What we talk about when we talk about fandom: Visibility and Invisibility: The Fans

In the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy, Dr. Miranda Bailey breaks out with her mad Star Wars knowledge, both movie canon and the books, prompted by a patient referring to Han Solo. She then turns to her co-workers and declares “What, I’m a fan of sci-fi!” Why should she feel the need to defend her [...]

NIN on Google Earth

Bless his geeky heart, Uncle Trent is at it again. He’s released download statistics for The Slip on Google Earth. Since my job is about using “emerging media” to engage an audience , and I am also a slobbering NIN fan, the whole approach of using freeware and Open Source (google, flickr, YouTube, [...]

Rebecca Tushnet’s latest article on fan-created works and fair use

Check out Rebecca Tushnet, User-Generated Discontent: Transformation in Practice, 31 COLUM. J.L. & ARTS 110 (2008). [translation: it's in the Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts]
She argues that the non-commercial nature of fan works makes them transformative, an important element in determining whether a use of a copyrighted work [...]

Ownage?: AP tries to decide what is fair use for bloggers

In several recent blog and news stories (including my favorite headline of the bunch: The Associated Press plays role of Metallica in Napster-esque war with bloggers), the AP’s stated fair use policy for bloggers is discussed.
And what is the limits of AP’s version of fair use? If a blogger wants to use more than 5 [...]

From Strawberry Shortcake to Goth Version of Tweety Bird?

The New York Times recently had an article about the recent makeovers of some of your favorite (and least) favorite 80s icons, including Strawberry Shortcake. (International Herald Tribune version here). Another site had a hypothetical breakdown of what the costs of Ms. Shortcake’s makeover would be.
“We’re downplaying characters that were part of Strawberry’s world but [...]