ORGANIZATION FOR TRANSFORMATIVE WORKS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
September 29, 2011, 00:30 UTC
PRESENT: Hele Braunstein, Francesca Coppa, Sheila Lane, Allison Morris, Kristen Murphy
ABSENT: Rachel Barenblat, Ira Gladkova (on hiatus)
DECISIONS TAKEN SINCE THE LAST MEETING
- Hele and Allison announced their resignations from the Board effective at the end of this term. Their seats, as well as Rachel’s and Sheila’s, will be filled in the upcoming election.
- We voted unanimously via e-mail to approve the appointment of new staffers for the Translation, Legal, and Volunteers & Recruiting committees.
- The meeting minutes from September 15 were unanimously approved.
OPEN SESSION
- Kristen will make additions to the diversity post draft to incorporate suggestions from International Outreach.
- Allison reported that everything is on track for election and that the membership drive will take place the week after next.
- Francesca reported that the Journal editors are debating the merits of producing an ebook version of TWC (for the Kindle) and selling it on Amazon.com. Pros: people like the Kindle; it’s a potential new revenue stream for the OTW; it could lend TWC additional prestige in academia. Cons: There’s something cool about being totally internet-based and free in all formats; the Kindle format would not allow us to do all the cool multimedia stuff we do online. Journal had the idea of doing a single issue as a test to find out whether it would be worth it, if there were demand, and if it would really be a revenue stream or just a hassle. Kristen inquired about how much extra technical work would be involved and whether or not Amazon would receive a cut of the proceeds; Francesca said it wouldn’t be much extra work and that we don’t yet know the answer to the latter question. Allison suggested that ebooks could consist of periodic curated collections or “best of” collections, so as not to limit the journal itself. No immediate decision was made; Francesca will take the Board’s comments back to Journal for further discussion.
- Allison reported that the premiums for the October membership drive will be the same ones as last time; we have some back stock to clear out.
- Kristen reported that the OTW Community Survey (i.e., the external survey) is currently being delayed by a bug in Webform Conditional (a Drupal module). The Webmasters are seeking solutions.
- Hele reported that AD&T has been discussing the recent relaunch of Delicious and its implications for bookmarking on the AO3; as yet, no concrete proposals have arisen from this discussion.
CLOSED SESSION
No items.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:15 UTC.
Minutes approved by the Board on October 1, 2011.