interactive
In response to this paper, I got I think the first flame I've ever received as a result of any of the perverse work I've posted to newsgroups or web pages over the past few years. Here it is:
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 07:56:27 -0800 X-Originating-Ip: [168.184.200.166] From: "_ _" antman@theataris.com To: ejulie@brown.edu Subject: thesis thanks you ha julie your a dumb slut, and i am using your ides for my project, since it is not copywrited then u can not do anything about it because all u said was a warning. it doesnt mean anything, i can say warning, do not breathe, but u will continue to do it anyways so your request is denied, i am gonna use it, thank you.
This is, of course, a very interesting, if ungrammatical, commentary on precisely what some of my paper is about. It is also the only piece of feedback I've received -- from someone I didn't invite to read it -- since I posted it online. Given the current level of traffic on the net, the sophisticated over-enthusiasm of search engines, and the evidence supplied by my web counter, I know that more people than "_ _" are coming across my thesis, whether by accident or on purpose, and I certainly hope that "Wow, I could plagarize this" isn't the typical response. So first of all, this anonymous email made me very curious about some of the nicer thoughts my work may be inspiring. To that end, I invited positive feedback, constructive criticism, or any related musings, information, or links in an interactive guestbook. Unfortunatley, as a remotely hosted freebie, it mostly just ended up getting spammed, and was never wildly popular regardless. So much for that lofty idea. I've taken the guestbook down, but included an archive of the responses (minus spam) below. If you have any comments for my anonymous friend, feel free to use the link above to email him or her. And I will mention again that you are always welcome to contact me directly. As for the interactivity of the thesis project... well, I think we'll just consider it to be a node in the vast online ferment of fan fiction and related discussion and activity -- my voice in the networks of conversation.
My flame also stimulated some personal and even painful thinking about what the transition to a new economy of information means for me and other individuals who want to use the web to share their ideas with a wide audience. Whether or not it's legal for someone like "_ _" to steal my work (and it isn't), I realize that I make it possible for them to do so by putting it in the public domain. This is, in an immediate and practical sense, what it means to be forced to reconceptualize the "ownership" of creative property in the digital age. I feel very strongly that this paper wants to practice what it preaches, wants to have an independent life on the net where it can have relations with many different people, even at the risk of it becoming less "mine". I'd like to thank all the other writers who have prioritized the free exchange of their work in the virtual world over possessiveness, and thereby given me so many wonderful things to read.
[12.03] Recently, I discovered Creative Commons, an organization "devoted to expanding the range of creative work available for others to build upon and share" by offering a set of "some rights reserved" copyright licences for public use. In keeping with the spirit of this project, I'm hereby posting my work under one of their licenses.
what do you think?
I read this thesis quite a while ago, and I thought it was extremely well-written and intriguing. Wonderful job!
what do you think?
Very cool. My best friend and I were just talking about fanfic culture the other day, and how the decent areas are mostly populated by college-age girls writing about taboo fantasies that they would probably never express elsewhere (i.e., pedophile boy-love in Harry Potter fics). It's a very cool subject, and I enjoyed your papers.
what do you think?
Thanks for your response, Kristen!
You are the brave guestbook
pioneer. I'm glad you enjoyed my
paper. SNL fanfic? I can't quite
imagine it. And forget Scully/Mulder,
try Scullyslash! It's soooooo sappy.
I'd also like to mention that somebody emailed my some lovely feedback about the paper, and then I accidentally erased a bunch of email from my computer, and lost their comments and identity before I could write back. If you're out there: Sorry!!
what do you think?
Julie -- your thesis is wonderful. i
was just introduced to fan fiction
earlier this year concerning SNL's
Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey, when
friends asked me to write some. For
the most part, the fanfictions about
SNL are horrid and cringe-worthy
written by mentally retarded
pubescent girls, but fan fiction itself
is a fascinating sociologic response
to mass media. Your history and
explaination shed alot of light for me.
And yes, I might even kinda like the
Scully/Mulder ones.
I wish I went to Swarthmore. But no, I
got suckered into UC Irvine because
I decided to fuck off. Ah well.