via
https://ift.tt/2OOQn6xelfwreck:
gothiccharmschool:
quillquiver:
ltleflrt:
lauraannegilman:
gothiccharmschool:
festiveferret:
viudanegraaa:
We’re Hugo nominated authors y'all. We did it.
I can’t wait to get my plaque!
Wait, so anyone who has published fic on Ao3 is technically a Hugo nominee?!
Technically, the editors (organizers) are, so if you’re a member (have donated) to A03, you’re a Hugo nominee, I think?? But don’t quote me on that and don’t expect a nominee pin.
Nifty 😊
Nope, none of these people are Hugo Nominees! This particular award has nothing to do with content, it’s all about form–archiving and relating works to one another, hence why it’s being nominated for Related Works category. This means that the people really being nominated are the ones who came up with the idea for the Archive in the first place, and those who actually built and maintain the infrastructure on which it’s run! The coders, the tag wranglers, the designers… the heroes behind the scenes. These are the people who are nominated, and rightly so!
It’s so important to recognize the tech whizzes behind the scenes. Firstly, because there are real people doing real, serious labour for free and they, like all fan creators, should be acknowledged and applauded like the rest of us. We tend to not think of the physical, real-world aspects of technology, but they’re definitely there and we should definitely pay attention to them, especially because that particular industry is predominantly male, cis and white. What makes AO3 and the OTW so remarkable in this case, is that it is predominantly women and it is definitely intersectional.
While the idea of all of the fic authors being Hugo nominees was delightful, I’m REALLY HAPPY that this nomination is for the people who deal with the infrastructure. They are fandom heroes, and deserve praise and awards for what they do.
Here’s the nominees for “Best Related Work”:
Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction, by Alec Nevala-Lee
The Hobbit Duology (a documentary in three parts), written and edited by Lindsay Ellis and Angelina Meehan
An Informal History of the Hugos: A Personal Look Back at the Hugo Awards 1953-2000, by Jo Walton
The Mexicanx Initiative Experience at Worldcon 76 by Julia Rios, Libia Brenda, Pablo Defendini, and John Picacio
Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing by Ursula K. Le Guin with David Naimon
The other 5 are all “books about science fiction fandom,” loosely. (Okay, one is a documentary about a particular SF fandom.) And while nobody thinks The Hobbit Duology is a nomination for Tolkien himself, there’s also an understanding that if Tolkien weren’t wildly influential, with content worth talking about, it wouldn’t have been nominated.
Look at that author list. Not the ones who are nominated - the ones they’re writing about.
AO3 fanworks - our A/B/O slash, our mpreg vids, our Homestuck tentabulge fanart, our 20,000 word meta rants - are being placed on a platform right next to the works of Tolkien, Campbell, Heinlein, Asimov, Hubbard, LeGuin, and the Hugos themselves, as the raw content that can inspire award-worthy analysis and exposition.
Only in this case, the “analysis and exposition” is the archive of works itself. There is no book explaining why these works are important. There is no description of the history and impact of these works. There is no collection of essays about the influence and scope of these works, nor comparisons of these works to other works, nor consideration of the nuances of meanings hidden under the surface.
The archive is not being nominated for its mere infrastructure and codebase. Nobody voted for the github account. AO3 is nominated because it houses a vast number of works, amazing diverse approaches, so much joy and so many shared feelings.
The nomination belongs to the design team and the board of directors, but there’s plenty of credit due to others: The tag wranglers who make all those connections so you can search for the nickname you know, and still find fic if it’s written with the character’s legal name. The abuse team that keeps the site from being overrun with spambots. The legal team who fought Congress several times for our right to make K/S vids. The donors who paid for the servers, and continue to pay for operating costs. And the content creators, who keep the archive active and growing, so that the amazing infrastructure has something to show off.
OTW is a by-fans-for-fans organization. AO3 is not an archive by “them” for “us.” It’s OUR archive, and if it’s up for an award, all of us who participate have a hand in why it’s there.
Everyone who posts, comments, kudoses, or bookmarks at the archive has influenced how it’s shaped and what it will be in the future. This nomination is, in part, because of your actions.
When an author wins an award, there’s no extra trophy for the publisher, the editor, the cover artist, or the proofreader - but we know that they, too, played a part. If you’ve participated in AO3, you’re not “nominated,” but you brought some of the effort that made the nomination happen.
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