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"Some college administrators seem so distracted with fund raising, academic infighting, and community initiatives that they set up their emergency communications departments very poorly. Training is poor to nonexistent, secretaries are pressed into service with tremendous responsibilities for running 'notification systems' 24/7 and on weekends because no one else knows how to do it and the administration won’t pay for additional staff. Procedures are seat-of-the-pants and dependent on HIPPO (highest paid person’s opinion), except when something like Virginia Tech happens and there is some sort of scramble to do something different." --Donna
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Connecticut Public Colleges Lose 200 Professors to Early Retirement
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U. of Georgia Paid 2 Fraternities $2.4-Million to Relocate, Contracts Show
The two were among five with houses on property where the university plans to build new academic facilities.
New Allegations in Admissions Controversy at U. of Illinois Suggest Ex-Provost Played a Role
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Sonoma State U. Foundation May Lose $350,000 on Loan to Former Board Member
The foundation will be forced to issue fewer scholarships in the 2010-11 academic year because of a diminished endowment, a university official said.
College Suspends Student for Working in Gay Pornography | 58
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December 18, 2007
Scholars and Pop-Culture Fans Create Nonprofit Group to Fight for Creative Rights
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.
“We envision a future in which all fannish works are recognized as legal and transformative and are accepted as a legitimate creative activity,” says a statement on the group’s Web site. More and more people are creating so-called fan fiction, in which they write stories incorporating characters from popular television shows, movies, or other media, reimagining the fictional worlds in which they live.
Several academics are listed as serving on the group’s Board of Directors, including Francesca Coppa, director of film studies and an associate professor of English at Muhlenberg College, and Rebecca Tushnet, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.
Henry Jenkins, co-director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Comparative Media Studies Program, calls the group an “unprecedented effort.” The scholar, who was profiled in The Chronicle last summer, was one of the first academics to give serious attention to fan fiction.
“The Web 2.0 era offers a chance for fans to gain greater visibility and impact, but it also raises risks which fans wanted to be ready to confront,” said Mr. Jenkins, in an e-mail interview today.
Mr. Jenkins cited a situation this past summer in which a company called FanLib upset its customers by building a Web site to share fan fiction and then claiming control of the homemade content. He and other pop-culture fans pushed back, as he wrote on his blog.
“The Fan Lib flap was simply one of a series of conflicts this year which raised awareness within the fan community of the need to take action to protect the integrity of their own traditions and to maintain control over their own cultural practices,” said Mr. Jenkins today. “Fans are pooling their knowledge and skills to push their community to the next level.” —Jeffrey R. Young
Posted on Tuesday December 18, 2007 | Permalink |Comments
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“Fannish works?” Please give me a break. I enjoy and have taught popular culture over the years but never cease to cringe (at Pop Culture conferences) when the English language becomes a toy.
— Donald E. Winters, Ph.D. Dec 19, 10:44 AM #
Mr. Young, it is in fact known as fan fiction, and has been for forty years. Next time, please skip the qualifier “so called.”
— Miko Dec 19, 03:05 PM #
I’m glad to see something willing and able to take on the big corporations/authors/media about this. The fan author is ‘the little guy’ in any sort of problem that may come up, and the ficcer had no one to turn to.
— Dentelle Noir Dec 19, 11:16 PM #
It’s hard to believe this is not already protected by the first amendment, which includes the right to satirize. If by “fannish works” scholars and pop-cultists envision potential copyright infringement, I, as a scholar of popular culture, as well as a novelist and screenwriter, would be fighting mad. Look at the Writers Guild strike — creative authors get little enough as it is. Why would admirers of those who create culture want to help destroy these creators’ livelihoods?
— mary lee grisanti Dec 20, 10:36 AM #