Thursday, 9 August 2012
Episode 30: The Episode of Dubious Legality—Betsy Rosenblatt, the OTW, and Fanworks
Fandom Summer is upon us!
To kick it off, Babes Ardy, Lyndsay, Taylor and Amy chat it up with Betsy Rosenblatt, who works with the Legal committee of the Organization for Transformative Works.
The OTW runs a lot of fandom-based projects, including the Archive of our Own, a scholarly journal about fan cultures, and a fandom wiki—and they also provide legal advice and advocacy for and on behalf of fannish creators, which is where Betsy (and people like her on the committee) comes in.
We talk to her about the legal issues surrounding fanworks, how much trouble they can potentially get you into, and we discuss listener questions such as the reasons why people create them in the first place, and what it is that makes fandoms like Sherlock Holmes so enduring. Also, we really want to know: what drove her to invest much of her time in this project and how successful is it?
The answer to all these questions lies but a click and a listen away. Enjoy, and let us know your own thoughts on these issues, if you feel so inclined—we love getting listener mail :)
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Great interview! I'm another of those 'old-school' Sherlockians amazed at all of the changes happening to what used to be a niche fandom. I'm also a fanfic writer/reader who also enjoys pastiches and the scholarship. IMO, anything that directs someone to pick up the Canon for the first time is a good thing. As John Watson might say, "It's all fine."
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