Editing Filk music (section)

==Cultural perspective==
At a deep level, the folk culture of filk validates creative arts in the midst of an explicitly technological culture. When accepting induction into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2003, ethnomusicologist Sally Childs-Helton said, "We have taken our right to be creative and to literally 'play' in the best sense of that word." Filk combines folk roots, live music circles, and dominant acoustical instrumentation, on the one hand, with high-tech cultural maintenance, on the other hand—a dense network of filkers' web pages, recordings, sound reinforcement at filk conventions, e-mail lists, and so on. The eclectic content of filk frequently contains that assertion of human creativity, especially in connection with technology. (See for example [[Leslie Fish]]'s "[[Hope Eyrie]]".) While there are significant numbers of memorial songs,<ref name=Launius>{{cite book|last1=Launius|first1=Roger D.|title=55th International Astronautical Congress of the International Astronautical Federation, the International Academy of Astronautics, and the International Institute of Space Law|chapter=Got Filk? Lament for Apollo in Modern Sci-Fi Folk Music|chapter-url=http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.IAC-04-IAA.6.16.1.06|website=Aerospace Research Central|publisher=5th International Astronautical Congress 2004; Vancouver; Canada|access-date=18 November 2014|date=5 October 2004|doi=10.2514/6.IAC-04-IAA.6.16.1.06}} The exact date is taken from the [http://www.iaaweb.org/iaa/Publications/vancouver2004fp.pdf congress program] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120906151235/http://www.iaaweb.org/iaa/Publications/vancouver2004fp.pdf |date=6 September 2012 }}, p. 106.
Printed in ''[[Quest: The History of Spaceflight]]'', Bethesda, MD, USA: International Space Business Council, 12 (4) ([http://www.spacehistory101.com/product_p/v124.htm 2005]), Johnson, Stephen, ed. {{ISSN|1065-7738}}</ref> pessimistic songs blame carelessness, incompetence, and corruption, only rarely considering the frailties of a society built on technology or hopes for the future. Because these themes cross international boundaries in filk, they are not explainable as a purely American optimism vis-a-vis technology (in contrast to Nye, 1996).<ref name=Nye />

That openness to participation is a marked norm in filking.<ref name=Jenkins92 />

Occasional discussions over the boundaries of filk indicates the extent to which participants in filking are both aware of and keenly interested in the definition of filk as a community. Newsgroup debates over such topics as whether [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] is a filker suggest the deep feelings involved. In practice, most formal recognition of filkers in various awards are to those who regularly attend self-identified filk events, not to professional artists whose work may be considered ''found filk''.<ref name=Launius /><ref name=Nye>{{cite book | last = Nye | first = David E. | title = American Technological Sublime | publisher = MIT Press | year = 1994 | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | url = https://archive.org/details/americantechnolo00nyed | isbn = 0-262-64034-1 | oclc = 36213568 }}</ref><ref name=Jenkins92>{{cite book | last = Jenkins | first = Henry | author-link = Henry Jenkins | title = Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture | publisher = Routledge | year = 1992 | location = New York | chapter = 'Strangers No More We Sing': Filk Music, Folk Culture, and the Fan Community | isbn = 0-415-90571-0 | oclc = 26055104}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filkontario.ca/BSCHspeeches.htm |title=Acceptance Speeches of Barry & Sally Childs-Helton |access-date=29 November 2007 |last=Childs-Helton |first=Barry |author2=Sally Childs-Helton |date=29 March 2003 |work=Filk Hall of Fame |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071023190656/http://www.filkontario.ca/BSCHspeeches.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 23 October 2007}}</ref><ref>Solomon H. Davidoff, ''"Filk:" A Study of Shared Musical Traditions and Related Phenomena among Fan Groups'' (M.A. thesis, Bowling Green State University, 1996). Bowling Green State University Thesis 6673. (At BGSU, [http://maurice.bgsu.edu/record=b2173771 call no. LD 4191 O6 No 6673].)</ref>