Posts in Academia
OTW Signal, September 2026
Every month in OTW Signal, we take a look at stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects, including issues related to legal matters, technology, academia, fannish history and preservation issues of fandom, fan culture, and transformative works. In the News The Organization for Transformative Works has become a Chamber of Progress partner, joining their network as a nonprofit deeply interested in internet freedom and user privacy. As long-time collaborators, they have jointly opposed internet censorship and age-verification bills and lawsuits in the U.S., such as KOSA and NetChoice v. Brown. In March 2026, they joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a coalition… Read more
OTW Signal, December 2025
Every month in OTW Signal, we take a look at stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects, including issues related to legal matters, technology, academia, fannish history and preservation issues of fandom, fan culture, and transformative works. In the News Why some people are devoted to particular aspects of popular culture is a fundamental query in fan studies research. One common and familiar answer is that fandoms are like religions. A recent article offers a different approach to understanding the emotional intensity of fan devotion, suggesting that while fans often describe their devotion in terms that sound religious, this comparison “has some lingering… Read more
OTW Signal, October 2025
Every month in OTW Signal, we take a look at stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects, including issues related to legal matters, technology, academia, fannish history and preservation issues of fandom, fan culture, and transformative works. In the News A new short documentary from filmmaker Andrew Coons shines a light on Marquette University’s Tolkien Fandom Oral History Collection. The collection is curated by archivist Dr. William Fliss, who set himself the goal of preserving the voices of 6,000 Tolkien fans—one for each of the Riders of Rohan that Théoden mustered and led to the aid of Gondor. Fans are given three minutes… Read more
OTW Guest Post: Fandoms in the Classroom
Every month the OTW hosts guest posts on our OTW News accounts to provide an outside perspective on the OTW or aspects of fandom. These posts express each individual’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Karis Jones, PhD (she/her) is an educator, literacy consultant, public humanities scholar, and community activist, as well as Assistant Professor of Secondary English Language Arts at Baylor University. She has published widely, including in the journal of Transformative Works and Culture, and won several scholarly awards from the American Educational Research Association. Scott Storm, PhD (he/him) is an Assistant Professor… Read more
OTW Signal, July 2025
Every month in OTW Signal, we take a look at stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects, including issues related to legal matters, technology, academia, fannish history and preservation issues of fandom, fan culture, and transformative works. In the News A recently published study in Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications finds that fanfiction readers are more likely to click on stories that feel familiar, but they enjoy those stories more when there is something novel about them. Balance theory, a widely accepted theory in psychology, suggests that for a creative work to be successful (widely enjoyed), it needs to find the middle… Read more