Here’s a roundup of stories on fannish concepts that might be of interest to fans:
- One feature of many fandom communities is a gift economy. Scientific American explores the concept with a look at the Burning Man festival as an example of the difference between an economic and social mode and finds that in the social mode “We give each other goods and services not because we stand to gain, but because we want to be good citizens.” Even though “gifts are motivated by a desire to show off or to win social status…it doesn’t matter; people are still being motivated to help each other out and to create enormous value without any financial incentives.”
- At Pop Culture Pirate Elisa Kreisinger explains what remixes entail. The term has been co-opted “as a synonym for ‘combination’ to give things an edgy, hip connotation. It’s kind of like when everyone put the letter ‘i’ in front of their product to make it seem more youth-orientated” but remixes are a form of activism. “We’re remixing to show, rather than just tell, what we want to see in pop culture and Hollywood. When we see work that represents our values and principles, it deepens our sense [of] community, closing the gap between critic and fan.”
If you’re part of the gift economy and share remixes, why not contribute your own stories and projects to Fanlore? Contributions are welcome from all fans.
We want your suggestions! If you know of an essay, video, article, event, or link you think we should know about, comment on the most recent Links Roundup — on transformativeworks.org, LJ, or DW — or give @OTW_News a shoutout on Twitter. Links are welcome in all languages!
Submitting a link doesn’t guarantee that it will be included in a roundup post, and inclusion of a link doesn’t mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.