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

Zines are a way of expression. An article from India Fellow discusses the emergence of zine culture and how it has served to uplift fans of underground subcultures to share their ideas and advocate for their passion outside of mainstream media.

The word “zine”, shorthand for magazine, is generally understood as a form of amateur periodical from different communities. They can encompass anything that piques the interest of the creators.

For a lot of people around the world, across time, a zine has always meant much more than an independent, inexpensively made, small, self-circulated piece of publication. It is first and foremost a belief. A belief that what we think is valid, whatever we say deserves to be heard, that we are important. And we could be anyone and everyone. Ambitious, yes. But that’s exactly what a zine is, unreasonable ambition.

In addition to this, an article from the Japan Times talks about the quiet resurgence of zines in Japan as people flock to the creative control and variety of interests they can express through it as well as the greater sense of having shared something through a physical copy. Although self-publishing was already common in Japan through manga-focused coterie magazines known as dōjinshi, the 1950s saw an uptick in zine publishing.

Both the India Fellow and Japan Times articles stress the importance of zine culture in the fan community, serving as a physical form of the connections that tie fellow fans together in their interests and experiences.

Have you made friends or found community through fandom? What makes these friendships special? Fanhackers volunteer Lianne is putting together a zine about fandom friendship, and we want your submissions! You can submit personal or academic essays, art, comics, interviews, oral histories and more. As long as it can fit on the printed page, all thoughtful works are welcome! Here are some questions to get you thinking: How did you meet your fandom friend(s)? How have your fandom communities changed over the years? And what can we learn from fandom friendships? Let your creativity flow, and let’s find out!

I hope that this zine will serve as a useful archive for people who want to learn more about this topic and as a way for people to connect with each other and see their experiences reflected in a collection. —Lianne

To participate, email your piece to [email protected] by November 30, 2024. (Please review the full instructions at the Fandom Friendships Zine blog.) Submissions will be assembled into a booklet, which will be available for free online. If you have any questions, please email [email protected] or ask on Tumblr!

OTW Tips

Did you know that the OTW software can be used to run an online archive? Four such archives already exist:

• SquidgeWorld Archive
• Ad Astra Star Trek Fanfiction Archive
• superlove
• Comic Fanfiction Authors Archive

Two creators – squidgie of SquidgeWorld and melo of superlove – have documented the collaborative and sometimes exploratory process of making the AO3 code their own.

We want your suggestions for the next OTW Signal post! If you know of an essay, video, article, podcast, or news story you think we should know about, send us a link. We are looking for content in all languages! Submitting a link doesn’t guarantee that it will be included in an OTW post, and inclusion of a link doesn’t mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.