How to Nominate for Kaleidoscope & Other Information about the Nominations Process

[dark_administrator]

Nominations

For nominations:

• Each participant may nominate up to five (5) fandoms and from each fandom, up to 10 characters or persons;
  
• The fandom must be from a source that a) contains chromatic characters or people and b) is produced by chromatic creators;
  
• The fandom must also meet our rarity policy of: a) less than 1,500 English-language stories on major multifandom archives, b) less than 15,000 artworks, 100 podfics and 350 vids (in any languages) on major multifandom archives, c) no dedicated fandom-specific challenge that has run annually for more than two years in a row, and d) no dedicated fandom-specific archive or community that has more than 1,500 fanworks;
  
• The characters or persons nominated must also identify or be coded, in cases of fictional characters, as a chromatic character or person.

Nominations this year will start 2012 August 9 around 9:00 P.M. PDT (U.S.A.) and will be held on Archive of Our Own (AO3) using its tags set feature. As a result, participants will need an account on AO3.

If you don't have an AO3 account at AO3 and would like to participate in Kaleidoscope, please leave your email address on our Archive of Our Own Invite List for Kaleidoscope form. We'll try our best to ensure that you'll receive an invitation for the challenge or offer alternatives to participating, e.g. dark_agenda acting as a proxy for participants.

How to submit nominations for Kaleidoscope

1. Navigate directly to Tag Nominations for Kaleidoscope 2012, or go to Kaleidoscope 2012 Nominations main page and click on Nominate button.
   
   
2. Scroll down Tag Nominations.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Next to Fandom 1, there is a free-text field. To nominate a fandom, enter the full name of the fandom in that Fandom 1 free-text field using the following tagging convention where applicable: Romanised Title | Title in Original Source Language | English Title. Please include diacritic in the title and incorporate some of AO3 's tags wrangling practices as necessary:
   
   
   • for movies, please include the original year they were released, e.g. Kahaani | कहानी | Story (2012), Sunny | 써니 (2011), Yáng Mén Nǚ Jiàng Zhī Jūn Lìng Rú Shān | 楊門女將之軍令如山 | Legendary Amazons (2011);
     
   • for books and literature, please follow the format of Title - Creator when the creator is known, e.g. Dreamblood Dualogy - N.K. Jemisin, Throne of the Crescent Moon - Saladin Ahmed, Kāmasūtra | कामसूत्र - Vātsyāyana | वात्स्यायन;
     
   • for stage productions in the Theater category, including musicals, plays, opera, and ballet, please follow the format of Title - Creator Surname where the creator is the playwright, composer, lyricist, or librettist of the work, e.g. Nuestras Vidas Privadas | Our Private Life - Rozo, Treemonisha - Joplin. Multiple creators may be separated by a backslash, e.g. A Chorus Line - Hamlisch/Klebin/Kirkwood/Dante;
     
   • if differentiation needs to be made on the year, type of media and/or country of origin in which the source is made, please note the year, media and/or country in parenthesis, e.g. Iron Chef (Việt Nam), Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi | 世界一初恋 | World's Greatest First Love (Anime), Xī Yóu Jì | 西遊記 | Journey to the West (TV 2011).
   
   When entering the name of creators, we ask that participants consider and respect the naming conventions of the culture in which the creators identified. In addition, the Tag Nominations has an auto-complete function that will list AO3 canonical (the top-level) fandom tags; however, in most cases, we ask that participants do not choose these canonical tags, but follow the above outlined tagging conventions and manually type out the fandom name when possible.
   
   
4. Under Fandom 1, there are 10 Character free-text fields. To nominate a character or person, enter the full name of the character or person in one of those fields using the following tagging convention when possible: Romanised Name | Name in Original Source Language. Please include diacritic in the character or person's names as well; additionally, we ask that when nominating characters or people, participants will consider and respect the naming conventions of the culture to which the source belongs. Examples include: Hine-nui-te-pô, Azam Ali | اعظم علی‎, Yè Shīwén | 叶诗文.
   
   Again, the Tag Nominations has an auto-complete function that will list AO3 canonical (the top-level) characters and people tags; however, in most cases, we ask that participants do not choose these canonical tags, but follow the above outlined tagging conventions and manually type out the fandom name when possible. Continue populating those fields with more characters or people nominations, or leave the fields blank if no more characters or people are being nominated.
   
   
5. Repeat above two steps for Fandom 2-Fandom 5; otherwise, leave fields blank.
   
   
6. When nominations are completed, click Submit at the bottom of the page. A confirmation page with a list of nominations made should load when submission is accepted.

Once nominations have been made, we, moderators of dark_agenda, will review the nominations and, if necessary, edit the name of fandoms, characters and people that have been nominated to ensure that the nominations list is consistent and has followed our tagging conventions.

To note, we understand that there are different practices of romanization and that there is no one way to transliterate and translate. In general, we will defer to the nominator regarding the choice of which romanization or translation practice to use. However, we encourage participants to prioritize romanization practices that are developed by the source cultures and/or closely preserve the source language.

By default, we will approve most nominations and delete any nominations that are disqualified during the disputes process held after the Nominations Period has closed. However, we reserve our moderation rights to reject nominations that we know unreservedly do not qualify for our challenge at our discretion. Whether a nomination has been rejected by the moderators or during the disputes process, we will publish a list of ineligible nominations with the reason for its ineligibility at the end of Disputes Period.

In addition, AO3 is experiencing some server issues regarding performance and slowness so there may be delays in processing nominations.

How to review and edit nominations for Kaleidoscope

Once nominations are submitted, they can be reviewed by:

1. Navigate to Kaleidoscope 2012 Nominations.
   
   
2. Click on Your Nominations located in the first row of buttons on the top-right corner. The Your Nominations page will list all the nominations placed and next to each nominated tag (e.g. fandom or character or person name), a status will be displayed:
   
   
   
   
   
   • A green question mark with an exclamation mark (?!) surrounded by an oval indicated that the tag has not been reviewed by the moderators.
     
   • A green X mark surrounded by an oval indicated that the tag has been reviewed and rejected as a nomination by the moderators.
     
   • A green check mark (✓) surrounded by an oval indicated that the tag has been reviewed and approved as a nomination by the moderators.
   Any nominated tags that have not been reviewed by the moderators (?! tags) can be edited and/or deleted. However, nominated tags that have been approved or rejected by the moderators (✓ or X tags) can not be edited or deleted.
   
   
3. To edit nominations, click on Edit button located in the first row of buttons on the top-right corner on Your Nominations page. Each nominated tag will have a similar status indicator to those shown on Your Nominations page:
   
   
   
   
   
   • A green X mark surrounded by an oval indicated that the tag has been reviewed and rejected as a nomination by the moderators; as a result, it can no longer be edited or deleted;
     
   • A green check mark (✓) surrounded by an oval indicated that the tag has been reviewed and approved as a nomination by the moderators; as a result, it can no longer be edited;
     
   • A red X mark surrounded by an oval indicated that the tag has not been reviewed by the moderators; as a result, it can be edited and/or deleted: a) clicking on the X mark will delete the nomination and b) double-click on the tag will turn it into an editable field;
     
   • A blank field means that more nominations can be added if desired.
   
   
4. To delete entire nominations, click on Delete button located in the first row of buttons on the top-right corner on Your Nominations page.

How to navigate the nominations list for Kaleidoscope

• Navigating to Kaleidoscope 2012 Nominations main page, the tag sets (nominations list) will organize fandoms by AO3 main media categories:
  
  
  • Anime & Manga
    
  • Books & Literature
    
  • Cartoons & Comics & Graphic Novels
    
  • Celebrities & Real People
    
  • Movies
    
  • Music & Bands
    
  • Other Media
    
  • Theater
    
  • TV Shows
    
  • Video Games
    
  • Uncategorized Fandoms
  
  Fandoms listed under Uncategorized Fandoms are tags that have not been assigned a media category by an official AO3 tag wrangler (a volunteer who organize and manage tags on AO3).
  
  Our moderation team has members that are also AO3 tag wranglers and we'll try our best to wrangle each uncategorized fandom to a media category. However, again, AO3 is experiencing some server issues regarding performance and slowness so there may be delays in processing tag wrangling.
  
  Note that nominated fandoms, characters and people will only appear on the tags set once they have been approved.
  
  
• By default, each category, e.g. Anime & Manga, Fandom X, will be under collapse format.
  
  
  
  
  To expand each category, click on the upwards arrow button (↑) next to the category. Similarly, click on Expand All button will expand the category and all subcategories (e.g. Fandom X, Fandom Y) under the top-level category (e.g. Books & Literature).
  
  
• To contact each category, click on the downwards arrow button (↓). Similarly, click on Contract All button will collapse the category and all subcategories (e.g. Fandom X, Fandom Y) under the top-level category (e.g. Books & Literature).
  
  
• But default, top-level and subcategories are organized alphabetically. However, if a category has a leftwards arrow over rightwards arrow button (⇆), clicking it will shuffle the subcategories underneath it.

Happy nominating, doers of darkness!

If you have any questions or encounter any trouble while submitting, editing or otherwise navigating your nominations or the main nominations list, please leave a comment at this post, email us at darkadmn AT gmail DOT com or PM darkadmn/dark_administrator.

This entry is posted at Dreamwidth and LiveJournal, as well as linked on Tumblr, and you may comment at any platform.

Comments

[talibusorabat]

I'm not seeing any free text fields on the nomination page (what I'm seeing). Is this an AO3 issue?

[troisroyaumes]

Nominations won't open until 9 PM Pacific Time. We will post an announcement when the nominations period begins! We just wanted to get this tutorial up in advance so that people could have an idea of what the nominations process will entail.

[talibusorabat]

DURR. /slaps self Okay, thanks! :D

[evewithanapple]

Question: for "identify or coded as chromatic" would it count if the character was nonwhite but didn't discover it until later in life?

[wistfuljane]

Yes, it counts.

[paxpinnae]

Are sources with chromatic characters but uncertain creators allowed? I'm thinking here of this Nike commercial, which definitely has chromatic characters, but which may or may not have had chromatic input in the development team.

[troisroyaumes]

Due to the nature of the challenge, we will only approve fandoms that definitely have at least one chromatic creator. In the case of the commercial, it looks like the director is not chromatic. However, if you get any information about chromatic creators on the development team, we would accept that nomination.

[lirazel]

I'm nominating several Korean television dramas, and while I'm not having any trouble finding the Hangul and Romanization names of the titles, I am having trouble finding the Hangul of the character names. As I don't speak any Korean at all, nor do I read Hangul, I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out how I should fill out the character names for the nominations. Do you have any tips for me on how to do so?

[troisroyaumes]

It's fine to fill out nominations with only the romanized names if that's the only information you have access to. The mod team will look up the rest.

[lirazel]

Okay, thank you very much, that's very helpful!

[allchildren]

Can I possibly submit an appeal to the judgment (which I saw... elsewhere...) that for NK Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy, Shahar Arameri is ineligible? The books are quite clear that she is able to pass for white, but equally clear that her twin brother cannot and that they share a chromatic grandparent. If this has already been considered and rejected, I understand, but I wanted to clarify.

[wistfuljane]

Yes, of course, appeals & re-appeals of past & current disqualifications are welcome!

*below are possible spoilers for those who haven't finished the series*

In this particular case, I don't believe Shahar Arameri is nominated yet, but last year's List of Ineligible Characters & Fandoms was made before the Kingdom of Gods was released -- or around that time -- and it was assumed that the Dekarta Arameri and Shahar Arameri who were nominated were the characters in Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and/or original rulers of Arameri and, thus, white, I believe.

However, if Dekarta Arameri and Shahar Arameri were nominated this year, they would definitely qualify under the assumption that these nominations refer to characters in Kingdom of Gods and the author of the trilogy were explicit about them being chromatic.

[allchildren]

Wonderful! I'm glad I asked, in that case. :D

While I'm asking things, is it possible to pre-vet a fandom? Specifically, Princess Tutu. I said I'd nominate it and then realized that although it is a Japanese anime, it appears to be set in some version of Germany, and gives no particular markers of chromatic-ness for its cast.

[wistfuljane]

The general consensus of our moderator team is that Princess Tutu would not qualify as the characters were coded as (white) European.

[allchildren]

Thanks, I thought so.

I've just submitted my nominations - FYI, Idris Elba is an associate producer on Luther. :D

[wistfuljane]

Unfortunately, for TV Shows, our general policy regarding creator criterion is based on the person who is credited as having created the show which, sadly, is Neil Cross in this case. I don't think Luther would qualify for the challenge, sorry. :(

Thank you, though, for participating and nominating! Do you want to use that spot to nominate something else?

[gloss]

Hi! I nominated two Inuit prints which, not surprisingly, were not in the AO3. I specified "print" and formatted the tags as I've seen other artworks done (title - artist name), but I thought you might want some additional information, especially since I'm never sure how to nominate "characters" in visual media.

So, here are the works in question, in case that helps:
Synchronized Sednas
Sentinal [sic]

Would it be appropriate for me to add these to the First Nations promo post? Inuit are not legally First Nations, but I assume you're using FN broadly to mean indigenous peoples?

Anyway, thank you for all your hard work.

[wistfuljane]

Yes, we were using First Nations to broadly include to Aboriginal, First Nation and Indigenous people and you're welcome to add these to the promo post. :)

Thank you for the links and for participating and nominating! We've added those links to the Kaleidoscope 2012 Nominations spreadsheet as well for any random passersby who might be interested.