OTW mentioned on Zuckerman's blog and Boing Boing

[femmequixotic]

OTW has been mentioned on Ethan Zuckerman's blog.

By using the word "transformative" in the organization name, the organizers of the group are advocating a legal argument - writing fan fiction based on the characters and universes of copyright-protected media is a transformative use, protected by fair use clauses in US copyright law. In other words, this is an attempt to stand up and fight for this interpretation, rather than hiding from copyright holders, which is a huge step forward to this subculture....

OTW has taken a very interesting step in declaring that fan culture has a dominant gender. In their statement of values, they note, "We value our identity as a predominantly female community with a rich history of creativity and commentary." Here, again, it's important to understand the definition of "fan culture" - media fandom, fanfic and vidding, a culture that's predominantly female, though not exclusively so.

Zuckerman's blog post has also been noted on Boing Boing.

ETA: OTW has also been mentioned on Netribution, and on the blogs of Tobias Buckell and John Scalzi. (Thanks to droneish for the links to the last two.)

--femmequixotic, bethbethbeth, ciderpress, mirabile_dictu, shrift, svmadelyn
Community Relations Committee

Comments

Re: On the purpose of fanfiction

[stefanie-bean.livejournal.com]

Hi, elfwreck - here from metafandom.

My personal experience has been that for me, sometimes the social aspects of fanfic writing have been hard to deal with. Sometimes what I have written isn't really what "the fans" want (I don't usually follow the OTPs, for instance.) Sometimes I put a spin on things that's important to me, but not necessarily comfortable for my readers. (FWIW, I have always encouraged readers who don't see eye-to-eye with me on everything.) Sometimes I've spent more energy dealing with negative reviews, when I should have been writing. And sometimes I feel like I've been too dependent on the social aspects (i.e. asking myself pitilessly what my motives are.)

But what *is* delightful about fandom is when I've gotten an idea that just burns a hole in me; I write a story about it, and someone says, "You too? You thought that too?" And you've not just expressed yourself, but linked up with another person who shares that vision with you. It's exhiliarating.

So I think it's a complicated issue, one that can't just be divided into social/non-social aspects.