• Colbert Two: Electric Boogaloo

    By .fcoppa on Sunday, 25 January, 2009
    Tags: Announcement, Vidding, Remix

    It's official: Stephen Colbert says, "Remixing is OK!" On Wednesday, January 21, 2009, Colbert renewed his remix challenge to his fans by noting that a number of "DJ Jazzy Jerks" were already remixing his interview with Laurence Lessig against his explicit wishes! One of these briefly shown was Eclectic Method's remix:

    Eclectic Method - The Colbert Report - Remix feat Lawrence Lessig

    Colbert was so "enraged", he produced his own remix, "as a warning to others."

    Colbert's Own Remix - Remixing Is Okay!

  • Remixing Colbert

    By .fcoppa on Thursday, 22 January, 2009
    Tags: Announcement, YouTube, Vidding, Remix

    We'd like to join the EFF, Cory Doctorow, and others in applauding Lawrence Lessig's appearance on the Stephen Colbert show on Thursday Jan 8, 2009 (watch the video at colbertnation.com). Lessig was there to promote his new book, Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy, and Colbert, in his sly way, noted that the remix economy was good for copyright holders, noting that, "When we have our green screen challenges, they [fans] do all the work and I get all the ad revenue." Colbert also issued a kind of reverse-language remix challenge to his fans:

  • To Our Friends On LJ

    By .fcoppa on Tuesday, 6 January, 2009
    Tags: Archive of Our Own, LiveJournal, Announcement, Fanlore

    Don't panic! Livejournal isn't in any imminent danger, despite today's news (many of us here at OTW are archivists, and we know how long it takes for sites, even unattended ones, to degrade.) We'll all still be here tomorrow!

    That being said, we do want to remind LJ-based fandom that:

  • Is YouTube Blocking Your Vids? Exercise Your Right To Fair Use!

    By .fcoppa on Sunday, 4 January, 2009
    Tags: Gender and Sexuality, News of Note, Takedowns, YouTube, Vidding, Fan Videos, Fannish Histories, Resources for Fans

    We've heard from a number of people that YouTube has recently blocked a number of fanvids due to alleged music rights violations. But YouTube also provides a mechanism for vidders to assert their right to fair use: a quick and easy dispute process.

    YouTube recognizes that there are legitimate artistic and critical reasons to use copyrighted material, and the online form gives, as a potential reason for dispute: "This video uses copyrighted material in a manner that does not require approval of the copyright holder. It is a fair use under copyright law." The form also asks you to explain further.

    Fair use is a muscle: it gets stronger when you exercise it, so if you believe that your vid is fair use, that it transforms copyrighted material for a new critical or creative purpose, you should dispute the claim.

  • December 2008 Newsletter, vol. 24

    By .Femme on Friday, 19 December, 2008
    Tags: Newsletter

    Welcome to the last issue of the OTW Newsletter for this year! As of December 19, the OTW committees will be taking a brief break over the holidays, then reconvening after the New Year to start back to work, so we thought we'd take a chance to do an end-of-term roundup for the various committees, focusing on what we've done over the past year and a half.

    Committee Updates!

    Academic Journal Update from Karen Hellekson

    The academic journal had a great year! We put out our first issue of Transformative Works and Cultures, a peer-reviewed online-only academic journal about fan and media studies, and we released it on time to good buzz.

  • OTW co-sponsors IP/Gender Conference on Female Fan Cultures and Intellectual Property at American University Washington College of Law

    By .fcoppa on Sunday, 14 December, 2008
    Tags: Conferences, Gender and Sexuality, Intellectual Property, Call for Papers, Event

    The OTW is proud to be co-sponsoring the 6th annual IP/Gender: Mapping the Connections Symposium at American University Washington College of Law on April 24, 2009. The theme of this year's symposium is Female Fan Cultures and Intellectual Property. Below please find the call for papers; abstracts are due December 19th. If you're interested in attending, the conference is free and open to the public, though registration is required.

    CALL FOR PAPERS
    American University Washington College of Law

    IP/Gender: Mapping the Connections
    6th Annual Symposium
    April 24, 2009

    Special Theme: Female Fan Cultures and Intellectual Property

  • End-of-year reminder

    By .elizabethyalkut on Thursday, 11 December, 2008
    Tags: Announcement

    The 2008 calendar year is almost over...which means 'tis the season for nonprofit organizations to remind their communities that if you want to deduct a contribution on your 2008 taxes, you'll need to donate by 12/31!

    As you're thinking about your end-of-year contributions, we hope you'll keep the OTW in mind. You can make a one-time donation or sign up for an easy recurring donation on our website, here — and if your employer offers matching donations, you might be able to double your donation to the OTW; we're happy to help you figure that out as needed, so please let us know.

    A donation to the OTW makes a great holiday gift for the fan who has everything.

    Thanks for being a part of the OTW in 2008!

    -- OTW DevMem

  • New Media Literacy - Part II

    By .fcoppa on Monday, 8 December, 2008
    Tags: Media Mentions, Vidding

    Part Two of Henry Jenkins' spotlight on OTW's vidding documentaries for MIT's New Media Literacies project is now online: Fan Vidding: A Labor Of Love (Part Two). We'd like to thank Henry, as well as MIT/NML, for giving us the opportunity to showcase fan vidding.

  • Volunteer Search: ADT Archivist

    By .KA Bessa on Sunday, 7 December, 2008
    Tags: Volunteering

    The Accessibility, Design, & Technology committee needs help! We're coming up on the end of our first term, which means getting all our records in order, and we want ADT to keep coding, so we're looking for people to help them get their meeting notes in order.

    No technical knowledge is required--all you need is the ability to summarize a two-hour meeting in a half-page of short, bulleted minutes.

    We need five to ten people for the job, and to show our gratitude for your hard work, each one will be paid with a shiny beta account at the Archive of Our Own.

    The term ends in two weeks, so hurry hurry hurry. Send us your name and email address!

  • A DMCA Exemption for Vidders?

    By .fcoppa on Saturday, 6 December, 2008
    Tags: DMCA, Announcement, Vidding

    Vidding News: The OTW wants to announce its support for the EFF's proposed DMCA [Digital Millennium Copyright Act] exemption for video creators--like vidders--who rip DVDs in order to use clips for fair use remixes. Members of the Board provided the EFF with background information on the petition to the copyright office (right-click and save), which explicitly cites fan vidders as an established creative community that relies on clips from DVDs to make works that are fair use: or what the petition calls "fundamentally transformative visual works."

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