QUEER WOMEN & PRIMETIME TV Bambot, J. (2016, May 12). Queer characters keep dying on TV. Here’s how to make it stop. Retrieved from http://msmagazine.com/blog/2016/05/12/queer-characters-keep-dying-on-tv-heres-how-to-make-it-stop/. <Contains detailed information surrounding #TheLexaPledge and issues of representation>. Horan, M. (2016, April 28). Why TV’s “dead lesbian syndrome” needs to stop. Retrieved from http://www.refinery29.com/2016/04/109404/tv-dead-lesbian-characters-psa-video. <A worthwhile post that contains statistics and a video link “Stop Killing Queer Women (On TV)>. http://wedeservedbetter.com (An extremely detailed site of the problems surrounding The 100 television show, and a lot of information on the character of ‘Lexa’). Nassaris, E. (2015, June 21). The importance of female queer representation on television. Retrieved from http://fwsablog.org.uk/2015/06/21/the-importance-of-female-queer-representation-on-television/ <This post takes a look at progress made within feminism in the past few years, and the importance of restructuring the current heteronormative cast of television shows>. Riese. (2016, March 11). All 90 (and counting) dead lesbian and bisexual female characters on TV, and how they died. Retrieved from http://www.autostraddle.com/all-65-dead-lesbian-and-bisexual-characters-on-tv-and-how-they-died-312315/. <Perhaps the most detailed list of characters that have died on TV shows since 1976>. Riese. (2016, April 5). TV shows with lesbian and bisexual female characters who are getting it right. Retrieved from http://www.autostraddle.com/12-tv-shows-with-lesbianbi-characters-who-get-it-right-333805/. <This is a great collection of shows that do not (as yet) conform to the “dead lesbian syndrome” trope. Roxo, A., & Leite, N. (2013, June 18). Queer women in TV: Jamie Babbit. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexandra-roxo/queer-women-in-tv-jamie-babbit_b_3460189.html <An interesting viewpoint from two queer filmmakers on the representation of LGBT characters on TV>. Rozzi, G. (2008, March 13). Top ten feminist blogs. Retrieved from http://www.takepart.com/article/2008/03/13/top-ten-feminist-blogs <A useful page that directed me towards some very interesting Blogs – a must read>. FAN FICTION
Baker-Whitelaw, G., & Romano, A. (2015, December 12 – revised). A guide to fanfiction for people who can’t stop getting it wrong. Retrieved from http://www.dailydot.com/parsec/complete-guide-to-fanfiction/. <An informative guide to the misconceptions and myths that surround fanfiction, containing detailed information and links. A must read>. Gabaldon, D. (2016). Diana Gabaldon.com. Retrieved from http://www.dianagabaldon.com/blog/ <Diana Gabaldon’s (author of Outlander) blog. Here she also outlines her own feelings about fan fiction in a series of posts>. Gutierrez, P. (2013, July 17). Fanfiction: What educators really need to know. Retrieved from http://blogs.slj.com/connect-the-pop/2013/07/english/fanfiction-what-educators-really-need-to-know/. <Contains an excellent discussion about the need to see fanfiction as something that has a place within the classroom, and specifically school libraries, as a serious text, alongside comic books, cartoons, and video games>. Martin, G. (2016). George R. R. Martin.com. Retrieved from http://grrm.livejournal.com/151914.html <An interesting take on fanfiction – from an author who is definitely not a fan. A somewhat well known author called George R. R. Martin. He has written some good books, apparently>. ‘Melissa’. (n.d.). Guest blog post: Why do we mock fanfiction?. Retrieved from http://propcake.com/why-do-we-mock-fanfiction/ <A great blog detailing the creative and amazing work that is fan fiction, asking why it always seems to get a bad wrap and detailing the immense creative opportunities it can create for young authors>. Perper, E. (2015, March 15). I ship it: Six stories about fanfiction. Retrieved from https://blog.longreads.com/2015/03/15/i-ship-it-six-stories-about-fanfiction/. <This post contains recommended reading about the topic of fanfiction and selected issues, such as the explosion of writing that followed the 50 shades of grey film. Fun fact: It quotes six stories, but only includes five>. Romano, A. (2015, December 11). Chinese authorities are arresting writers of slash fanfiction. Retrieved from http://www.dailydot.com/parsec/in-china-20-people-women-arrested-for-writing-slash/. <This is a deeply worrying post highlighting the issues surrounding Chinese fanfiction writers and the new trend to try and shut them down>.
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Censorship & the video game scapegoat: issues surrounding privacy & freedom within popular culture10/8/2016 Is censorship bad? This is a question I applied when researching video games in Australia, and the results came in at a resounding – yes. To many, censorship law, particularly in Australia, is ridiculous when compared on a global scale. Australia, “the nanny state”, has one of the highest censorship rates of video games on the planet, and remains one of the few countries in the world to censor games by outright banning them from being able to go on shelves. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by the Australian government actions on this, considering many in this country support filtered Internet access, and that in June 2015 an amendment was passed to allow court-ordered website blocking of content that allegedly infringed on copyright – in other words, sites dedicated to internet piracy such as The Pirate Bay or Kickass Torrents (Grubb, 2015). Perhaps a better question should be: why is censorship bad? It conflicts with freedom of artistic expression, and the freedom of individuals within a democratic country. Do we seriously think young adults are so impressionable that they believe that what they are playing is real life? I would think the worst thing to watch these days is the news at 6, personally. It is the government censoring themes and images that it dislikes. Video games therefore cannot enjoy the same freedom of speech and artistic expression as other artistic mediums. Why? It is up to the consumer to choose to buy this game or not, to dictate their morals and standards when choosing such a product – the right to buy a game (that are the intellectual product of the studio who made it) should lie with the consumer. Video games act as an outlet – we can escape reality through these games, cinema, comic books, and many different art realms – and in all of them you will find examples of topics the Australian government believes should not be available on our shores (but only if it is in video game format). Video games should get the same artistic status as all other ‘accepted’ forms of cultural expression, not be the scapegoat they run to any time there is a ‘rise in violence’ (Bradford, 2010). All you need to do is switch on any news channel for that. With the example of Aliens vs. Predator game, which was banned because it featured “decapitation and dismemberment” as well as multiple “stabbing” scenarios, it is odd that the game was banned but all the movies in this franchise (that showed this type of scene, if not more) were granted full release. If the same censorship ratings had been applied to films as they do video games, critical films such as A Clockwork Orange, Taxi Driver or Crash would not exist. Our laws are so mismatched between different media texts that games are now poking fun, such as in South Park: the Stick of Truth. In Australia, anything that could not get an M15+ rating (that had content that was deemed stronger than that rating) before 2013 was refused classification and was essentially banned form sale. On the 21st of January 2013, an R18+ classification was added. Fans were overjoyed with this addition, believing this was the first step in combating this imbalanced censorship rating system. However, many games continue to get banned or sanitised so severely that they have been rated as ‘unplayable’, such as in the case of Left 4 Dead 2 (Shea & Kolan, 2009). Video: Left 4 Dead 2 censored comparison. The main issue is that the government is worried that video games are causing children to become more violent. There have been many back and forth arguments around this issue, but no conclusive findings have yet been made (Hart, 2015). This blog would be remiss if we of course did not get to the predictable argument that this censorship is somehow protecting our children. By censoring something in one format, whilst having similar products freely available online (via steam, for example), seems a ludicrous mistake. You can’t isolate children from sex and violence when digital technology makes it so easy to find. Further, the more you damn a game and the more you try to censor it or have it banned, the more people want to play it!!! If children seek violence, they will seek it out. If they don’t, they will still be exposed to it through the endless channels and digital media because access is so easy. WHY CENSORSHIP LAWS MAKE NO SENSE IN THE DIGITAL AGE - There are inherent problems in censorship. Censorship laws here are ridiculous when you look at the ease of access to these original censored cut scenes and the like we have, such as right here (don’t click if you’re squeamish): Video: 7 banned/sanitised moments in South Park: The Stick of Truth game. In relation to this video, check out the number of hits on the video – whatever gets banned, its’ popularity increases tenfold – if it is censored, it will simply be sought out more by the public. Australian gamers get around the censorship laws primarily by purchasing the original content as a digital download, on sites such as Steam, and use a VPN to hide their address when playing the game. Easy. People have been doing the same thing with Netflix for ages because the US Netflix contains far more content on monetary comparison. CENSORSHIP FAILS (SANITISATION) ‘Sanitised’ games are games that were once good (in their original form), but through a process of sanitising the content in dispute, now have either deleted said content or have modified it to some degree (all the good bits have been ripped out). Fans want the original game how it was intended to be and how the majority of the rest of the world gets to experience it. Even though a good chunk of content is stripped from the game, players expect to be compensated (as they are still paying full retail for a game that is now ½ what it advertised itself to be). Many developers still don’t compensate for sanitisation, however. The end result is a game that feels rushed, devoid of atmosphere, and unfinished. People have a right to play the content they want in the freedom of their own homes. If you find it offensive, don’t buy it. Bottom line: we need to apply the same principles to video games as we do other forms of cultural expression, and we need to pay more attention to the ratings for video games. I agree that children shouldn’t be playing R18+ games – they are designed for adults, but it seems insane that other mediums that have equivalent questionable content get an MA15+ rating (any big budget Hollywood film). It is the fear of immersion: that somehow when playing these types of games, that the player will confuse the game with reality (Askildsen, 2016). Are we so irrational to believe that what we experience in these games is real life? Surely the point of playing video games is to escape reality, and interact in ways we would never be able to do in the real world (either physically or morally). References: Askildsen, J. (2016, June 17). Video games and violence: our fear of the immersive perspective. Retrieved from http://ncac.org/blog/our-fear-of-the-immersive-perspective Bradford, C. (2010). Looking for my corpse: video games and player positioning. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 33(1), 54-64. ISSN: 10381562. EmmaExegames. (2015, September 8). How many games get banned in Australia??? (Mad Max Gameplay). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFMopvIhwI4 Grayson, N. (2016, October 6). The people fighting to keep crappy games off steam. Retrieved from http://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/10/the-people-fighting-to-keep-crappy-games-off-steam/ Grubb, B. (2015, June 22). Australian senate passes controversial anti-website-blocking laws. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/australian-senate-passes-controversial-antipiracy-websiteblocking-laws-20150622-ghuorh.html Hart, P. (2015, August 25). Here we go again: Video games and violence. Retrieved from http://ncac.org/blog/here-we-go-again-video-games-and-violence Iamfallfromgrace. (2013, June 30). Games banned in Australia – Grace rants. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPCaQdhzEt0 Junglist. (2014, March 5). Our censored south park: the stick of truth is mighty similar to Europe’s. Retrieved from http://www.kotaku.com.au/2014/03/our-censored-south-park-the-stick-of-truth-is-mighty-similar-to-europes/ Lake, C. (2009, December 7). Aliens vs predator game banned, will not be ‘sanitised’ for Australia. Retrieved from http://www.news.com.au/technology/aliens-vs-predator-game-banned-will-not-be-sanitized-for-australia/story-e6frfro0-1225807850199 Leigh, M. (2013, August 12). Censorship, privacy, and freedom in popular culture. Retrieved from http://pop-verse.com/2013/08/12/censorship-privacy-and-freedom-in-popular-culture/ Shea, C., & Kolan, P. (2009, November 18). Left 4 dead 2: edited Australian version review. Retrieved from http://au.ign.com/articles/2009/11/19/left-4-dead-2-edited-australian-version-review TheStrykerForce. (2014, May 1). The downside of Australian gaming. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsdxI3zX7Kk From my readings into fan fiction I came across evidence of a deeply troubling topic that has upset many a fandom out there (and one I have long witnessed): the dead lesbian syndrome. A disturbing trend gracing our screens is that queer female characters are more likely to die on television that other types of sexualities. To quote Buffy, these two seem to be continual “un-mixy things”. This trend has been around for decades, and is so common that it has recently sparked a study done by Caroline Framke (who hails from Vox), Josh Rosenblat, Javier Zarracina, and Sarah Frostenson that examined every 2015-2016-season character deaths on primetime television. With the results in, it’s not good. The study found that 10% of deaths on television were that of queer women. Considering the straight representation of females, and the over-representation of males, this is an alarmingly high figure (figures sourced from Calvario, 2016). The trope of lesbian characters dying on primetime television, dubbed on social media as “bury your gays” is all too familiar, especially for queer women (Alexander, 2016). For me, it started with the death of Xena in 2000, continued with the death of Tara (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) in 2002 and just keeps going. Video: Tara's death (From Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode: Seeing Red, 2002). Video: Xena's death (from Xena: Warrior Princess episode: A Friend in Need II, 2000). Video: Here are the show writers tearing our hearts out just a little bit more with this evil 'teaser'. Just. No. (Reference: Xena: Warrior Princess). WHY THIS MATTERS Imaginary deaths matter, especially for queer women. The death of a queer character has a different emotional weight, because there are so few examples to draw from. The problem is that they are killed of far more frequently than straight characters. What I fear is that this image of queer women on television reinforces a stereotype that they can’t be happy, sustain relationships, engage in open dialog about their sexuality, or that they are not out to kill themselves or get in the line of fire to die by another’s’ hand. Let’s also think about the impact this trend is having on young people. To continually see this as commonplace for people just realising their sexualities brings insecurity, fear, anxiety – all the same negative viewpoints they have heard from homophobic types, and just grinds them down more. This forum response from mbarriault sums up what we all felt when Tara from Buffy the Vampire Slayer was killed off: “Tara wasn’t killed to reduce the number of gay characters on the show, she was killed because Joss Whedon is an evil mastermind with the desire and ability to reach into the chest of millions simultaneously and pull out their broken hearts.” (March 8, 2016, http://www.polygon.com/2016/3/8/11179844/the-100-cw-lexa-trevor-project) It’s almost like you fear for them having any kind of happiness, let alone sustained romantic interest for fear of a stray bullet by the end of the episode. It happened to Xena straight after the show openly showed a female-female kiss, it happened to Willow’s girlfriend Tara literally the morning after their reconciliation, and it just keeps happening (*cough* Lexa *cough*). Frighteningly, it seems that if their relationship is obscured, they somehow have a much better chance of survival (e.g. the entire series of Xena: Warrior Princess until of course, the last episode). Video: Lexa's death, from The 100, season 3, episode 7. (March, 2016). LEXA’S DEATH The death of Lexa from The 100, however, has been described as the “proverbial shot heard round the world” (Piccoli, 2016). The death of this character has instigated many to question the necessity to kill off these types of characters, and the seemingly negative treatment of queer characters on TV in general. To be frank, when the 100’s show writer killed off Lexa, one of the lead and openly lesbian characters of the show, I was outraged, but not surprised anymore as this had just become so frequent. This time, however, the fandom did not take it lying down – they expressed their outrage, loudly. The outpouring of love for this character channelled rage and hatred for the show’s writer, Jason Rothenberg. A movement has also been started to boycott the show entirely, which can be found in the comments section under any “Lexa” or “The 100” YouTube video out there, it’s that prolific. Fans even raised funds on behalf of the Trevor Project, which is an American organisation that is dedicated to supporting LBGTQIA youth because of the effect the death had on fans (Alexander, 2016). #LexaDeservedBetter - this hashtag trended WORLDWIDE after the death of this character was aired on television (March, 2016). At the 2016 Comicon at Copenhagen a fan wore a #LexaDeservedBetter T-shirt to ask Alycia Debnam Carey about the death of the character. The actress herself (Alycia Debnam Carey) acknowledged that this character death has “shone a spotlight onto an issue that obviously exists and obviously affected a lot of people and that is really important to acknowledge.” Video: 2016 ComiCon at Copenhagen, panel featuring Alycia Debnam Carey. IS THERE HOPE - #TheLexaPledge The LGBT Fans Deserve Better pledge – which has since been dubbed #TheLexaPledge, was created by Noelle Carbone and Michelle Mama, both writers, producers and directors in their own right. It contains seven tenets that writers and producers agree to when creating a script, and aims to reduce the number of unnecessary queer deaths on screen. What I am hoping is that some sense can be taken from this characters’ death. With the outpouring of love shown for this character, I am hoping more TV executives start to pay attention to the fact queer representation is a good thing, that no, they don’t need to ‘turn straight’ (“bait-and-switch lesbians”), and no, they definitely don’t need to die just to advance a plotline because you can’t be bothered to come up with something original. WILL SOCIAL MEDIA FINALLY CURB THIS TREND? If the death of Lexa caused uproar over the Internet, I can’t help thinking what the death of Xena would have provoked had social media (internet forums, blogging sites) been at the strength it is today. The role of social media may indeed finally be able to curb this trend, because if the public isn’t watching, there is no fan base. If there is no fan base, there is no show. P.S. You want proof fans are outraged? - just watch the video below. It's not the only one, it won't be the last one. REFERENCES:
Alexander, J. (2016, March 8). The 100 fans organise LGBTQ fundraiser in defiance of controversial episode. Retrieved from http://www.polygon.com/2016/3/8/11179844/the-100-cw-lexa-trevor-project Calvario, L. (2016, June 1). More queer women are being killed off on television series than ever before – study. Retrieved from http://www.indiewire.com/2016/06/lesbian-characters-die-tv-the-100-the-vampire-diaries-the-walking-dead-1201683169/ Cox, C. (2016, April 26). [UPDATED] #TheLexaPledge could change the future of lesbian and bisexual representation on TV. Retrieved from http://www.themarysue.com/the-lexa-pledge/ Piccoli, D. (2016, August 1). 13 of the most earth-shattering moments in queer fandom. Retrieved form http://www.afterellen.com/tv/497235-13-earth-shattering-moments-queer-fandom Ryan, M. (2016, March 14). What TV can learn from ‘The 100’ mess. Retrieved form http://variety.com/2016/tv/opinion/the-100-lexa-jason-rothenberg-1201729110/ In the current state of ‘information overload’, librarians play a critical role in shaping and delivering information efficiently, effectively, and directly – making sense in a world of excess. Librarians steer people towards reliable and content-rich sources. They are the navigators within a world full of junk and clutter, who make sense of databases, information networks and collections, giving helpful signposts to the public with whom they interact.
Librarians are no longer the ‘information holders’ who sit behind a desk all day, engaging only with the public through the long spectacled lens of a well-placed stare. No. The role of the librarian is extremely hands-on and centres on being the driving force of interaction within the library itself. What I find the most apparent in school libraries is the stripping back of the ‘culture of silence’ that I was so used to as a child. Now, libraries are a hive of activity, especially when it comes to workshops and events dedicated to the promotion of children’s reading and development. Libraries are now full of vibrancy because the dedicated librarians are creating programs that are designed to engage audiences and bring them inside the physical space of a library. This is especially so for the teacher-librarian, who is above all qualified in delivering content specifically catering to education development because they have a dedicated teaching background. Why is it, then, that the number of teacher-librarians, specifically within primary education, is sharply falling, and according to Weldon (2016), has been since 2010? It is arguable that primary school teachers are now being expected to take up the slack, with repeated budget cuts to schools and libraries accounting for this decline in teacher-librarians at the primary level, specifically, 5600-1300 between the years 2010-2013. This decline represents a worrying trend in that we are losing out on a highly skilled specialist librarian that can be invaluable within a community in favour of ‘par’ level teachers who have basic level knowledge of library systems at best due to their already overburdened workloads (Tarica, 2010). I believe if this trend continues, we will not be able to bridge the divide that exists between the rich (having access to technology at their fingertips through personal resources and private schools) and the poor, who rely on libraries and teacher-librarians as an infrastructure for educational development (through reading programs, access to the Internet, digital media, specialist librarian teaching programs, the list goes on and on). Since at least 1997, the role of the teacher-librarian has been changing (Brown & Sheppard, 1997). I truly hope that primary teacher-librarians won’t be cut due to ‘organisational change’, the phrase that creates such vagueness and instability when talking about school restructuring for the 21st century. Like libraries, teacher-librarians must maintain ongoing up-skilling of their own roles to remain relevant, but also to keep standards high. If there is no money to fund these roles, we are going to see school libraries increasingly empty, because there will be no one delivering reading programs, tailoring educational texts, liaising with global libraries, delivering innovative programs, etc (Tarica, 2010). This will have a significant impact on the children, the real losers in this non-fiction story. References: Brown, J., & Sheppard, B. (1997, July). Teacher-librarians in learning organisations. Information rich but knowledge poor? Emerging issues for schools and libraries worldwide. Paper presented at the annual conference of the international association of school librarianship held in conjunction with the association for Teacher-librarianship in Canada. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED412959.pdf Tarica, E. (2010, August 6). Library specialists being shelved. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/library-specialists-being-shelved-20100806-11o9t.html Thompson, S. (2013, October 1). The walls come down in the modern library: Public libraries are being transformed from book repositories to community hubs in a digital age. The Irish Times. Retrieved from http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/the-walls-come-down-in-the-modern-library-1.1545175 Weldon, P. (2016). Staff in Australia’s schools: What the staff in Australia’s schools surveys tell us about teachers working in school libraries. Camberwell, VIC: ACER. Retrieved from http://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=tll_misc WHAT IS IT? With every new show produced, nowadays it is inevitable that fan fiction will be following closely behind. Fan fiction exists as a duality – that is, it exists to both create works that the original failed to deliver, and to continue the journey that the original took. Ultimately, it is a work of love. Love for the characters, plots, and the emotions it stirred. It represents an authors’ love of the original work as they write a continuation (called GEN or general universe or Canon), an alternative universe, viewpoint or description (called AU or alternative universe), or use settings or characters but placed within a completely different universe and with different contexts that replace original ones (called UBER). Fan fiction creates additional content about the original work the author already loves. They are fans, and are usually members of fandoms. These fandoms are massive online communities and membership is vast on popular fan fiction sites online (such as FanFiction, Quotev, Archive of Our Own). What is the best thing about the majority of fan fiction? - It is totally free (except for Kindle Worlds – where fan fiction is bought within the Kindle store). Originally, fan fiction existed only in print format. Print fan fiction or ‘zines’ (i.e. pre-Internet days) are hard to find because they were generally locality driven, and relied on postal services that both delayed readership response and was driven by cost (i.e. printing and posting costs, etc). These print based fan fiction communities are now examples of hardcore original fans that formed fandom communities before the days of the Internet. They were niche, small, but very popular. Nowadays, these types of fans are everywhere because of the accessibility of fan fiction through the Internet. WHY FAN FICTION? The appeal of fan fiction, at least to me, is that the characters can live on, morph, and generally have new life within these creations. When your favourite show (such as Buffy or Xena) finishes or a character dies (Xena or Lexa outrage, anyone?), fan fiction gives fans a place to access additional content, and more so engage with the fan fiction authors themselves (in my case, within the site archiveofourown.org). The popularity of mid-90’s teen television series (such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dark Angel, Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, The X-Files, etc), coupled with increasing access to the Internet, caused an explosion in the visibility of and access to fan fiction, having been available only in limited print-based circles before that (e.g. print zines). If you’ve noticed a trend in the type of show above, you’re not alone. The most prolific genre for fan fiction is the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres (Kneale, 2005). I believe this is because these genres give free reign in world building, with almost unlimited scope for ideas and storylines. Because fan fiction is primarily located on the Internet, it is a unique text in that it is not limited by number of pages in a book, number of minutes in a film, or number of episodes within a television series. I have read epic works of fan fiction that have taken me months to get through, and am currently waiting to read updates from my favourite fan fiction stories that remain unfinished, alongside thousands of other fans. This form of text is also unique because it most often exists in beta format, that is, readers are reading the beta or unpolished version of the work, and are known as beta readers, similar to that of literary editors or test audiences for pre-released films – they can leave comments for the author, provide suggestions as to where to go next in the story, it is a unique relationship and a very close-knit community one. Pedagogically, I am excited to use this type of writing within my future practice as it is an exciting text that I believe has true value to use within the classroom; where students can expound on topics and create new works that can be read, shared and added to by others within the classroom, closely linking content to understanding by providing a platform where students can respond to and revise their creative works (Williams, 2015). Image: Lexa from “The 100”(left) and inspired fan art from DeviantArt (right). Retrieved from http://www.deviantart.com/browse/all/?section=&global=1&q=lexa+the+100&offset=52 Fan fiction also serves to augment social networks and the sheer volume of texts within fan communities, and can be comprised of many different formats (not just story writing), including artwork, videos and podcasts inspired by the original show, which I would like to highlight by telling you all to go and visit Deviant Art (http://www.deviantart.com) if you haven’t already. The site is amazing in its’ breadth of content, and has some amazing and truly excellent art to appreciate. With all that is going for it in terms of popularity, I would argue that we are forgetting a possible nuclear pitfall – that of copyright law (Roth, 2016). Some of the problems associated with fan fiction are that they are in possible ‘legal limbo’ due to conflicting copyright laws, as well as the fact that the medium is perhaps not in itself taken as a serious text by many, especially teachers (Lord, 2015). Like all art, it seems inevitable that authors (at least, the very popular ones) will want to start making money for their output, such as in Kindle Worlds, where readers pay between $0.99 and $3.99 for a digital download that they can preview before they commit to buy (Amazon, 2016). This may trigger large-scale restructuring of fan fiction sites, where the reader pays for either an individual work or pays a fee for use (similar to music streaming sites – a monthly access fee). This could do either two things: trigger massive legal action by the copyright owners of the original works which may well put people off reading fan fiction entirely, or, it could cause an explosion of well-developed, proof-read and generally good fan fiction to be created because authors can now devote their time as they are getting paid to do so.
References: Amazon.com. (2016). Kindle worlds. Retrieved from https://kindleworlds.amazon.com AO3. (2016). Archive of our own: Home. Retrieved from https://archiveofourown.org BuffyWorld. (2016). BuffyWorld: A complete guide to all of the “buffy the vampire slayer” and “angel” episodes. Retrieved from http://www.buffyworld.com Deviant Art. (2016). Lexa: The 100. Retrieved from http://www.deviantart.com/browse/all/?section=&global=1&q=lexa+the+100&offset=52 FanFiction.net. (2016). FanFiction: Home. Retrieved from https://www.fanfiction.net ‘GLPing’. (2016). HEDA [Image]. Retrieved October 2, 2016 from http://www.deviantart.com/browse/all/?section=&global=1&q=lexa+the+100&offset =52. Kneale, H. (2005). The appeal of fan fiction. Retrieved from http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10165 Lord, E. (2015, March 24). 13 things fan fiction writers are very tired of explaining. Retrieved from https://www.bustle.com/articles/71438-13-things-fan-fiction-writers-are-very-tired-of-explaining Miller, L. (2016, September 11). The new powers that be: Harry Potter, the triumph of fandom, and the future of creativity. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_next_20/2016/09/online_harry_potter_fans_transformed_what_it_means_to_love_a_story.html Roth, D. (2016, September 30). Star Trek, Axanar, and the future of fan fiction. Retrieved from http://www.blastr.com/2016-9-30/star-trek-axanar-and-future-fan-fiction Williams, B. (2015). Digital technologies and creative writing pedagogy. In A. Peary & T. Hunley (Eds.), Creative writing pedagogies for the twenty-first century (pp. 243- 268). Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. As the changing role of the media represents a move away from traditional paper (delayed) content, and into digestible (immediate) content via digital forms, libraries could be seen as being squarely in line to meet the same fate as the physical newspaper, which is experiencing a slow and agonising death of redundancy (funding and relevancy) in the fast-paced progressive 21st century world. It is refreshing, therefore, to see that libraries around the world are responding to this change by aiming to change shape into a modern beacon of connected digital relevancy. This means, offering far more than just books. Nevertheless, by performing this change to include increasing digitisation and 24-hour online electronic access, the question should be asked: are they shooting themselves in the foot by driving away interest in their physical spaces? The answer is both yes and no, because the key is balance. Balancing virtual content, coupled with a physical space that is seen and performs as a vibrant cultural hub, is the key for the modern library to sustain relevancy (Oddone, 2016). Like Madonna, libraries are now vehicles that are living in a perpetual state of transformation, reinventing themselves to maintain relevancy and sustain and promote interest, engagement and learning. Within my time as a university student I have witnessed great change in our libraries, particularly around digitising analog texts. I have seen physical opening hours extended, 24-hour ‘virtual’ opening hours a reality, and the digitisation of huge amounts of texts (and their availability to access through the Internet). This being said, a convincing argument can well be made into the necessity to physically visit a library as a student, as an extraordinary amount of resources are readily available at my fingertips at home via virtual library access. However, as we are still in a transitional stage of information development, a greater portion of these texts must still be accessed physically, and a visit to the library will always be needed to access the full scope of available texts. This point of view of course, only considers libraries as a resource to use only when studying (a finite view). The full scope of what a physical library represents in today’s modern world is so much more. Libraries are now catering for what the public is demanding – namely access to the Internet, as well as providing space for them to work, talk, and interact. This means libraries have also physically changed; providing large areas of connected space for patrons to not only use provided computers and benches, but use stations, and connect with others in designated ‘gathering spaces’ and meeting rooms (commonly soundproofed) that are used for bringing people together for cultural engagement, or “a multi-purpose community hub” (Thompson, 2013). They have become go-to hubs for teaching and learning, for the public to become more engaged with technology through workshops designed and run by the librarians themselves (such as computer skills, language development, free information sessions, etc). The most exciting area of transformation for me is the digitisation of early, I mean early texts, such as microfilm, personal and professional collections (such as diaries, photos, letters, official documents) that were previously quite difficult to access. These important texts ran the risk of being lost entirely due to physical degrading of quality (especially microfilm and fading photographs), and it is exciting to see that not only are these texts being preserved by digitally copying or scanning them, they are being restored to ‘original’ quality (via software such as Photoshop), as well as being made freely available to be viewed by the entire community – and easily. The goal here is to balance digital (virtual) and physical spaces so a library can still be seen as a critically important space where ideas and resources combine into a cultural hub of ideas, learning, and enjoyment. The absorption of technology and integration into everyday lives, especially in the way we digest media should make people more aware of the usefulness and place of libraries within 21st century culture, with libraries being more relevant as ever. It remains to be seen whether the government and education heads will see libraries in a similar light in the future, or have their viewpoint stuck on libraries as outdated dust-collectors. References: Doherty, T. (2014). Why do we still need public libraries in the digital age? Voices (September 19). Retrieved from https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/why-still-need-public-libraries-digital-age Oddone, K. (2016). The importance of school libraries in the google age. Connections 98(3), 1-3. Retrieved from http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/scis/home.html Thompson, S. (2013, Oct .1). The walls come down in the modern library: Public libraries are being transformed from book repositories to community hubs in a digital age. The Irish Times. |
Liz SimsI am currently completing a Masters in Inclusive Education. I work as a teacher aide specialising in Music and Media Studies. ArchivesCategories |