Every month in OTW Signal we’ll take a look at stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects, including legal, technology, academic, fannish history, and preservation issues that are important for fandom, fan culture or transformative works.
In the News
The Computer & Communications Industry Association posted about their opposition to the Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening Against Fakes in E-commerce (SHOP SAFE) Act. They noted that “37 civil society groups, trade associations and companies” were part of the coalition notifying U.S. House and Senate leaders in March that they opposed the act.
They also cited two of OTW’s Legal Committee members contributions to these efforts.
Additionally, 26 U.S. academics with expertise in trademark law, led by Profs. Eric Goldman, Betsy Rosenblatt, and Rebecca Tushnet, sent a letter raising substantive concerns with the SHOP SAFE Act.
OTW’s Legal Committee made its own post about SHOP SAFE, EARN IT and copyright filtering, asking for fans’ help in opposing these actions.
The tech recruitment and staffing site Gunn.io profiled the OTW and its open source aspects in their blog. Part of the discussion highlighted the value of Fanlore.
There are a lot of fandom related wikis out there but almost all of them are focused on the subject of the fandom -– the canon, and details about things like characters, episodes or concert performances, etc. But Fanlore is about fans and their works, communities, and discussions.
And as such it’s about not just fandom but the history of the Internet, whether it’s in terms of terminology and practices, or just about the activities of a subset of people online. That was probably a factor in why Fanlore became part of the American Folklife Center’s Digital Culture Web Archive. You can read more about that here.
Fanlore is open for any fan to contribute to, and there are many pages that could use more contributions about aspects of fandom, fanworks, fan terms and more!
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