Welcome to our Events Calendar roundup for the month of July 2013! The Events Calendar can be found on the OTW website and is open to submissions by anyone with news of an event. These can be viewed by event-type, such as Academic Events, Fan Gatherings, Legal Events, OTW Events, or Technology Events taking place around the world.
- Westercon is the “West Coast Science Fantasy Conference” held annually in the western part of the United States. Westercon 66 will take place in Sacramento, California from 4-7 July 2013. In addition to workshops and panels, the program features special guests, a masquerade and costume ball, an art show, musical events, and a writers workshop.
Read and share about Westercon on Fanlore - Readercon celebrates “imaginative literature” – that is, literary science fiction, fantasy, horror, and unclassifiable works known as “slipstream.” The 24th Readercon will be held 11-14 July in Burlington, Massachusetts. The annual convention brings together more than 150 professionals from the publishing industry from cross the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and sometimes even Australia and Japan. The event typically sees an attendance of over 600 readers and fans.
Read and share about Readercon on Fanlore - The OTW is excited to be hosting a fan meetup and outreach event – A Meetup of Our Own at the San Diego Comic Con. The meetup will be held at the Tequila Bar & Grille at the San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina on Wednesday, July 17, 8:00-9:30pm. Complimentary margaritas, sodas, and chips and salsa will be provided. The event will also feature games, opportunities to socialize with other fans, and prize giveaways. A Comic Con registration is not required to attend. Suggested donation is $5 per person.
- Comic-Con International returns to San Diego, California for its 44th year. This mult-media, multi-genre, multi-fandom convention features panels involving celebrities, entertainers, and creators from a diverse range of entertainment. Special events, autograph signings, an exhibition hall, and screenings of films and television episodes occur throughout the 4-day event. San Diego Comic-Con will run from 18-21 July.
Read and share about Comic-Con on Fanlore - Held in Messe Essen, Germany, Star Wars Celebration Europe II is an event for all ages. The Celebrations began in 1999 in Denver, Colorado and in 2007 went international to London, back to Los Angeles, to Tokyo, and then Orlando for the last one in 2012. The con contains exhibits, an interactive show floor, screenings, merchandise, celebrity guests, panels, and autograph sessions. Costuming workshops, academic discussions, behind-the-scenes insights, fan films, and sneak peeks at the future of Star Wars are all elements of Celebration as well.
Read and share about Star Wars Celebration on Fanlore - SysAdmin Day is held to show appreciation for the work of systems administrators and other IT workers. It is celebrated on the last Friday in July. The first System Administrator Appreciation Day was celebrated on July 28, 2000. There are many suggestions for the proper observation of the holiday, the most common being cake and ice cream, so if you’re reading this, thank your SysAdmins!
This month we have received a request for research participation from Inese Murneice, a student in the MA, Communication, Culture, and Media Program at Coventry University for a study involving female football fans who write fan fiction.
The full call & consent statement is below:
This informed consent is a part of the research for Master’s Paper which intends to examine how female football fans, who write fan fiction, create concepts of identity, fandom and creativity. Through the method of ethnofiction I want to enable female fans like myself to build and express narratives, putting them into the main position. The task, therefore, is:
Tell me a story of how you became a football fan through writing a fan fiction. You can use any pairing, character, genre, and style; it can be any length with any title, but written in English.
The research is conducted by me, Inese Murniece – a student in the program MA Communication, Culture and Media at Coventry University and a passionate football fan. I assure the anonymity of the participants – your real name and other information that makes you identifiable will not be revealed. I also confirm that I will not use minors and other disadvantaged groups as the participants in my research. In addition, the collected data will be used for the purposes of this paper only.
Afterwards, you can send your fan fiction to me at [email protected]. You can also use this e-mail if you are uncertain about anything or want more information, related to the research.
By participating in the research, you confirm that:
- You are informed why the ethnofiction has to be written
- You are participating in this research voluntarily
- You are informed where the provided data will be used
- You are aware that you can withdraw your participation in this research at any time
Inese can be reached at Pillar Box 102, 71a Hertford Street, Coventry, West Midlands, CV1 1LA, United Kingdom or [email protected]. The study is being supervised by Mafalda Stasi ([email protected]).
This study is conducted for the purposes of completing an MA degree with Coventry University. There are no plans at the moment to pursue this project further. Should the opportunity arise for further academic projects (typically, academic article in a reputable peer-reviewed journal) all participants will be consulted and their informed consent asked anew.
If you have requests for research participation, please view our policy for inclusion at our website.
The OTW encourages anyone to submit an event that’s not already listed, and to check out the calendar throughout the year!