dark_agenda | Kaleidoscope Fanwork Exchange's Official Announcement, Policies and Procedures

Hello and welcome to

dark_agenda's Kaleidoscope, a multimedia fanwork exchange for rare chromatic source fandoms.

For this current challenge, we are defining chromatic sources to be sources with chromatic characters or people and by chromatic creators. We use the term "chromatic" as an umbrella definition for "person of color", "non-white", "multiracial", "indigenous", "sourcelander", "hyphenate", "diasporian", etc.; while we acknowledge that it has shortcomings. Similarly, we accept that there is a certain flattening in our "white/Western/other" terminology.

Kaleidoscope is open to all sources with chromatic characters or people and by chromatic creators, from animations to books & literature to folklore & mythology to movies to music to real people to sequential art to theater to TV shows to video games and including anime/manga/manhua/manhwa, Bollywood, C-Pop/K-Pop/J-Pop, fantaserye/telefantasya, komiks, lakorns, Nollywood, telenovela, tokusatsu and wuxia to name a few commonly known and region-specific genre terms. We welcome artworks, graphics, stories, vids and potentially other types of fanworks in English, in non-English languages or in both, particularly in English dialects and non-English languages associated with chromatic cultures.

We consider a fandom to be rare if it meets the following criteria:

less than 1,500 English-language stories, 15,000 artworks and 350 vids (in any languages) on major multifandom archives;
no dedicated fandom-specific challenge that has run annually for more than two years in a row;
and no dedicated fandom-specific archive or community that has more than 1,500 fanworks.

Our proposed schedule is:

Preparations & promotions: June 11th - September 3rd
Nominations period: August 21st - September 3rd
Dispute period: September 4th - 10th
Sign-ups: September 25th - October 8th
Assignments period: October 9th - November 12th
Kaleidoscope treats: November 12th - 19th
Reveal period: November 19th - 26th

Much of our format and policies are heavily influenced by other exchange challenges, including

festivids,

white_lotus and

yuletide, and some of our policies are directly lifted from these challenges' own guidelines.

Preparations & promotions: 2011 June 11th to September 3rd, Pacific Time (U.S.A.).

To increase participation and representation, we've been hosting a fest where we invite everyone to promote rare chromatic sources by making posts such as primers, picspams, manifestos, meta, resource lists, etc. Starting with an informal sign-up and extending to weekly discussions with a focus on intersectionality and international representation, we're hosting:
And hope to continue with more posts where we specifically invite people to, for example, promote qualified fandoms involving chromatic characters with other mis- and underrepresented identities or qualified sources from mis- and underrepresented regions.

We would also like to use this time to organize and solicit your help in actively promoting our challenge and increasing its visibility in various existing and emerging fannish communities of which you may be part as well as fielding and resolving any questions and concerns that may arise.

To that end, we're also hosting a small graphics challenge to generate banners and icons for us and other fans to use in promoting and discussing the challenge. We've also set up a tumblr at dark-agenda to showcase graphic submissions we've received. If you're a graphic artist, we would love your submissions and help!

Nominations period: 2011 August 21st to September 3rd, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.).

For nominations, each participant may nominate up to three (3) fandoms and from each fandom, up to 10 characters or persons to be included in a list of official Kaleidoscope fandoms, characters and people that participants may offer/request using our nomination form.

The fandom must be from a source that a) contains chromatic characters or people, b) is produced by chromatic creators and c) meets our rarity policy. The characters or persons nominated must, obviously, also identify or be coded, in cases of fictional characters, as a character or person of color, multiracial, non-white, etc.

In addition, though you do not have to commit to participating Kaleidoscope in order to nominate, we ask -- because of the scope of our challenge -- that you nominate only if you're contemplating signing up to avoid an unwieldy list of fandoms, characters and people.

Dispute period: 2011 September 4th to 10th, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.).

After nominations we will generate a list of potential Kaleidoscope fandoms, characters and people. From the list, people may dispute whether a fandom nominated for Kaleidoscope should be included in the challenge based on the criteria for rarity, and/or other criteria (i.e. fandom source was not produced by chromatic creators or does not contain chromatic characters or people), using our nominations dispute form. For issues concerning rarity, verifiable evidence must be cited (e.g. links to Anime Music Videos .Org, AsianFanfics, deviantArt, FanFiction.Net, pixiv, YouTube, etc. searches and so on).

Additionally, people may also use this form to dispute a nominated character or person's inclusion in Kaleidoscope because the character or person is not chromatic, e.g. they do not identify -- or in the case of fictional characters, are not coded -- as a character or person of color, multiracial, non-white, etc.

Furthermore, we'll be opening the list for corrections, e.g. misspelled titles or names, duplicated fandoms, characters or persons, etc. The final list of nominated fandoms and characters will be based on this dispute and correction process and if the situation requires, we will exercise our own discretion regarding the final list.

Sign-ups: 2011 September 25th to October 8th, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.).

Sign-ups will be done through our sign-up form. Each participant must request three (3) distinct fandoms from the final list of nominated fandoms and specify whether they would like to receive artworks, graphics, stories, vids or some combination of. Each participant must offer at least three (3) distinct fandoms from the final list of nominated fandoms, but they may offer more -- as many as they are comfortable with -- and they must specify whether they are offering to create artworks, graphics, stories, vids or some combination thereof. We provide a tutorial for using our sign-up form here.

Each participant will be matched to a recipient who has requested at least one (1) fandom and one (1) fanwork type that they, the participant, have offered. The participant may choose any of the recipient's three (3) fandom requests to produce a fanwork for the recipient. The fanwork, however, must be one of the media (i.e. artwork, graphics, stories or vids) that the recipient requested and be centered around at least one (1) chromatic character or person.
- Archive of Our Own: Since all fanworks will be submitted through AO3, participants will need an AO3 account to sign-up and further participate in Kaleidoscope. We apologize for the inconvenience that this causes, but AO3 allows us to easily manage submissions, and for a challenge of our scope, this was an important factor for us to consider. We thank you for your patience regarding this matter.
  
  Anyone may request an AO3 invite here, and participants who need an AO3 invite code may leave their contact information in our invite list. We'll make sure you'll have one in time for sign-ups.
- Requests: For each fandom requested, there will be sections where participants may add optional metadata and other details such as specific character requests, fanwork preferences or other prompts to act as a starting point for their assigned participants. Or they may, for example, use this opportunity to indicate their preference with fanworks containing non-English languages or codeswitching.
  
  Many exchange participants find this information helpful when brainstorming for ideas on what to create for their recipient as well as what to avoid. However, this information is completely optional for both parties to fill or fulfill. The assigned participant is not obligated to follow any of the requests, suggestions, etc. noted in their recipient's metadata and other details -- only on fandoms requested.
  
  The optional other details section will be in free-text and when writing it, please consider your possible audience which is very diverse. Listing preferences are fine, e.g. "I prefer gen to [het, femslash/slash/yaoi/yuri/etc. or poly] fanworks", "I identify with my characters more if they are coded as androgynous or if their gender identity is flexible or neutral", "I don't like character x or pairing y much", "I'd prefer not reading about kink z", etc. However, language that shames or bashes someone's fanwork preferences, e.g. "[het/femslash/slash/yaoi/yuri/poly/etc.] fanworks are gross", "anyone who creates or consumes fanworks about character x or pairing y is wrong", "I don't know who would like kink z, it's disgusting", etc., or that Others someone's identit(ies), e.g. "Asian people are so androgynous!", etc., is unacceptable.
  
  dark_agenda was founded to provide a place where fans, especially chromatic fans, can and are encouraged to critically produce, consume and discuss fanworks centered around chromatic cultures and characters so the last advice is doubly important. Please assume your assigned participant, recipient, and audience will be or include (other) chromatic fans -- with many other identities besides.
- Dear Doers of Darkness letters: "Dear doers of darkness" letters are like an extension of the optional details section, but posted to the participants' own journaling account. Many exchange participants like to record and share what they requested and a "Dear doers of darkness" letter is one method to do so. The letter also allows participants to further expand on their requests and to offer their assigned person more information, such as how to find resources on the fandoms they requested. Keep in mind that access and affordability of particular source materials vary from region to region and household to household.
  
  A "Dear doers of darkness" letter is entirely optional for both parties: participants do not have to make a "Dear doers of darkness" letter, they may make one before sign-ups and include a link to it in the sign-up form, or they may make one after sign-ups end and assignments are sent; and their assigned person does not have to follow anything noted in the letter beyond the officially requested fandoms.
  
  We'll make an official "Dear doers of darkness" post to the community soon after assignments go out, where participants may comment with a link to their letter so there will be a central place to search for these letters.
Any participants who need more information on their assigned recipient and/or their requests may contact us at darkadmn AT gmail DOT com and we'll act as an intermediary for you.

Assignment period: 2011 October 9th to November 12th, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.).

Assignments will be sent as soon as it is feasible after the sign-ups period ends. Participants will be matched to a recipient who has requested at least one (1) fandom and one (1) fanwork type (artworks, graphics, stories or vids) that they, the participants, have offered. Please let us know if there was an error in the above matching once you receive your assignment!

Assignments will be due on 2011 November 12th, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.). The last day to default without penalty is 2011 October 29 for assignments that only include artwork, graphic and vid requests, and November 5th, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.) for assignments that include story requests.
- Fanwork requirements: Fanworks must be a) from one of the three fandoms and b) in one of the media, i.e. artworks, graphics, stories or vids, that your assigned recipient requested as well as c) be centered around at least one (1) chromatic character or person.
  
  It must be d) a minimum of:
  - 1,000 words for stories
  - 1:00 minute for vids
  - 30 images for picspams
  - 20 icons, 5 banners or other equivalently sized graphics for web graphics
  - completed pieces (e.g. not initial brainstorming or preliminary sketches) for artworks and digital collage, photo manipulation and user-interface graphics
- Beta-ing: We believe in the importance of responsibly portraying chromatic characters and cultures and so we encourage participants to seek not only a fandom and/or writing beta for their fanwork, but also a cultural one. To that end, we will make a beta resource post similar to those we made for other challenges to help participants find a beta that fits their needs and where anyone may offer their beta services for a particular fandom or culture, ethnicity, language, religion or other identity.
  
  Along with a beta resources post, there is also Chromatic Beta, a mailing list centered around chromatic sources where anyone can offer or request beta services for a particular fandom or culture, ethnicity, language, religion or other identity. The mailing list is not specific to Kaleidoscope, but hopefully, it will allow participants more options in finding a beta while maintaining anonymity.
- Check-ins: Participants will have a little more than one month to work on their assignment. We'll be doing periodic, but informal check of everyone's status as the submission deadline approaches. These informal check-ins will probably be in the form of reminder posts in combination with hosted Kaleidoscope chats, where anyone can join and chat with other fans about the challenge or whatever, and cheerleading posts where anyone can comment and cheer on Kaleidoscope participants.
- Defaulting: Participants who signed-up for Kaleidoscope but are later unable to complete their assignment for any reason may default -- or drop out -- from the challenge here.
  
  If you've decided to drop out from the challenge, please, please use this method to let us know -- no reasons need to be given -- so we can find a pinch-hitter for your recipient as quickly as possible and make sure they receive a fanwork by go-live. No penalty will be incurred through this method if for artworks, graphics and vids, it is done by 2011 October 29, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.). For stories, it must be done by 2011 November 5, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.). That is, if your recipient only requested artworks, graphics and/or vids, you must default by October 29 to avoid any possible penalties. If your recipient's requests included stories, then you'll have up to November 5th to default without penalty.
  
  After October 29 or November 5, we'll probably ask participants to complete their assignment before any future Kaleidoscope challenges we may hold if they're interested in participating again. However, any participants who dropped out without letting us know through this defaulting method may be banned from future challenges.
- Submissions: Fanworks must be submitted to Kaleidoscope's AO3 collection by 2011 November 12, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.).
  
  AO3 has written a tutorial for posting stories to a challenge here.
  
  For artworks, graphics and vids:
  - Hosting: AO3 does not currently support image or video hosting, but they do support image and video embedding. Thus, participants have a choice of either creating a fake unidentifiable account (for videos, AO3 currently supports 4shared, blip.tv, Dailymotion, Metacafe, Viddler, vimeo and YouTube) for uploading and posting their fanwork to Kaleidoscope's AO3 collection or using a Photobucket or YouTube account we've set up for Kaleidoscope and whose access information will be emailed to all participants.
    
    Please create an unsigned anonymous version -- or one with a Kaleidoscope watermark -- of your artwork, graphic or vid to be posted for go-live up to reveal. After creators are revealed, you may then replace the unsigned or Kaleidoscope watermark version with a signed one if desire.
  - Content notes: Because artworks, graphics and vids are not yet structurally supported on AO3, there is really no standard content notes or warning system for artworks, graphics and vids in place. Therefore, we ask participants to provide some content notes for their fanwork.
    
    In the case of vids, please provide one or more of the following content notes in combination with AO3's archive tags for:
    - Sexual violence
    - Physical triggers (e.g. effects that commonly trigger epilepsy or migraines such as strobe lights, bright lights, "stuttery" cuts between 2-3 stills, etc.)
    Along with other notes you think would apply or like to indicate, e.g. suicide, self-harm, etc. If none of these content notes apply, either select AO3's "none of these warnings apply" archive tag (but only if there's no graphic depictions of violence, major character death, rape/non-con or underage) or indicate that "no Kaleidoscope standardized notes apply".
    
    Similarly, if you prefer not to give content notes, please select AO3's "choose not to use archive warnings" archive tag.
  - Permissions: fanworks, in essence, are about (re)working source materials and sometimes these may include other fanworks, so we encourage participants to include a section in their submitted fanwork's notes indicating whether they give blanket or partial permission for others to remix, produce secondary fanworks (e.g. cover art, fanmixes, fanwork trailers, pre- and sequels, spin-offs, etc.), and/or record podfic for their Kaleidoscope submission or for their entire body of fanworks. If you wish, you can indicate what permissions you give or outline a detailed permission policy applying to the fanwork(s) you produce for Kaleidocope at our form here.
    
    We believe in efforts like chromatic_podfic and hope that encouraging participants to be explicit about their fanwork policy will promote more consumption and production of (existing) chromatic fanworks.
  - Captions: Visual and audio content, especially those hosted on the Internet, often presents an accessibility issue for a significant number of us, not just for those of us with visual and/or hearing impairments. For example, videos with English-language audio can pose a problem for some non-native English speakers and closed caption provides a helpful tool for them in processing what is being said.
    
    Thus, we ask participants to consider providing some type of captioning for their fanwork if possible. For artwork, it could be a brief description or a transcript like those shown in these two comics: An ordinary afternoon and within the walls.
    
    For vids, there are several tutorials on how to provide subtitles: How to add subtitles and translations to your vids and Tutorial: Subtitling vids for the WisCon Vid Party singalong show. YouTube offers several options for adding captions to videos and these captions can be turned on or off by individual watchers.
  As with sign-ups, we'll try to provide a Kaleidoscope-specific tutorial for uploading and posting fanworks to Kaleidoscope's AO3 collection.
- Pinch Hits: When a participant defaults, we'll need a volunteer to take over the defaulter's assignment and that's where pinch hitters step in. Pinch hits will go out as soon as we receive the first default notice via our mailing list, which anyone can join. You do not need to be signed up for Kaleidoscope yourself in order to pinch hit!
  
  Claims are first come first served -- the first person to respond to an email detailing a pinch hit will be assigned to it. The deadline for pinch hits sent out before the defaulting deadlines will remain November 12th, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.); however, the deadline for pinch hits sent out after the defaulting deadlines will be November 19th. In other words, for pinch hit assignments that include only artwork, graphic and/or vid requests sent before October 29th and assignments that include story requests sent before November 5th, the deadline will be November 12th. For pinch hit assignments that include only artwork, graphic and/or vid requests sent after October 29th and assignments that include story requests sent after November 5th, the deadline will be November 19th.
  
  There is no limitation to how many pinch hits one may claim, but keep in mind that the fanwork requirements are the same as the requirements for the initial assignments: a minimum of 1,000 words for stories, 1:00 minute for vids, completed pieces for artwork as well as digital collage, photo manipulation and user-interface graphics (e.g. not initial brainstorming or preliminary sketches), 30 images for picspams and 20 icons, 5 banners or other equivalently sized graphics for web graphics.

Kaleidoscope treats: 2011 November 12th to 19th, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.).

To ensure that all of our participants have at least one gift in the exchange, a list of Kaleidoscope prompts will be made available for treats on November 12th. Treats are "extra" fanworks (not a replacement for assigned fanworks) someone has decided to make based on a participant's requests as outlined in this list of prompts and/or in their Dear Doer of Darkness letter.

The list of prompts is free for any and multiple claims. There is no need to let us know that you are creating a treat -- we will set up a subcollection on AO3 and you can simply submit your fanworks there. There are no minimum fanwork requirements for treats, and you do not have to be signed up for Kaleidoscope to create treats. In fact, treats can be worked on as soon the first Dear Doer of Darkness letter is posted if there's a request that catches your eye.

In our announcement post for Kaleidoscope treats, as a thank you, we will also open comments for prompting from our non-participant pinch hitters and encourage everyone to check if they can possibly fill any of these requests as treats.

The deadline for Kaleidoscope treats will be 2011 November 19, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.). The treat subcollection will go live sometime after the regular collection.

Reveal period: 2011 November 19th to 26th, 9 p.m. Pacific Time (U.S.A.).

Fanworks for Kaleidoscope will go live anonymously sometime on 2011 November 19th depending on pinch hitting needs & submissions. Creators will be revealed on November 26th.
- Away Message: For participants who know that they will not be present around the period Kaleidoscope is going live, please consider making a post in your journaling account to let your assigned participant know that you may not be able to access your intended fanwork until a later date so they will not worry excessively.
- Feedback: Statistically and on average, fanworks for rare sources yield fewer comments and little visibility outside their own fandoms. In most cases you will receive love and enthusiasm from people for creating one of the few fanworks for their rare fandom or about their character, but please be aware that you might not receive the public response for which you're hoping.
  
  Keep in mind also that everyone interacts with fandom differently and direct interactions like commenting can be emotionally and mentally fraught for some of us to engage in frequently.
- Pre-reveal: We want to use the one week period between go-live and reveals as an opportunity to encourage reading, viewing and discussions of Kaleidoscope fanworks. To that end, we will make a recs and "guess the creator" post where everyone is encouraged to rec Kaleidoscope fanworks and guess who created which fanwork, respectively. In addition, we'll try to organize a central masterlist of all fanworks submitted for Kaleidoscope for easier reference.

Some final notes: although we want everyone to join our challenge, we understand that Kaleidoscope is not for everyone. There are many reasons why someone might be tentative about signing-up for Kaleidoscope, the most common one probably being the unpredictable nature of exchange challenges.

Signing up for an exchange challenge means being randomly assigned to create a fanwork for a possible stranger and receiving a fanwork from another possible stranger, both of whom might have preferences and point of views completely different from yours.

Then there are Kaleidoscope treats to consider. Because it is open to anyone for claiming, there is a chance that two or more persons will be working on a fanwork for the same recipient, possibly even the same request. Thus, please, please be sure you are completely okay with the unpredictable nature of exchange challenges and Kaleidoscope in particular before signing-up.

Having said all that, we do hope you will join us and have fun while doing so! We are so excited to be running Kaleidoscope!

Questions or concerns can be directed here, via PMs to

dark_administrator/

darkadmn, or to our e-mail: darkadmn AT gmail DOT com. Be sure also to read our Frequently Asked Questions for Kaleidoscope!

Your moderators,

dharmavati,

glass_icarus,

troisroyaumes and

wistfuljane

This entry is posted at Dreamwidth and LiveJournal and you may comment at either journaling platform.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hi, sorry for not updating this post or the collection, but our sign-up is here! We didn't want to delay our challenge further and went ahead and hosted the sign-up outside of AO3.

Thank you! That helps! (Pretty much everyone who is signalboosting on my flist links back to this page, and gives the AO3 link for signing up.)

Kaleidoscope Fanwork Exchange's Official Announcement, Policies and Procedures

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