September 2011

Amanda Hodges and Laurel Richmond published an article in the latest issue of Transformative Works and Cultures that will delight and intrigue fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, especially fans of bad girl Faith Lehane. Much of what the authors say about fanfiction generally is familiar terrain for the readers of this publication, but it leads nicely into a case study of Faith fic specifically. Their most persuasive argument is that fannish responses to a character like Faith reveal much about the value of fandom as a space to explore female sexuality.

They explore a number of common tropes in Faith fic, including the fleshing out of her canonical redemption arc from bad girl to caregiver, speculation on the details of childhood with her canonically neglectful and alcoholic mother, and interpretations of her hypersexuality, including suggestions that it is a cover for, or enactment of, her closeted lesbianism or bisexuality respectively. At play here is the idea of carnival as a metaphor for fandom, the idea of a space apart from the workaday world in which the rules of the dominant culture, which are in this case present mostly to delimit expressions of female sexuality in the name of stable gender identities, are made visible via performance-based aesthetic practices. In other words, both “bad girl” and “caregiver” are roles, signified by dress, speech, and mannerism as much as by action. In canon, we rarely get access to Faith’s interior life, and so there is much left open to interpretation about how Faith ended up acting successfully in those roles at different points in the narrative, and fic serves not only to fill in those gaps, but also to advance interpretations that restore a degree of intentionality and self-awareness to Faith’s various performances of femininity.

Of course, the authors are careful not to romanticize fanworks as “rescuing” the male-authored canon narrative of Faith in the name of sex-positive fan feminism. Instead, they are careful to enumerate some of the key ways in which Faith is subversive in canon, and the ways in which some fanon explanations of her behavior in fact dull that subversive energy by restoring normative gender expectations in their own narratives.

The bibliography of relevant fanworks and academic articles here is a pleasure to see, and offers a great resource to anyone interested in Faith fic, the current state of Buffy fandom (alive and well!), or academic approaches to gender play. Go check it out!

Guest post by Patrice Persad:

Fraternal fellowship, especially when it is displayed, among the Curtis brothers in S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders is why the novel is one of my favorites. Of course, in Outsiders fanfiction, many stories feature the fraternal bond—if not among the Curtis brothers then among the greaser gang. Consequently, there are the other pieces—the “sister fics” (where one of the boys who are only children suddenly have a sister or where the Curtis brothers become the Curtis siblings) and fanfiction in which lesser known female characters in canon are magnified and become the protagonists; one could compare the latter fics to Stoppard’s Rosencranz and Guilderstein Are Dead. Fanfiction is where a writer can construct tunnels from and build secret passageways in the creator’s infrastructure; it is where canon’s reality is reengineered in the fanfiction writer’s words. However, with Outsiders fanfiction that trains specifically on female characters, the presence of fraternal fellowship, like in canon, still eclipses the kinship among females and the overall female influence.

I have come to conclude that in canon female characters are:
1) dead (Mrs. Curtis).

2) serve mostly as potential partners in a non-platonic relationship (Sandy, Cherry Valance, and Angela Shepard).

3) supposedly so minor to the plot that they are mentioned in passing (Keith ‘Two-Bit” Mathews’ mother and sister).

Females in the novel are the true outsiders. I understand that the novel is set during the 1960s when females did not have as many opportunities now. (But, then, was not the 1960s the time of the second wave of feminism?) We hardly see the sisterly bond among female greasers and socs because the book is clearly not focused or does not intend to focus on them; it chronicles certain events from Ponyboy’s life. (After all, at his age, the reader learns than he is not into girls.) The most important sustenance he is given is that from fraternal fellowships among his blood brothers and adoptive brethren—particularly in the loss of a maternal figure, Mrs. Curtis, and a paternal figure, Mr. Curtis.

In fanon, even though original female characters (OFCs), which are female characters fabricated by the fanfiction writer, or even though those female figures in the canonical background are placed in the foreground, they still come off as outsiders. Fanon, even if the sister fics can be labeled as alternate universe (AU) pieces, reflects canon in this aspect.

Several scenarios in fanon follow:

1) the sister or twin sister (who may be named Nutmeg, Orange Blossom, or Licorice as in the tradition of the younger Curtis’ unique names) is a non-platonic interest for a canon character.

2) as a narrator, the female sibling/friend/acquaintance merely accompanies the boys on adventures instead of being a dynamic actor (i.e, a tag along).

3) the female is used as leverage against a gang member.

I suppose Cherry Valence is the only saving grace for females in canon. However, in fanon, she reverts to being a romantic interest for one of the boys (Ponyboy or the resurrected Dallas Winston). It is as if these characters are in the spotlight, but they are stagnant—frozen in function or purpose to just act for themselves.

I cannot help but describe the female’s role in both fanon and canon by referring to Rembrandt van Rijn’s painting Night Watch. There is a canon Outsiders character who Ponyboy briefly thinks about: a girl who he thought looked good in yellow. Now, in the painting, there is a girl who is illuminated in bright light. She looks straight at the viewer, and she is dressed in garments—an ornate dress—of a light hue, which could possibly be yellow. Even though she is highlighted by a light source, the viewer—well, I—cannot help but shift his—my—eyes to the surrounding sixteen male officers of the militia group—particularly on the captain and lieutenant who are in the foreground. Most of the officers are in the shadows or dark, but the viewer finds his attention drawn to them.

I apologize for throwing in a bit of seventeenth century art with my musings, but I do have a point. In Night Watch, there is only one female figure. In fanon, an OFC or canon female is disconnected from other females. She is surrounded by mostly male characters in which the fraternal bond is featured, so there is hardly any development for the female bonding, sorority, along with little emphasis on non-platonic relationships with the other male greasers.

I hope that I do not sound like I am belting out Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox’s Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves, but, if Outsiders female characters in fanon and canon are certainly doing something for themselves, they are not fully acknowledged in the male-dominated world of The Outsiders. And, if these females are not, then how can the fanfiction reader come to care about them as much as he does for the Curtis brothers and the rest of the gang?

Guest Post, the fourth in a four-part series, by KC Lynch:

Part 4: Social Networking the TWC

Earlier this year, UW’s Anthropology Librarian received three faculty requests for a magazine called Anthropology NOW within a two-week time period. In academia, that’s like Surprised Kitty popularity.

I asked Anthropology Now’s managing editor what her strategy was. Did she advertise at a local Anthropology conference? Sponsor a symposium? No, she said, it was social marketing, pure and simple.

Social marketing includes mainstays like Facebook, LinkedIn, and for academia, Academia.edu. But it’s not enough to just log on or create a page. That’s what professional business strategist Phil Simon refers to as the “set it and forget it” mistake. To be truly successful, you have to cultivate an online presence through frequent posting, provide applications that reflect changing technologies, and most importantly, find your audience.

Finding your audience isn’t about making a website and asking them to come to you. You have to find out where they are and go to them.

Andrew Gossen, now Director of Social Media Strategy at Cornell, focused on exactly that when he launched a multimedia effort to reach Princeton Alumni in 2007. He found that while Princeton Alums were routinely bypassing traditional web content, they were gathering in extraordinary numbers to play an online game open to current and former students, as well as faculty. And they were engaged in deep, authentic, intelligent conversation.

The key, as Gossen sees it, is to participate in conversations without trying to control the message. This may be a revolutionary concept for nonprofits, but for social media users it goes without saying. In a 2010 interview with EZRA, Gossen explained:

“Many institutions think of social media as simply another channel for distributing the same content that is disseminated through more traditional means, but that misses the unique nature of the evolving social Web space. Social media gives us the chance to communicate with alumni with a frequency and level of informality that makes it possible for Cornell to be a daily presence in their lives.”

Is it the same for the readership of a scholarly journal? Maybe. The process of working with social media in academia is experimental and incremental, says Gossen.

We know that academics participate in social media, well, socially—but thanks to a recent report from the College of London’s Centre for Information Behavior and the Evaluation of Research (hilariously acronymed CIBER), we now know that academics also use social media for research: 84% in social sciences, and 79.2% in the arts and humanities.

For TWC, we know the readership, including possible contributors, visits three types of online communities regularly: those where transformative works are made, those which produce useable research, and their own social networks. These may include anything from Livejournals and Tumbler to Blogs on the Paley Center for Media website.

To engage these communities, first you have to have available staff, familiar with the interests and needs of the readership, to tend the growth of new social networks. Then you develop a strategy for engaging your audience on their own terms, in ways that keep them coming back for more.

Websites like TED, Historypin, and OpenIDEO have all been successful at attracting dedicated users and giving new ways to communicate and collaborate beyond Facebook and Twitter.

Most social networks grow organically, and they die organically too, but there’s always a new crop for a new season. If we can grow the social network, we’ll grow TWC’s readership, making it more appealing to contributors.

This is how it starts: I’m an acafan and an avid fanfic reader. A few years ago I started reading a particular author, and the work was so good that I bookmarked her Livejournal. I check for updates all the time, thrilled when she posts stories in a new fandom—like a whole new world has opened up. Then she started posting about Archive of Our Own, which led me to TWC, and now I’m hooked.

Why? Because I go where the work is. And anything that strikes the fancy of the authors and artists I follow is worth a look. Hey, it got me to watch the Fast and Furious movies, and subsequently, all of the transformative works they spawned.

Guest Post, the third in a four-part series, by KC Lynch:

Part 3: Utilizing the Power of Librarians

Let’s say librarians rule the world…since it’s not far from the truth. While some decisions are out of their hands, like which databases to subscribe to (these decisions are made at University or even Consortia level), librarians are responsible for the collection development in their specialty. They respond to requests from faculty for specific periodicals, but they also suggest new materials, and provide guidance for students and curriculum developers.

When a student comes looking for a specific journal, the librarian will first determine if it’s part of the institution’s catalog. Most journals in university collections are available through immense, searchable database packages like EBSCO or JSTOR. To be listed in such a database, journals are reviewed on characteristics like readership, relevance, citation data, etc. (The MLA has a similar review process for its list of vetted periodicals.) Different databases have different criteria: TWC is listed by EBSCO, but not by Jstor.

Since TWC is accessible for free, there is another way the title can be found. When I sat down to discuss the finer points of collection development with a librarian at the University of Washington (UW), she created a catalog entry for TWC in 30 seconds. Now, when librarians all over campus use programs like Serials Solutions to comb through UW’s collection, TWC will be listed, regardless of its presence (or lack thereof) in the larger database packages.

Better than that, Specialty Librarians can help a journal gain visibility within its field. Each department has its own librarian, who runs a web page that acts as a vital digital resource for students and faculty. This type of resource, according to Ithaka’s 2009 Faculty Survey, has a greater impact than general-purpose search engines as the starting point for research.

We already know that librarians are big fans of online journals. In Ithaka’s Library Survey 2010, 267 library administrators from colleges and universities across the U.S. were asked what they would do with an unexpected 10% budget increase. A 55% majority said they would spend it on online and digital journals, even over discovery tools and staff/facility expansions.

Library administrators also support open-access platforms: 84% believe they should take an active role in educating faculty about OA, and 71% believe that OA journals that are linked from their website are part of their research collection.

Moreover, 68% said it was important that library staffs work with faculty to incorporate digital information resources into their curricula.

It’s their role as teaching facilitator that makes the librarian a scholarly journal’s greatest ally. Ithaka’s 2010 Library Survey reports that 97% of respondents believe the highest priority for library staff resources is supporting faculty instruction and student learning, and that it will become increasingly important over the next five years. 84% agreed with the statement: “it is strategically important that my library be seen by its users as the first place they go to discover content,” not because the library is a repository, but because librarians know how to find what you’re looking for.

Ithaka quotes the “Value of academic Libraries” report by Megan Oakleaf: “In the past, academic libraries functioned primarily as information repositories; now they are becoming learning enterprises. This shift requires academic librarians to embed library services and resources in the teaching and learning activities of their institutions. In the new paradigm, librarians focus on information skills, not information access; they think like educators, not service providers.”

All of this boils down to one thing: librarians consider themselves integral to the teaching experience, whether faculty do or not. Which means not only are librarians filling the needs of their department, they’re actively engaging in curricula building. They’re making smart choices for the future of their department.

So how do we get them to choose TWC? The short answer is to engage them through their departmental web pages and that old staple of librarian communication: the listserv.

There are other ways, of course—outlets that Librarians, Administrators, Faculty and Academics-at-large have in common. Coming up in the next part: Social Networking.