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tanaquiljallThe Organisation for Transformative Works (OTW) – those people who run an Archive of Our Own (AO3), amongst other things – are having another membership drive to keep the servers running and pay for the OTW's other activities. During the membership drives is often a great time to donate because your money may be worth twice as much to the OTW. This year, two generous donors have between them matched donations worth $4000. Who knows, maybe there will be a third matching donation offer before the drive ends....
Also, donating the equivalent of $10 in your local currency gets you membership of OTW for a year and the right to vote in the elections for the OTW's board – and, this year, for the first time, the OTW has a contested election! (More on that later in this post.) As long as you donate before the end of tomorrow (24 October 2010), you should be able to vote when the elections take place between 17 and 19 November 2010.
Why support the OTW at all? Last year, I wrote about how I support the OTW financially because of its legal advocacy for fans and fanworks. This year, I want to talk about how I've also been supporting the OTW with my time in the past ten months, as a member of the OTW's International Outreach (IO) Committee.
The top-level aim of IO is to make the activities of the OTW accessible to as many fans as possible, no matter what fandom they're in or where in the world they are. The committee was formed at the start of 2010, which means that a lot of the things it's done so far have been "groundwork", without much visible result. (Although this is true for a lot of the work that goes on within OTW. It's a bit like an iceberg: things like AO3 are just the 10 per cent that's visible to the wider world.) One of the more visible steps I've been actively involved with has been to help provide more international content for the OTW blog.
Behind the scenes, I've worked with my fellow committee members on projects based around helping the OTW move from an organisation with its roots largely in the US—and therefore with an understandable initial US bias—to one that can meet the needs of fans in every country. I hope some of that work will bear more visible fruit next year and act as a sound platform from which to actively reaching out to international fans.
The success of the OTW depends, of course, on its many volunteers (thank you, all of you!), and especially on its elected board, who set the tone for the organisation. As someone who cares a great deal about the IO work going on at OTW, I'm very excited that we have so many candidates standing for election this year who I think have a real commitment to IO issues. You can find out more about the OTW elections and the four candidates who are standing for the three vacant board positions at the OTW elections website, where you can also see a transcript of the first candidate chat held earlier in the week.
My votes will be going to the three candidates whom I think will best carry forward the work of developing the OTW to appeal to fans around the globe and across all kinds fandoms:
Hele Braunstein I've served with Hele on the IO committee for the past year, and know how hard-working she is and how she can be relied on to deliver what she commits to. Hele is also involved in several other areas of OTW, including being an active translator and tag wrangler, so she has a great perspective on the OTW as a whole. She is also the only candidate from outside the US, and would be the first board member from outside the US. I believe she will bring a fresh perspective to the OTW board that will help the OTW develop in ways that will allow it to appeal to fans internationally.
In the first candidate chat, Hele said "We've a very varied volunteer base, but I'm not sure that's impacting our structure as much as it should be—I would like to work on that, and hopefully get even more diversity in our volunteer base in the process."
Kristen Murphy My experience of Kristen has mainly been as a beneficiary, as a member of the IO committee, of her consistent and active support of the IO's Committee's efforts in her role as chair of the OTW Webmasters committee. (Even when the IO Committee has undoubtedly been annoying at times by questioning everything and wanting to change lots of things.) I've been very impressed by what I've seen of Kristen's ability to work with, to lead and to support others with patience and tact, and I think she would be a great addition to the board.
In the first candidate chat, Kristen said "I think we could also try to take better advantage of that diversity [of the current membership] in more cross-committee ways."
Ira Gladkova Ira is the candidate with whom I have least personal experience, but I know that she has played a key role in developing AO3's Tag Wrangling and Support functions, giving her great insights into the issues of working with and supporting a wide range of fans and fandoms.
In the first candidate chat, Ira said: "An active effort to know and welcome the diversity and backgrounds we already have would probably make volunteers from backgrounds that don't fit the expected mold—however correct or not that perception is—feel more welcome to bring their different viewpoints into the org structure."
If you want to find out more about the candidates, you can read their personal statements at the OTW elections website, read the transcript of the first of the two Q&A chats that have been held with the candidates, or come along to the second chat, to be held on Sunday 24 October.
And don't forget that you must donate by the end of 24 October to be able to vote.
Note: The views expressed in this post are my personal views, and not those of the OTW's International Outreach committee or the OTW.
This entry was originally posted at http://tanaqui.dreamwidth.org/180956.html. You can comment here or comment there using OpenID.
people have commented there.
Also, donating the equivalent of $10 in your local currency gets you membership of OTW for a year and the right to vote in the elections for the OTW's board – and, this year, for the first time, the OTW has a contested election! (More on that later in this post.) As long as you donate before the end of tomorrow (24 October 2010), you should be able to vote when the elections take place between 17 and 19 November 2010.
Why support the OTW at all? Last year, I wrote about how I support the OTW financially because of its legal advocacy for fans and fanworks. This year, I want to talk about how I've also been supporting the OTW with my time in the past ten months, as a member of the OTW's International Outreach (IO) Committee.
The top-level aim of IO is to make the activities of the OTW accessible to as many fans as possible, no matter what fandom they're in or where in the world they are. The committee was formed at the start of 2010, which means that a lot of the things it's done so far have been "groundwork", without much visible result. (Although this is true for a lot of the work that goes on within OTW. It's a bit like an iceberg: things like AO3 are just the 10 per cent that's visible to the wider world.) One of the more visible steps I've been actively involved with has been to help provide more international content for the OTW blog.
Behind the scenes, I've worked with my fellow committee members on projects based around helping the OTW move from an organisation with its roots largely in the US—and therefore with an understandable initial US bias—to one that can meet the needs of fans in every country. I hope some of that work will bear more visible fruit next year and act as a sound platform from which to actively reaching out to international fans.
The success of the OTW depends, of course, on its many volunteers (thank you, all of you!), and especially on its elected board, who set the tone for the organisation. As someone who cares a great deal about the IO work going on at OTW, I'm very excited that we have so many candidates standing for election this year who I think have a real commitment to IO issues. You can find out more about the OTW elections and the four candidates who are standing for the three vacant board positions at the OTW elections website, where you can also see a transcript of the first candidate chat held earlier in the week.
My votes will be going to the three candidates whom I think will best carry forward the work of developing the OTW to appeal to fans around the globe and across all kinds fandoms:
Hele Braunstein I've served with Hele on the IO committee for the past year, and know how hard-working she is and how she can be relied on to deliver what she commits to. Hele is also involved in several other areas of OTW, including being an active translator and tag wrangler, so she has a great perspective on the OTW as a whole. She is also the only candidate from outside the US, and would be the first board member from outside the US. I believe she will bring a fresh perspective to the OTW board that will help the OTW develop in ways that will allow it to appeal to fans internationally.
In the first candidate chat, Hele said "We've a very varied volunteer base, but I'm not sure that's impacting our structure as much as it should be—I would like to work on that, and hopefully get even more diversity in our volunteer base in the process."
Kristen Murphy My experience of Kristen has mainly been as a beneficiary, as a member of the IO committee, of her consistent and active support of the IO's Committee's efforts in her role as chair of the OTW Webmasters committee. (Even when the IO Committee has undoubtedly been annoying at times by questioning everything and wanting to change lots of things.) I've been very impressed by what I've seen of Kristen's ability to work with, to lead and to support others with patience and tact, and I think she would be a great addition to the board.
In the first candidate chat, Kristen said "I think we could also try to take better advantage of that diversity [of the current membership] in more cross-committee ways."
Ira Gladkova Ira is the candidate with whom I have least personal experience, but I know that she has played a key role in developing AO3's Tag Wrangling and Support functions, giving her great insights into the issues of working with and supporting a wide range of fans and fandoms.
In the first candidate chat, Ira said: "An active effort to know and welcome the diversity and backgrounds we already have would probably make volunteers from backgrounds that don't fit the expected mold—however correct or not that perception is—feel more welcome to bring their different viewpoints into the org structure."
If you want to find out more about the candidates, you can read their personal statements at the OTW elections website, read the transcript of the first of the two Q&A chats that have been held with the candidates, or come along to the second chat, to be held on Sunday 24 October.
And don't forget that you must donate by the end of 24 October to be able to vote.
Note: The views expressed in this post are my personal views, and not those of the OTW's International Outreach committee or the OTW.
This entry was originally posted at http://tanaqui.dreamwidth.org/180956.html. You can comment here or comment there using OpenID.
