• Entertainment reporter Ken Baker has written a novel about a pop star dating a fan but in a twist it's the star who stalks the fan. His inspiration was the intimacy provided by social networking in contemporary fandom. "Fans know so much about
 their idols. The interesting thing is that it doesn't seem to have spoiled 
the fantasy or dampened their fanaticism. If anything, it seems to only 
fan the flames of their passion for the celebs. As they say, information 
is power, and I think fans feel empowered to know so much and become that much more interested in their favorite stars."
• Hypebot provides a different take on music fandom, but one which also looks at the role of technology. Several public relations specialists weigh in on how music fandom currently functions. "The older online music communities were ecosystems dedicated to either genres or geographic locations...Now that communities are forming around artists and personal tastes, these older characteristics of ecosystems are evolving, but some are stagnated based on the fact that complementary activities need to take place away from the community for it to evolve." One concern? Over-reliance on a particular online platform. Another is how much the artist can offer. "The artists that have thriving fan communities are generally a result of their cult of personality, not their art. Most don't have artistic output rate high enough to maintain engagement by the community, hence the need to be...more than the sum of their art."
• Tor.com recently proclaimed Babylon 5 set the bar for fandom in the 21st century. "[W]ay back at the end of the last century, one of the first sci-fi fandoms did have the internet, complete with online spoilers! That fandom was centered around Babylon 5, and though we don’t talk much about Babylon 5 now, the narrative structure of the show, in tandem with internet discussion, essentially created the model for TV fandom today." Technology played an important role: "Babylon 5 was also one of the first TV shows to market itself through grassroots internet outreach, assuming (correctly) that science fiction fans were hanging out online. This was back in the days of Genie and Usenet, but a lot early internet jargon found its footing here. For example, those who didn’t post on the forums were called “lurkers” and at one point, [Babylon 5 creator] JMS, left the forums for a time because of too much “flaming.” He triumphantly returned, of course, after a basic moderation system was sussed out. At the time, all of this stuff was brand new."
• Speaking of fannish history, the MediaWest Con blog hosted a piece on fanzine archives citing several collections including "The University of Iowa Special Collections (aka the Fanzine Archives). This is the largest media fan collection currently in place. They have jointly partnered with the Organization For Transformative Works...which helps fans donate zines, flyers, convention program guides, fanvids, audio and video recordings etc. The OTW has an active outreach program called Open Doors with a volunteer assigned to facilitate donations. The University may be able to help pay for shipping. They can also handle large collections and, if needed, may be able to help arrange for someone to box and ship the zines."

If you're a music fan, a Babylon 5 fan, or have been a fanzine contributor, why not 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.

• 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 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.

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).