On a more doctrinal level, respecting creativity as a human force should lead us to think differently about fair use, among other things, by encouraging us to take account of noncommercial motivations even in contexts current doctrine sees as commercial.
[QUOTE] From Anna von Veh, What Can Trade Publishers Learn from Fanfiction?
Fanfiction sits at the margins of mainstream creative endeavour, and interrogates established views of what it means to be a writer; the meaning of intellectual property, creativity, originality, ‘ownership;’ and traditional boundaries surrounding these concepts, as well as the whole
[META] Can Fandom Change Society? (by PBSoffbook)
Can Fandom Change Society? (by PBSoffbook) Before the mass media, people actively engaged with culture through storytelling and expanding well-known tales. Modern fan culture connects to this historical tradition, and has become a force that challenges social norms and accepted
[QUOTE] From Rebecca Tushnet, Economies of Desire: Fair Use and Marketplace Assumptions
Creativity, including remix creativity, is part of a good life. It should be valued for itself, not tolerated. Creativity should be a favorite of the law even if we do not need to worry about incentives or disincentives (chilling effects).
[QUOTE] From Lawrence Lessig, Remix
We’ve already seen a similar frustration brew in the context of “fan fiction,” particularly around the Star Wars franchise. As with the Harry Potter story, Lucasfilm learned early on that there were millions who wanted to build upon Star Wars,
[QUOTE] From Rebecca Tushnet, Economies of Desire: Fair Use and Marketplace Assumptions
Fanworks, as creative endeavors existing outside the money economy, are fundamentally based on the inexhaustibility of the imagination. Yet the creative desires fanworks express and satisfy are not alien to other, marketized creative works. Indeed, creators’ passions are strikingly similar
[QUOTE] From Rebecca Tushnet, Economies of Desire: Fair Use and Marketplace Assumptions
(…) fan experiences of creativity are also incompatible with control-based theories of copyright positing that authors’ personalities are harmed by unauthorized uses. Julie Cohen has pointed out that the incentive model, in which copyright is a vital driver of creativity,
[META] Promising Monsters: Mutated Text 2012
I had the pleasure of participating in the Mutated Text workshop, celebrating “informal informalities, strange writing, and eclectic ties,” yesterday at Berkeley. As usual, going as a historian to anything even vaguely non-traditional — even as a historian whose heart
[META] Living in a Den of Thieves (Notes Towards a Post on Big Content)
Two weeks ago, in the wake of the hacker collective Anonymous shutting down U.S. government and Big Content websites in avowed revenge for the U.S. Attorney General’s taking down the upload service MegaUpload, I asked my Twitter followers (only half
[META] Teaching Fandom, Revisited
Time to post! But I’m afraid that my brain is full of nothing but teacherly thoughts and I apologize for this. Once again, I am dwelling upon the challenge of bringing folks to acceptance of the fact that we are