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Nele Noppe

Conference program and abstracts for Intercultural Crossovers, Transcultural Flows: Man... - 8 views

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    You'll be meeting some of the people I have been working with, like Prof. Jean-Marie Bouissou, Marco Pellitteri, Pascal Lefèvre and Jaqueline Berndt. And lucky you, you'll be able to meet Frederik Schodt! I wish I could attend it, but I think I'll be in the last rush for my dissertation, so I fear that it won't be possible! Do you know if there will be a conference proceeding?
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    I'm the most excited about meeting Ito Go myself -I'll probably sound like a total idiot face to face with Frederik Schodt ;) When did you work with Pascal and Jaqueline? I know them already. It's a shame you're not coming, though I suppose dissertation writing is an acceptable excuse. Yes, I'm quite sure there'll be proceedings, and maybe video as well. If there's reasonable wifi, I'll probably be tweeting *crosses fingers*
Nele Noppe

iPad Publishing No Savior for Small Press, LGBT Comics Creators - 3 views

  • Anticipated as a potential savior of the comics industry, distribution of digital comics through Apple's iPhone and iPad is proving not to be the magic bullet many had hoped for. Format issues, pricing concerns, and censorship of content are hindering many creators, particularly those making lesbian and gay comics, from taking full advantage of this new outlet for their work.
  • But Apple chose ePub as the format for books sold through iBooks; the format is not designed to support fully illustrated projects like art books and comic books, and presents them with large white margins on each page. There are only a handful of graphic novels available in the iBooks store; most have been modified to show a few panels per page to avoid shrinking the content excessively.
  • Even if a creator happened to have the technical proficiency to write her own comics app, going from iBooks to a boutique comics app is hardly ideal for a small publisher or self-published creator. You have no opportunity to reach readers unless they specifically look for comic books; you don't benefit from the browsing and search traffic on the larger store and your books won't appear in searches. But even if a creator or small publisher persevered and created and successfully promoted his own comics app, there is the last, and possibly most significant, hurdle to overcome: Apple censorship.
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  • Digital magazine store Zinio, like all content suppliers for iPhone and iPad, agreed to Apple's "Regional Content Review" for all items sold through their app. This means that all "in-app purchasable" content must be approved by Apple to be acceptable to the broad U.S. population (the United States is one "region") or it will block it. The more obvious targets for censorship in the Zinio store included Playboy and Penthouse magazines, but Vogue France was also rejected because it features artistic and occasional use of nudity. Vogue France is also not stocked at Wal-Mart stores for the same reason.
  • Stories have surfaced about comic books being blocked as well. In February, Stephen Lindsay, the creator of Jesus Hates Zombies, discovered that a link to buy his book through the ComiXology app had stopped working. A ComiXology rep explained in a tweet that Apple "deemed it inappropriate according to their SDK guidelines" and they were forced to remove it.
  • "Here's the thing," said Lindsay. "Jesus Hates Zombies doesn't involve any sex whatsoever. None. It has violence and swearing, but that's because it's a mature readers horror comedy. But the violence isn't even intense. And being a black and white comic, there's zero red blood, which means any gore is dramatically cut down."
  • When asked if it would be fair to say that any comics with content that would fit in an R-rated movie (violence, brief nudity without explicit sex) would fit into Apple's guidelines, Murphey agreed.
  • "People seem to think that Apple is slamming our hands down every day saying 'No — we shall oppress this material— you are not permitted to do anything that we do not deem to be family friendly'… and that's not what's happening at all," Murphey continued. "Apple has not censored what we publish in a way that we feel has been terribly oppressive. When things first started in 2008, before they had the parental controls in effect, they were much more strict about what could and couldn't be allowed in the store. Now things are much better."
  • "My problem with Apple banning [Jesus Hates Zombies] is simply this," says Lindsay. "They allow the Marvel book Kick-Ass. How in God's name is my book worse than Kick-Ass when it comes to content? The simple answer, it's not. But because Kick-Ass is a Marvel book, it gets a pass."
  • The experience of smaller publishers producing books with LGBT characters and situations also seems hard to reconcile with Murphey's assessment of Apple's guidelines. Tom Bouden's adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest was rejected as an iPad app for the App Store, again due to "materials that may be considered obscene, pornographic, or defamatory." A handful of sexually suggestive images depicting men, some extremely mild, were specifically flagged as problematic in the 80-page graphic novel.
  • perhaps to avoid calling attention to its restrictions, Apple did not allow black censor bars to appear in content.
  • Yaoi Press packaged their graphic novel Zesty for submission to the App Store with the assistance of digital provider Fika Publishing
  • The book was rejected without explanation.
  • "I'm not as hopeful about the iPad as I was this morning," said Abraham in an article about Manga on the iPad for About.com. "The iTunes store just rejected Zesty, our tamest graphic novel, without citing a reason. We thought this could be a bright spot for us, akin to our sales on Amazon Kindle, but we're very discouraged right now."
  • We have snuck onto Apple platforms through the Kindle app." A search on Amazon's Kindle Store for Yaoi Press titles yields a wide range of prose and graphic novels, all of which can be purchased and synced to an iPad or iPhone. Kindle purchases do not happen "in-app", and are not required to be reviewed and approved by Apple. Amazon appears to have no content restrictions with regard to sexual content; even explicit sexual material appears to be fair game for Kindle books.
  • "Amazon doesn't seem to have a problem with the story," Bonte said. "They accepted it for digital distribution. The problem with Amazon is that they take 70% and Apple only 30%, plus the platform is absolutely not usable for comics.
  • "If Dylan was 20 today," Tate wrote, "how would he feel about your company? Would he think the iPad had the faintest thing to do with 'revolution'? Revolutions are about freedom." "Yep, freedom from programs that steal your private data," Jobs responded. "Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom. The times they are a changin', and some traditional PC folks feel like their world is slipping away. It is."
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    It looks like I'm not about to get an iPad! I have already decided not to get an iPhone (short-lived batteries, locked software, cost of mobile internet subscription) but it looks like Apple is heading in a direction with which I can't agree, meaning that my next computer certainly won't be from this brand. There were things I didn't like with Microsoft either, but it seems that Apple is doing even worse. And Google isn't walking that much of a more satisfying path. After I'm done with my dissertation, I'm definitely planning on learning better how to use linux and other open-source materials.
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    I did get an iPhone last year. The very high cost is somewhat balanced out by the great ease of use, but after all the random app-banning and the launch of this new reactionary device, I have to agree with you and quit buying Apple products. This kind of content censorship is incredibly harmful.
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    Ah! So, you were also a victim of the iPhone craze! ;-) I must say that it does look very enticing and seducing, but I feel that Apple is going too far with all these automatisms, to the point that you don't even know where the stuff you download or even write is stored on your device. There was a time when Apple products were more transparent than Microsoft's. But now, ergonony for the sake of ergonony and design have taken over completely to the point that Apple products are becoming complete "black boxes". My next cell-phone will certainly look a lot more like a smart phone than mine does now, but it won't be an Apple product, nor probably an Android one. I don't like all these geolocalization softwares. I'm not sure what it will be, because my present cellphone is doing ok and have no idea how long it will last, so it will depend on what's available and within the reach of my wallet.
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    Yes yes, it was a bad call, thank you for rubbing it in ;) In my defense, they hadn't started with the app-bannings and absurd censorship policies back then. Listening to Jobs defining "freedom" now, it's like hearing Agent Smith explain the purpose of the Matrix. I'm not sure what my next phone will be, either. Android looks better, but Google owns quite enough of me as it is.
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    Well, I don't blame you! My father got one as soon as he was able to. His excuse was that he needed to receive emails on his cellphone, but there were other brands and models who could do the same. They just weren't as sexy and let's face it, not as frequently displayed in public spaces. As for me, since I didn't want to get a mobile internet subscription, as they are quite expensive in Switzerland (around 60 Euros/month and for a limited amount of downloaded data), an iPhone would have been pretty much useless and would have costed me a fortune (without phone subscription, they were sold between 700 and 800 Euros a piece). So, what saved me, in reality, was simply lack of money and other priorities than mobile telephony. Moreover, I have an iPod mini on which I can download music, radio recording and video shows, so I don't need anything else to entertain me during my train travels. So, really, I have absolutely no merit whatsoever for not following fashion...if I had had the money, who knows...I might have fallen to the craze too! ^_^
Ariane Beldi

Online Bibliography of Anime and Manga Research | Anime/Manga Web Essay Archive - 0 views

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    This is Web essay archives on mangas and animes and everything japanese popular entertainment that has been existing for years now. I'm not sure if it has already been listed in this group, but it is definitely a must-have bookmark.
Ariane Beldi

Le débat sur la fanfiction relancé ? - Elbakin.net - 5 views

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    Diana Gabaldon (ci-contre) et George R.R. Martin, tous les deux opposés à laisser ce genre de liberté aux apprentis écrivains, viennent en effet de relancer les discussions autour du sujet.
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    This is in French, but it is about a debate on fanfiction, in which authors hold varying views on this phemonemon.
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    In my opinion, they haven't launched a debate so much as joined other commercially published authors such as Anne Rice and Lee Goldberg in endlessly repeating the same extremely wobbly arguments against amateur writing. They misunderstand intellectual property and the creative process in a variety of ways -e.g. by assuming that somebody using a character they created is the same as somebody stealing a physical object, and by labeling their creations 'original' while dismissing fanfic writers as people unable to come up with good ideas of their own. Not impressive at all, but unfortunately, big-name authors decrying the defilement of their creations by supposed thieving amateur pornographers make good media copy :P This post does a rather good rebuttal of the arguments usually raised against fanfic by enumerating commercial works that are just as "derivative" as fic: http://bookshop.dreamwidth.org/999259.html
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    To tell the truth, I'm not very knowledgeable in this field of copyrights issues. I'm just starting and need to read more. So, when I was tipped about these blog posts by people on Facebook, I thought it might be interesting for you and others. But apparently, from what you're saying, they are just going over and over the same old arguments. I'll check your link and we'll keep it for later thinking. ;-)
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    It is an excellent post! I love the section about Virgile being a fanboy from Homer! I had to translate and learn Chant 6 of the Aeneid for my final high school exam! She could have added that Dante Alighieri is a huge fanboy of Virgile (he actually considers him as his spiritual master, despite the fact that more than 1000 years separates them both).
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    Oh, it's a very interesting topic -my favourite ;) I'm doing a lot of research on the position of fanworks in cultural production at the moment. IMHO, published authors who rail against fanfic seem to be rather hung-up on an author-as-God idea that is terribly outdated today, has never had much basis in reality in the first place, and does nothing at all to promote creativity. Also, the arguments about the supposed harm fanfic inflicts are just plain silly. There certainly isn't any economic harm (ficcers are your biggest fans and very likely to buy your products and attract new readers), and somebody using your character is not the same as stealing your car because your character remains intact and available to you no matter how many fics are written (or how sexually explicit these fics are). Er, I'm going to stop before I go on a five-page rant. Have some more links: http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/007464.html is good and short, as is http://www.kristinabusse.com/cv/research/ip09.html (and many other articles on that site). http://www.tushnet.com/legalfictions.pdf talks about fanfic and copyright in more detail.
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    Thank you for all these links. I'm keeping them as well!
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    No prob! I'll send more if you're interested (Gabaldon generated a huge amount of intelligent rebuttal posts in the last couple of days), but let me know, I don't want to bury you in readings just because it's my personal favourite ranting topic ;)
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    Well, that would be with pleasure. I might not be able to read everything through and through immediately, but I'll keep the urls in my Diigo and return to it later. But I'm definitely interested in those issues. I also have a colleague who's into this as well, so I'll forward these resources to her. And she is supposed to write a dissertation about Shakespeare, but she doesn't know what! She feels that everything that could be written about him has been written. Maybe, there would be something for her to dig in these.
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    Maybe your friend would be interested in Elisabeth Woledge? She works for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (http://www.shakespeare.org.uk/content/view/428/439/) and has done a lot of work on fanfic, too. She gave a very interesting keynote speech for a fanfic conference last February (abstract here: http://www.mos.umu.se/forskning/cyberekon/symposiumabstracts.htm) in which she discussed Shakespeare as well. I believe the keynote is archived on http://stream.humlab.umu.se/, -search for Woledge and it should come up. As for the Gabaldon issue, you can find a lot of links to discussions about her statements in this post on the Metafandom community: http://www.journalfen.net/community/metafandom/142097.html
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    Woaw! I'm printing all these references and will bring it to her later this afternoon! We might be able to take a coffee together. I will also of course keep all these links! This is really great! Thank you so much!
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