikely to come from the U.S. due to its legislative gridlock, but instead Canadian law offers a more hopeful outlook. While some of its more restrictive copyright law elements were forced on it by the U.S., Canada provides "much more robust protection for personal uses" especially for education and research. (No transcript available)

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  • Come meet the OTW at Ascendio!

    By Claudia Rebaza on Sunday, 24 June 2012 - 7:56pm
    Message type:
    Event
    Tags:
    Development & Membership Committee, OTW Sightings

    For the first time at a fandom convention, the OTW's Development and Membership Committee will be sponsoring an Information Table at Ascendio, a Harry Potter Education Fanon conference on July 12-15. Stop by the table on Friday in the Vendors Area and talk to OTW staffers, ask questions, and find out more about the work of the OTW, its projects, volunteer opportunities, and more!

    If you're an OTW volunteer who's going to be at Ascendio and you'd like to help staff the booth, please contact DevMem at devmem at transformativeworks.org. We'd love to have you join us.

    In addition to the booth, there will be a number of sessions that OTW members, volunteers and supporters will be taking part in, including:

    • How Fandom Has Shaped Social Media Spaces (and vice versa), a panel featuring OTW Committee Members Aja Romano and Heidi Tandy
    • Out of the Closet: Third-Wave Slash and Social Change, with OTW Committee Members and Supporters including moderator Aja Romano, Catherine Tosenberger, and Kate Tanski
    • How To Debate Clueless And Uninformed People About Transformative Works, or El Tango de Roxanne, a presentation on law and transformative works with OTW Legal Committee members Heidi Tandy and Rachael Vaughn

    Ascendio is taking place at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. We hope to see many of you there!

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  • Links roundup for 14 June 2012

    By Claudia Rebaza on Thursday, 14 June 2012 - 5:40pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality, Movies, Television, Theater, Fan Conventions, OTW Sightings

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

    • The Wooly Mammoth Theater Company blog posted that fans "aren’t just connoisseurs of a given body of work. Whether dressing up for San Diego Comic-Con, reading fanfiction at the Archive of Our Own, or just proclaiming the awesomeness of a given movie, book, or TV show, fans’ allegedly geeky pursuits are all directed towards the same endpoint: community." Fandom is a place where individual friendships develop over shared interests and "everyone has a voice on the Internet."
    • Larry Nemecek at Trekland Supplemental takes a bad experience as a way to relate to fandom of the past and what it's lead to. "'[S]uffering for your art'—or your passion!—was one of the very issues that had just cropped up this weekend in a reunion of our ‘80s-era Houston 'first fandom': namely, whether today’s digital-savvy, media-soaked fans appreciate what that first wave of relentless and oft-ridiculed Trekkies accomplished. Or, to be fair, whether they even can appreciate how much it took...so that not only was Kirk transplanted to the big screen, but with a groundswell that allowed offshoots like Picard, Sisko, Janeway, Archer and even 'alt-Kirk' to blossom. And, along the way, gave root to a movement that defined just what a modern 'media franchise' and its fandom could look like."
    • Robert Greenberger at ComicMix reviews Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture by Rob Salkowitz and muses over the evolution of comics fandom as "the rise of video games and infusion of Manga/Anime helped change popular culture and they began gravitating to San Diego to hawk their wares." While finding the book misses the mark, Greenberger concludes that "the book’s most interesting chapters are its final ones as he explores where the market is in 2011-2012 and the trends that may push it in one of four directions: Ghost World (collapse of the direct market, Hollywood moves away from superheroes), Endless Summer (the status quo only more), Infinite Crisis (diehard, aging fans and no one else), and The Expanding Multiverse (new technologies and new ideas grow the business in fresh ways)."
    • Tambay at Shadow and Act discusses increasing the connection between fans of black independent cinema and creators, and commenters cite the importance of community: "S&A's comment section is reminiscent of a family reunion...Fights ensue and stratchline are etched in the sand, but that's what lovers do. And they're not limited to 140 characters. Essentially, S&A is unique in that it has a host of family members/commenters who bring a wealth of insight and information not normally seen on discussion boards. Granted, their pages are filled with tidbits of tantalizing information on Cinema Of The African Diaspora, however, I've come to believe many return to this place of enlightenment because they know there will be folks just like them, dropping by to see who's in the comment section and what they are doing."

    If you're a movie buff, a longtime Trek fan or a con goer, why not contribute 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.

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  • Links roundup for 8 June 2012

    By Claudia Rebaza on Friday, 8 June 2012 - 4:24pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Books, Music, Television, Fannish Practices, Fanfiction , OTW Sightings

    Here's a roundup of future-trend stories that might be of interest to fans:

    • Gizmodo wrote a feature on Distro.fm and suggested that it will change the music business by directly connecting fans with artists. The non-profit start-up focuses not on music sales or music discovery, but rather on creating fan lists for musicians. "You pay to subscribe to an artist, and for the next year, you receive whatever music they want to send you. Distro acts as a hub where bands can collect subscribers, upload songs, and automatically send it out to all their subscribers." On the musician side, they must "send every song, remix, live recording, work in-progress, and other rarity to those fans. Nearly 100 percent of that money will filter through to the artists."
    • While a number of fan groups have bought advertising in the past, generally in support of television shows under threat of cancellation, some bronies decided to make a TV ad as PR for their own fandom. "New Hampshire brony James Turner wanted $2,000 to fund his commercial, The Brony Thank You Project. He hopes the ad, which would record thank-you messages from real bronies, to run on the Hub, the channel that airs Hasbro's My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic." Part of the purpose is to challenge media depictions of bronies. "'The intent is to choose representative bronies for the ad who run in the face of the brony stereotype,' [Turner] wrote. 'So, for example, we'd love to have an active-duty brony stationed overseas read one of the thank-yous, or a doctor, or a businesswoman behind a desk.'"
    • Participating in fandom can often build new skills, so there may be more features like the "Mover and Shaker" article in Library Journal where "tech leader" Lisa Bunker listed fellow fans among her mentors. "[M]y fellow webmasters in Harry Potter fandom (most of whom were half my age) taught me about how to approach new tools and ideas with joy and not fear, and always with an eye to what it might do for our online conversations, whether it was podcasting, vidcasting, or online book clubs."
    • While there's no guarantee that the Archive of Our Own will be a future trend, it did receive a nice review from Ziven at the blog D Saint Radio.

    If you're a brony, in Harry Potter fandom, or love the Archive of Our Own, why not contribute 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.

    Read more

  • Links Roundup for 1 June 2012

    By Camden on Friday, 1 June 2012 - 6:12pm
    Message type:
    News of Note
    Tags:
    Takedowns, Commercial Works Authors, Books, Fannish Practices, Fanfiction , OTW Sightings

    Here's a roundup of fan fiction and Fifty Shades of Grey stories that might be of interest to fans:

    • Months after its re-release, Fifty Shades of Grey continues to make news in the most unexpected of ways, including some hastily written articles that prove strangely uninformative. These include an episode of the Dr. Oz show that used the book to focus on the science of arousal; various features pointing out how men like the trilogy too; both Glibert Gottfried and Ellen DeGeneres did readings from it; an article focusing on the hero's home ("[Director of Sales Erik] Mehr said that about a year ago, his team began to get phone calls from people who wanted to know 'the layouts of the penthouse and the details of the condos.'...When the Escala held open houses, visitors included 'Fifty Shades' fans who wandered about, checking on the amenities and basic floor models."); and a discussion of a fanfic remix as well as an interview with the author of a published parody who notes "'Fifty Shames,'...paid more than my first two books that took several years to write. It’s just kind of mind-boggling to me."
    • Also boggled are the book's original publishers Amanda Hayward and Jennifer Pedroza, who were featured in a story about the international connections between the publishers and author. "Amanda and I met online through fan fiction," said Pedroza..."We realized we had some really good writers so we started The Writers Coffee Shop (in October 2010)." The venture is doing well. "The Writers Coffee Shop will still receive royalties for the next three years, Pedroza said, enough to convince her to retire from teaching and focus on publishing for awhile." A post by obsidianwings also looked at the issue of publishing in relation to the book and suggested that fandom is becoming mainstream publishing's slush pile reader.
    • The issue of literary quality is something examined by The Record in "'50 Shades' another brick in the wall between fans and critics". "These days, anyone can write a book – or at least be credited with writing one. Biographies, autobiographies, novels and cookbooks are published based on reality-TV success, athletic victories or, in James' case, Internet fan fiction gone viral. Readers want to be part of the discussion with their friends, whether it's a well-regarded look back in history or a racy romance that may not be well-written. Concerns of the critics are not a priority...Many reviewers hated 'Bridges of Madison County,' 'The DaVinci Code' and 'Eat, Pray, Love,' yet the public loved them all, as books and as movies."
    • A Florida library is refusing to put '50 Shades' on their shelves--though technically, it's in good literary company as a banned book. Brevard County, Florida spokesman Don Walker told the New York Daily News "'We don't put pornography on our bookshelves,' branding the book 'mommy porn' before admitting, 'I'm not sure what that is.'" Perhaps the bans allow libraries to avoid spending money on the many copies needed to satisfy reader demand. A Miami New Times blogger noted that not only is "Every single [copy] checked out. What's amazing is that there are currently 450 holds on the book." He then compared this to other popular books in the system and noted that "The only book that rivals Fifty Shades in Miami-Dade Library's most popular list at the moment seems to be The Hunger Games."
    • Lastly there's been discussion of fan fiction itself, particularly in college newspapers. One of these, The Daily Collegian, published a two-part article that included an interview with OTW board member, Francesca Coppa. And BlackBook listed "Superstars of Fan Fiction," including OTW board member, Naomi Novik.

    If you write or read fan fiction, why not contribute 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.

    Read more

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