Every month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Today’s post is with memorizingthedigitsofpi, who volunteers for Fanlore.
How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does?
I’m a volunteer with Fanlore, which is a wiki all about fandom and fandom history. It’s a place where the people who are involved in fandom can chronicle our stories about ourselves and our works. As a wiki, it’s open for editing and there’s a Plural Point of View policy that encourages documentation of all sides of any particular issue. Fandom is a diverse place full of diverse people and opinions, and it’s important that we have a record that allows all of those points of view to have space.
I’m one of the graphics designers on the team, and in that role I create banners for social media posts and badges for events like Stub September. I’m also involved in conversations around how we can reach out to our fellow fans to encourage them to contribute to the wiki, as well as conversations about the wiki itself.
What is a typical week like for you as a volunteer?
How busy I am varies week to week, because I’ll have more on my plate in the run up to an event. Typically, we have a bi-weekly meeting on Saturdays where we discuss what work needs to be done and who will do it. I’ll draft however many graphics I’ve taken on and share them out with the group of other designers and the social media team, and they’ll give me feedback. I’ll make any edits and we’ll go back and forth a bit sometimes. Then I’ll wait for the post to go live and get a big grin on my face when I see my work posted for everyone to see.
Throughout the week, I’ll read the conversations happening back and forth amongst the other Fanlore volunteers and if I have questions or suggestions I’ll join in. Otherwise, I’m just keeping up to date on what’s going on.
I’m also new to wiki editing, so when I can I practice formatting by working on my Fanlore user page or editing parts of the larger wiki.
What made you decide to volunteer?
I’ve been in and out of fandom spaces for the last 20 years or so. Sometimes I just lurk and read all the fic and look at all the art, etc. Sometimes I find a canon that I just can’t get out of my head and I end up creating fics and art of my own.
I was slowly leaving my most recent active fandom creator role because I was falling out of love with canon. But I was still in love with the fandom I was in because the people were so wonderful. In trying to find ways to stay in fandom without being a creator, I started up a tumblr blog called ao3commentoftheday. That’s what got me interested in being more involved in fandom as a whole instead of just for one particular show or book at a time.
I realized that I loved the people in fandom and the things we do, and I wanted to be involved in helping fandom happen. In my opinion, OTW is the best place for that.
Is there anything in particular you’ve worked on that you found challenging or memorable?
This year, I was involved in the process of creating Fanlore’s new logo! My design wasn’t the one that was picked, but I’m so happy with the one that was chosen. It was an amazing experience getting to try my hand at designing one and seeing all of the other ideas from the rest of the team. I’ve also never gotten feedback from a group that big before or on a number of designs that large, so the logistics of figuring it out were also a learning experience.
I got to be a part of fandom history, and I can’t think of anything more memorable than that!
What fannish things do you like to do?
I write fic — mostly smut and comedy but with other things thrown in there too. I’m not posting very much lately, but I’m still writing almost every day. These days, I’m writing more RP style — co-creating fic-like roleplaying threads with my fandom bestie. We aren’t posting them anywhere, but we’re having a lot of fun.
I also create fanart. In my most recent fandom, I learned how to do photo manipulations, but I also do text-based graphics, edits, and banners. I like to create them for both myself and for other people in my fandom. I’ve recorded a few podfic and made a few fanvids, and I’d like to do more of both someday. At one point, I co-ran a fic rec blog on tumblr, too.
These days, most of my fannish time outside of the OTW is spent running the ao3commentoftheday blog on tumblr. I do my best to answer questions about writing, fandom, AO3 and the OTW in an unofficial capacity. I first fell in love with Fanlore because it was (and is!) a major reference I use when people ask questions about fandom tropes and terms. It’s definitely a passion project for me, and one I’m so glad I stumbled into. I’ve learned more about my fellow fans and other fandoms in the last few years than I ever would have otherwise.
Now that our volunteer’s said five things about what they do, it’s your turn to ask one more thing! Feel free to ask about their work in comments. Or if you’d like, you can check out earlier Five Things posts.