Archive your fandom stuff
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| Title: | Archive your fandom stuff |
| Creator: | thebyrchentwigges |
| Date(s): | July 18, 2017 |
| Medium: | Posted to tumblr |
| Fandom: | Panfandom, Fandom on Tumblr |
| Topic: | Archiving |
| External Links: | Archive your fandom stuff[1] at Tumblr Archive your fandom stuff at Wayback Machine |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Archive your fandom stuff is a tumblr post by thebyrchentwigges that encourages readers to archive their fanworks and conversations. The post offers various suggestions and tips for how to archive, particularly from Tumblr and AO3. thebyrchentwigges suggests saving digital or print copies of not just the fanworks, but also their comments and fan translations.
Subheadings
The post is divided into a few subheadings, as listed below:
- Saving from Tumblr and AO3
- Key points: AO3 has a download button, tumblr posts can be copied and pasted or saved as screenshots
- Archives from the past? The Wayback Machine could help
- You can save computer files for the long term
- Fandom ephemera and zines
- Key Points: scrapbooking is a good option. Saving paper materials like pamphlets for cons usually doesn't take much space
- A final word
Excerpt
"Why save? Because you put the effort into a fanwork. Because you may be surprised when a fandom stays alive for years, or gets revived, or when an academic asks to cite your work. Because it’s stupidly hard to find items on Tumblr. Because, lo, in ages past, many fandom archives have risen and fallen, taking favorite fics off the ‘Net. Because it made you happy, makes you remember. Because you never know."[2]
Reception & Responses
As of March 2021, the post has 15,682 notes on tumblr.[2] Some responses share further reasons for archiving personal copies of fanworks, as well as technical advice.
[dancinbutterfly]
"Back it up to the cloud. Then Back it up to portable hard drives. Then back it up to archive.org AKA The Way Back Machine (which has a fantastic extension so you can literally just save any page you’re on - use it on tumblr and AO3 all the fucking time)
I cannot emphasize the importance of uploading anything you think is neat to the Way Back Machine. For stories you love on AO3 add “?view_full_work=true&view_adult=true” at the end of works to get around the “Proceed?” block which will be present when archiving your stuff on the WBM because otherwise, the EU rules WILL fuck shit up but guys. Guys. BACK THINGS UP. and fandom discussions, as well as discussing options like using the Wayback Machine."[3]
megkips commented with information on professional efforts to archive fandom, including University of Iowa Special Collections, Marquette Archives, and various special collections at The Library of Congress. They added a caveat, though:
"Born digital material is always at risk, and at present, it is mostly Western fandoms being preserved! Moreover, some facets like cosplay are currently overlooked, and that is something that needs better documentation!"[4]
References
- ^ "Archive your fandom stuff - dispatches from the ironsands". 2017-07-17. Archived from the original on 2017-07-21.
- ^ a b Tumblr post by thebyrchentwigges. Archive your fandom stuff, July 18, 2017. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020.
- ^ dancinbutterfly. Tumblr post. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021.
- ^ Tumblr reblog by megkips. "So I am going to add onto this because there is, in fact, a professional archival interest in preserving fandom as well.", July 20, 2017. Archived from the original on Aug 16, 2019.