Fandom Panels Across The Years
Mediawest is a 30+ year fan run media convention held in Michigan each year. They offer hundreds of panels. Here is a cross-section of the panels across the years (links go to Fanlore, the fan-run fandom wiki):
1981:
Feminism on Ice: Fannish Fems
Legal Aspects of Fanlit
Cycles in Treklit
Star Wars as Literature
Fan Wars or the ST-SW ‘Feud’ (that’s Star Trek vs Star Wars)
1982:
Darkover Easey
Courtesy in LoCs
Mundane Rights and Legalities
Mixing Fandoms: Is One Enough? Are Eight Too Many?
1983:
Women’s Roles in SF/Media – in Print and Screen
Fen Vs. Fans: the Important Difference
Japanimation
The Perfect Man for a Fannish Woman
Real Fen Don’t Eat Quiche – The Rebuttal
Going Pro in Medialand
1984:
“Fen vs. Mundanes
In Defense of the Star Trek Welcommittee (Is it Obsolete?)
1985:
More than Mary-Sue: Alter Egos and What You Can Do with Them
Uses and Problems of Personal Computers in Fandom
Fans and Lucasfilm – The Sometimes Beneficial, Sometimes Adversarial Relationship
Where are the Men in Media Fandom, & A Male of View of Women in SF Films & TV
1987:
Simon and Simon: More than Brothers?
Star Wars Fandom: Alive and Well if you Know Where to Find It
Ancient Trekkers: Tales of the Good Old Days
Star Trek: Is Trek Fandom Stagnant?
Media Fandom: Running on Mutual Trust
1989:
Fandom is Just a Goddamn Hobby, So Let’s Stop Playing Power Games and Have Fun Again
Letterzines: An Endangered Species?
Slash Fanfic – Sex Versus Characterization
1994:
Computers: Cyberspace and the information super highway. Discussion group.
Fandom: Is it still the safe haven it was originally meant to be?
Photography: TV photos, or how can the right camera setting give you photos of your favorite fandom?
Computers: Will the wide spread use of computer networks have an adverse effect on fandom?
Music videos: Is there more to making a video than putting music over video clips?
GEnie online services: A map to the information super highway. A one hour demo will follow in the Party Suite.
Stereotypes: Does using menacing minorities and other stereotypes continue to fuel ignorance and racism?
Smut: Is heterosex in fanfic an endangered species?
1995:
Whatever happened to IDIC: politics in fandom.
Computers: Fandom on the Internet
1996:
Fandom on the Web: how to set up your own home page.
The Internet: Is it fracturing fandom into two groups: those "with” and those “without”?
Who died and left you in charge?: Why doesn’t fandom seem to be the nurturing environment it was intended to be?
The Internet: Will discussion with production personnel help or hinder fandom?
Ten years from now will there still be such a thing as face-to-face fandom, or will everything be done electronically?
Star Wars: Do we really need to see the first trilogy?
Great babes of the galaxy: Women in sci-fi and fantasy.
Fans in therapy: Can a therapist grasp and appreciate fan activity/creativity?
1997:
Why do we fear alien invasion? Discussion group.
The new Star Wars trilogy: Making a good thing better, or tampering with a classic?
Lesbian slash: Is there room for letting the girls have some fun too?
Is fandom a close knit community, or just another hobby?
1998:
Academic Lurkers: Is anyone else getting tired of having to curb their tongue for fear of what these researchers are going to write about us?
Fandom and the Internet: Making this new influence add to fandom instead of undermining it.
Generational differences: Young fen like the 'Net, while older fen prefer print. Is there a way to bring them together?
The allure of The Weather Channel.
Bonkers for honkers: Men with big noses and the women who love them.
Getting Started on the Internet: Tips for Mac and Wintel users.
1999:
Airwolf: Is there any way to bring this show back?
Printed vs. Computer Story Controversy: What is fair to both sides - to authors and editors.
When Fans Attack: On (internet) discussion lists, why do fans flame rather than use the delete key?
Media Fandom: What happened to the good ole" days? Is fandom changing too much?
2000:
Curling Up with a Good Computer: Given the proliferation of on-line material, is printed matter becoming a vanishing breed?
Internet: Isn’t this supposed to be fun? - Keeping personality clashes from destroying a fannish list
Internet: negativity — Is there an online epidemic?
Mailing Lists - Conventions all year 'round?
2001:
Star Wars: Is slash taking the fandom into new directions, or the same old arguments?
George Lucas: Do we really know George Lucas? Did we ever?
Online fans vs. the old guard- a different crowd?
What do you mean isolating? The Internet as a way of bringing people together.
Are Zines dying?: The Net as behemoth competition.
What causes “live and let live” fandoms to suddenly break into open warfare?
The Joy of Smarm: Rediscovering the value of friendship
“The Studio Will Sue You For That”: Can they make fandom illegal?
2002:
Researching On The Net - How do you know the information you’re getting is correct, and how do you know what sites are helpful?
Lesbian Slash: State of the sub-genre.
Lord of the Rings: Are fans willing to read fanfiction from a movie based on a set of books?
Fanfic Story Warnings: Who has the responsibility for choosing and not choosing what people read?
The Elders Speak: What writing and fandom was like in the Good Old Days before the 'net, before desktop publishing, even before (gasp) VCRs.
Future of Fandom: What will publicity in the mainstream media mean for the future.
2004:
Fanfic: Respect for Characters, Respect for Fans. Allowing space for different interpretations of a character versus expecting fan writers to respect established interpretations
Academics and the Fan: Academics analyze fans in books, students subbing to lists to observe us for class papers… how do you feel about being studied and do you look at their reports?
LiveJournals and Blogs: What changes have LJ and blogs - good and bad - brought to fandom?
2005:
Is IDIC dead: has fandom become more mean-spirited, ungenerous and selfish?
LiveJournal: Does it promote a multi-fandom fannish culture?
Where Have All The Gen Fans Gone? Is fandom really slashier now, or does it just seem that way?
I Can’t Wait!: Downloading episodes off the net. Is it copyright infringement or your right?
2006:
Our husband and those (provocative?) posters of your favorite male star: Can they live together in peace?
Fanfic and the Internet: Just because we publish on the web, does it mean we don’t have any standards?
Star Wars: Padme, Shmi and Leia: Womanhood, Sexuality and Feminism in Star Wars –do the new films represent female victimization? Is the original trilogy more feminist?
2007:
Fandom drama: How to survive when fandom politics chew you up and spit you out.
The Change From Analog to Digital TV or It’s February 17, 2009, Why doesn’t my TV work?
Easy Access to TPTB in the internet age: Is it helping or hurting our shows?
2008:
Femslash: Why so scarce? Where is the girl love? Where is the fic?
Organization for Transformative Works: Ready or Not, Here It Comes, and It Could Affect Your Fandom
Were the Good Old Days Really Good - or just new at the time?
Fandom: Love the show, but can’t stand the fandom? What do do?
Zines on Ebay: Is it 'okay’ in the fandom world to resell your zine collection online?’
LiveJournal: What’s the advantage/draw of a LiveJournal over a personal webpage?
2010:
Actor-Fan Inter-action on Twitter & Elsewhere: A blessing, or a curse?
Can we be feminists and still watch various series without contradiction of our values?
Disappearing Fanfic: GeoCities is gone, authors leave fandom and their sites/stories disappear and the Wayback Machine doesn’t always work. Is it time to start saving stories as soon as you read them if you ever want to read them again?
Fandom and Age: How we 'fanosaures’ feel about all the young whippersnappers sniffing around our stash?
VHS to DVD or Better: Share your experience with converting your bulky VI IS tapes to a more compact storage medium.