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

[droneish.livejournal.com]

And Tobias Buckell's blog (http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/2007/12/12/organization-for-transformative-works/) and on Scalzi's Whatever (http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=203). :) Lots of discussion, some hostile, a fair amount friendly (see Teresa Nielsen Hayden's comment (http://www.boingboing.net/2007/12/12/organization-for-tra.html#comment-92229) on boingboing), and some just... odd. viz. OTW seems OK because it "looks like they’re not interested in slash or some of the other aspects of fan fiction". Uh, yeah, right.

[rogue-planet.livejournal.com]

Why does everyone seem to think we want to make money off this stuff? *sighs*

[risha]

Femme, it looks like your Netribution and Tobias Buckell links are going to the wrong links.

[caras-galadhon.livejournal.com]

Actually, OTW was also given a small mention towards the end of Round 22 (http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/11/gender_and_fan_culture_round_t_12.html) of the Fan Culture Debates hosted by Henry Jenkins, and was mirrored here (http://community.livejournal.com/fandebate/8378.html).

[ithiliana.livejournal.com]

I admit to commenting on Scalzi's blog before coming over here to link, but I got so grumpy about the "they want to make it legal to make money off fanwork" that I just wanted to smack people. It's good to get the publicity even if it does lead to less than brilliant commentary....I guess.

[llaras.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links. I just spent over an hour reading all the *cough* discussion *cough*. Heh. Well.

Some of it made me angry and some of it made me sad, but all in all? I'm glad people are talking about it.

Maybe I'm just so completely invested in fandom, but the arguments against fanfiction are so weird to me. Have I been brainwashed? I guess I don't mind too much. I like hanging out with my friends and fandom has given me so many gifts.

[cofax7]

::beats head against the wall::

I think I need a drink.

On the purpose of fanfiction

[(Anonymous)]

I apologize for commenting anonymously, but it is quite cumbersome going on this site with a blackberry. Just refer to me as Concerned One, if you want to refer to me by a name.

It seems that most people who have not seen fanfiction before deeply misunderstand fanfiction and yet it is not easily articulable why they misunderstand it. This may have already been mentioned before, bit I want to mention it just in case it has not yet been mentioned:

1. In response to the idea that fanfiction is not original enough, the faultiness with that objection is that the purpose of fanfiction is not to create original things to make great things; fanfiction is not about being great. Rather, it is a social activity where people share personal ideas on things. The primary value of fanfiction is not of creating great works, but rather sharing personal thoughts with a community.
2. In response to the idea that fanfiction is leeching off the popularity of another person's works, the fact is that when one writes fanfiction, one is not writing it for the sake of one's own self, but rather for the sake of the community in which one is participating; it is for the good of their community, which some call fandom. This is the reason fanfiction writers want reviews from each and every single reader, in that the purpose of fanfiction is merely to be read, because fanfiction is essentially a way to talk to others; if others would not talk back, then most would not want to continue to write. In addition, most reviews I have seen are not critical evaluations of the value of the work, but rather personal comments on the work, and telling that they want the author to continue to write, indicating that it is a way to speak of personal things, and that they write because they want to contribute to and satisfy those who want to read it.

[arcanetrivia]

Here's another blog mention.

[bell]

The discussions in the blogs, especially Scalzi's, have been fascinated (and to those of you have been arguing in favor of fandom: go you! I'm impressed). Unfortunatly, my one contribution will be this: someone on the thread said that "I once read an incredibly disturbing fic where Superman takes over the world, and Lex is the leader of the underground rebellion."

Who wrote this fic? Where can I find it? 'Cause I want to read it!

[lydiabell.livejournal.com]

I *know* that I have seen this addressed elsewhere, but since I can't find it, I can't point anyone to it.

So, I'm sorry to make you repeat yourselves, but could you just clarify what the membership fee is, and that nobody will be charged to use the archive or any other OTW service?

Thanks!