FanLib reason for creation of OTW?

[stewardess]

From the Chronicle of Higher Education:

Scholars have joined with pop-culture fans to form the Organization for Transformative Works, which will fight for the legal right to produce creative works that mash-up characters from a range of media.

Mr. Jenkins cited a situation this past summer in which a company called FanLib upset its customers by

Comments

[nialla42]

As Jenkins states, FanLib was just one of a series of conflicts this past year, with another one being the LJ Strikethrough. I actually think Strikethrough was a bigger issue, since it dealt with fan-made materials being deleted without warning.

The reason Jenkins is quoted is because he's the "go to academic" for fandom related articles. He's co-director of MIT's Comparative Media Studies program and has written many books and articles on pop culture (of which fanfic is one part). The article is in "The Chronicle of Higher Education" so it makes sense they'd want a recognizable academic's name, and they'd also had recent contact with him, profiling him this past summer.

[tejas]

The Fanlib debacle got us all up in arms and started the initial discussions, I believe. The strikethrough just poured gasoline on the fire with the result being OTW.

[nialla42]

FanLib was a case of "Wait, you're going to make money off my fanfic? You can't do that! We've always been told we can't do that!" Add into that it was a mostly male company trying to capitalize on a mostly female hobby.

Then Strikethrough came along and poured lots and lots and lots of gasoline on the resulting fire. ;)

[tejas]

Oh. Yeah. Fire season in the real world had nothin' on the flames online.

[stewardess]

I think the strikethrough happening so closely after FanLib increased its impact.

Remember how we were feeling smug that we hadn't fallen for FanLib, our wannabe corporate masters, and were "safe" on LJ? We made FanLib pinata vs. Frank the goat icons and everything.

Then Six Apart shockingly reminded us they were corporate assholes, too.

[tejas]

Yep! The timing had a *lot* to do with it. Nothing like already having momentum when the asshats show up.

[lennoxmacbeth]

Yet, I keep reading in the various debates about OTW that OTW was a response to FanLib, not Strikethrough. :/ Please have someone correct me if that's not the case. :/

EDIT: Posted this while the other two replies are being posted. Is it fair, then, to say that Strikethrough was the reason for OTW's formation?

[nialla42]

For some, it probably is a response to FanLib, because instead of people who aren't fans but are people just trying to make money off of fan endeavors, there would be an archive by fans for fans.

I'd say it's a sort of perfect storm of events. I think FanLib came first and got people to talking about the idea of a fan-run "mother of all archives" but Strikethrough really brought home the fact that unless it's a fan-controlled archive, a third-party could delete works (and accounts) without warning or recourse.

[tejas]

Exactly. Think of the Fanlib debacle as the bringing together of the necessary forces to start defining the issue and the Strikethrough is what galvanized the next stage of action. Having been in the various discussions, it really was a single "conversation" informed by two separate events.

[stewardess]

It really was a single "conversation" informed by two separate events.

Yes, definitely. And this is reminding me: I need to add material to the FanLib entry at fanhistory.com. The entry there on the strikethrough is also very dinky.

[stewardess]

Fan awareness of FanLib and the Livejournal strikethrough happened very close together, but the appearance of FanLib was a major motive for the creation of OTW.

My personal experience:

May 13, 2007: heard about FanLib
May 14, 2007: my first post on FanLib
May 20, 2007: started this community
May 28, 2007: first wave of Livejournal suspensions (strikethrough)

In the minds of most, FanLib and Strikethrough "happened" only two weeks apart.

[zellieh]

OTW was a response to both Fanlib and Strikethrough, since they happened so close together in May/June.

For me, I realised I couldn't depend on LJ being a safe space for fans anymore, and at the same time Fanlib came in trying to make money off of our fanworks, and I realised that if commercial people started making a profit off of fanworks, then that would lead to court cases.

So I like the idea of OTW creating a safe space of our own, giving us a voice in the legal battle around copyright, and a voice to talk to the media, too. (I like Henry Jenkins, but I'm always pissed off when journalists go to him to talk about fandom when he's not even a fan.)

I was just posting my notes about this yesterday - I did a panel on it at connotations - and you can find it here: http://community.livejournal.com/connotations/88399.html. I think it gives a fairly good summary.

[lennoxmacbeth]

(I like Henry Jenkins, but I'm always pissed off when journalists go to him to talk about fandom when he's not even a fan.)

He seems to be a fan. :/ He calls himself an aca-fan, and he seems to have been involved in fandom, going to cons since he was in high school and such. http://www.henryjenkins.org/ His website says that he was at MIT's Live Action Anime production as a must-see event.

[zellieh]

Uh, language confusion, my fault - sorry. I accept that he's a fan in a general way; I meant 'not a fan' as in 'not a creator or consumer of fanfic, fan art, or fanvids', which is an important distiction when talking about OTW and Fanlib.

[tejas]

He does write fanfic.

[zellieh]

I did not know that. Thank you for telling me; I'll be more comfortable at him speaking for fandom in future, knowing that. *g*