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marchmetamatterschallenge2020-01-19 04:15 pm
yourlibrarian) wrote in marchmetamatterschallenge2020-01-19 04:15 pm
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Admin Post: What is the March Meta Matters Challenge?
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As sites hosting art, text, music, and more continue to either close up shop or change their Terms of Service, there have been various efforts to save content on what is often very short notice. It would be even better if fans gave our works this attention before a crisis hits.
While creators have often used multiple sites to host their works, one type of work has generally been left out of fans' efforts at archiving and preserving fanworks -- meta. In many cases, meta posts have not been copied anywhere else other than the location where they were first posted, leaving them particularly vulnerable to loss.
So what if we can make a small dent in getting it saved? The March Meta Matters Challenge is focused on not just new meta, but making sure older meta gets a chance to be read and remain a part of fandom history. While new meta is also encouraged, the priority for Meta Matters is to make sure meta doesn't vanish with sites or personal accounts when those get closed or moved.
That's also why the challenge will be using the SquidgeWorld Archive as a destination site. For people who want to find meta, the site is designed for searchability (unlike, say, most social media sites) as it uses the same site code as Archive of Our Own but has a much more inclusive policy when it comes to meta. You can also add content to AO3 itself, but given past experiences by other participants, some of that content may be at risk. (See our FAQ for more info).
This will be a month-long event and will function as follows:
1) Participants are encouraged to subscribe to this community and should create either an AO3 account or a Squidgeworld.org account (if they don't already have one).
It's preferable to do this before March 1 but anyone can take part anytime during the month.
If you do not have a Dreamwidth account and do not want to open one, please know that anonymous comments are enabled here so anyone can take part. Also if you are able to use RSS feeds, you can follow along via that account.
If you have an RSS feed reader use: https://marchmetamatterschallenge.dreamwidth.org/data/rss
At Tumblr use: https://marchmetamatters.tumblr.com/
If you would like a feed created for other locations, leave a comment on this post.
2) Participants should locate meta posts they've created.
For some people this may be a simple part of the task depending on how much meta they've written or how well organized their fannish accounts are. But for many of us, this part of the challenge may take the whole month as we review multiple or longstanding accounts for how many posts could be included. For those who'd like to make this their main project during the challenge, they can comment on their progress in finding such works on the check-in posts being made throughout the month.
No one is required to archive any set number of works during the challenge, and some people may prefer to jump right in and start transferring works as they find them. There is no wrong way to take part!
3) Starting March 1, the mods will create two posts each week of the challenge.
These posts will serve two purposes: reminders and prompts.
Participants are encouraged to comment about their progress in copying over meta posts to secondary accounts such as SquidgeWorld or AO3. To save time they can either link their account as a whole, (i.e. https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/works), or else they can link specific works newly available on other sites that they would like to promote.
We'll also be offering some prompts for new meta ideas and chances to promote your works!
4) Add your work to the Meta Matters Collections
This challenge has its own collection on AO3 and on SquidgeWorld. To document the new works that are added as part of Meta Matters, we'd like to have them included in one of these collections. This may help encourage additional participants during future years and it will also make it easier for people to find a large chunk of meta in one place. (For detailed information on posting meta at AO3/Squidgeworld, please see our FAQ).
5) Celebrate your achievement!
On April 1, the mods will make a final post to which all participants should comment with details of progress they've made during the challenge.
While creators have often used multiple sites to host their works, one type of work has generally been left out of fans' efforts at archiving and preserving fanworks -- meta. In many cases, meta posts have not been copied anywhere else other than the location where they were first posted, leaving them particularly vulnerable to loss.
So what if we can make a small dent in getting it saved? The March Meta Matters Challenge is focused on not just new meta, but making sure older meta gets a chance to be read and remain a part of fandom history. While new meta is also encouraged, the priority for Meta Matters is to make sure meta doesn't vanish with sites or personal accounts when those get closed or moved.
That's also why the challenge will be using the SquidgeWorld Archive as a destination site. For people who want to find meta, the site is designed for searchability (unlike, say, most social media sites) as it uses the same site code as Archive of Our Own but has a much more inclusive policy when it comes to meta. You can also add content to AO3 itself, but given past experiences by other participants, some of that content may be at risk. (See our FAQ for more info).
This will be a month-long event and will function as follows:
1) Participants are encouraged to subscribe to this community and should create either an AO3 account or a Squidgeworld.org account (if they don't already have one).
It's preferable to do this before March 1 but anyone can take part anytime during the month.
If you do not have a Dreamwidth account and do not want to open one, please know that anonymous comments are enabled here so anyone can take part. Also if you are able to use RSS feeds, you can follow along via that account.
If you have an RSS feed reader use: https://marchmetamatterschallenge.dreamwidth.org/data/rss
At Tumblr use: https://marchmetamatters.tumblr.com/
If you would like a feed created for other locations, leave a comment on this post.
2) Participants should locate meta posts they've created.
For some people this may be a simple part of the task depending on how much meta they've written or how well organized their fannish accounts are. But for many of us, this part of the challenge may take the whole month as we review multiple or longstanding accounts for how many posts could be included. For those who'd like to make this their main project during the challenge, they can comment on their progress in finding such works on the check-in posts being made throughout the month.
No one is required to archive any set number of works during the challenge, and some people may prefer to jump right in and start transferring works as they find them. There is no wrong way to take part!
3) Starting March 1, the mods will create two posts each week of the challenge.
These posts will serve two purposes: reminders and prompts.
Participants are encouraged to comment about their progress in copying over meta posts to secondary accounts such as SquidgeWorld or AO3. To save time they can either link their account as a whole, (i.e. https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourlibrarian/works), or else they can link specific works newly available on other sites that they would like to promote.
We'll also be offering some prompts for new meta ideas and chances to promote your works!
4) Add your work to the Meta Matters Collections
This challenge has its own collection on AO3 and on SquidgeWorld. To document the new works that are added as part of Meta Matters, we'd like to have them included in one of these collections. This may help encourage additional participants during future years and it will also make it easier for people to find a large chunk of meta in one place. (For detailed information on posting meta at AO3/Squidgeworld, please see our FAQ).
5) Celebrate your achievement!
On April 1, the mods will make a final post to which all participants should comment with details of progress they've made during the challenge.
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