Welcome to the third July issue of the OTW Newsletter! We’re constantly on the lookout for ways to keep fandom up-to-date and informed about what’s going on behind the scenes here at OTW, so twice a month (three times this month), Community Relations compiles updates about what the various committees are working on and we share them here.
All issues of the newsletter will be tagged accordingly, so you can follow our progress chronologically.
Committee Updates!
Academic Journal Update from Mafalda Stasi
The academic journal is preparing to copyedit and lay out the first issue. In addition, paperwork has been initiated for a Digital Object Identifier (DOI, http://www.doi.org/), which will help the journal’s article links to persist.
Accessibility, Design, and Technology Update from Black Samvara
AD&T have got basic search working and orphaning up. We’ve been refining our existing features and working on making our code and tests more efficient. The testers have been giving us a lot of great feedback, and we’re looking forward to putting our new html/css coders to work.
Board Update From KellyAnn Bessa
The Board puzzled through spam protection options, and approved flyers for distribution at cons.
Community Relations Update from Beth H
Community Relations has been fielding questions from the fan community and working diligently on our ongoing “Spotlight on…” series (next committee under the spotlight…us!). Two of our number (i.e., Femme and I) will be heading to Chicago next week to attend the HP con Terminus; if you’re going to be there too, come over and say hello!
Content Policy Update from ainsley
Since the last newsletter, we’ve posted the Archive’s draft Terms of Service, received much wonderful and useful feedback, took a deep breath, and started revising the drafts (again!) to incorporate that input. Many thanks to everyone who left us comments on the draft!
Development and Membership Update from Ignaz
We’ve brought on a Swag Researcher to help us … um, research swag. (Obvious cat is obvious.) We’re planning a big donations drive in the (northern hemisphere) fall, so we’re gearing up for that by working with other committees and poking at our payment processor. As always, you can donate or become an OTW member at any time–just visit the site for details.
Elections Update from Ellen Fremedon
After a nice, relaxing summer vacation, the Elections committee is back, and ready to start putting together our first board election! We’re currently getting final commentary from other committees on our FAQ and timeline– start looking for official announcements next month.
Financial Update from Susan Gibel and Celli
The OTW has successfully filed its first 990 return!
Legal Update from Killalla
The Legal Committee has recently responded to a number of queries from members of the public, on varied matters relating to their rights and obligations. We continue to assist with drafting issues, providing clarification and support to other committees, as well as advice on potential related legal issues.
Open Doors
No update at this time.
Public Relations Update from LauraJV
PR’s committee chair, Iphi Genia, has stepped down for personal reasons. For the time being, Cathy Cupitt will be functioning as the PR chair. On deck for PR: revamping our communications plans and developing the media contacts list.
Systems Update from Jade Lennox
Systems is busy coming up with exciting new ways to describe for the newsletter all the operational tasks we do every week. So far we’ve come up with: We’re Wikitastic! Drupalicious! Now part of your completely secure breakfast!.
Translations Update from morganlefae
We’re finishing up the translations for the website vocabulary! We’re really looking forward to seeing the results!
Volunteers and Recruiting Update from KellyAnn Bessa
Volunteers continues to help the Org with its staffing needs.
Webmasters Update from Zvi
The Webmasters Committee is still hard at work converting the OTW website into Drupal. OTW staff members have received accounts on the test site and are learning how to create and edit content for their committees.
Wiki Update from Hope
The wiki is preparing our software & policies for the first round of closed beta-testing.
What details would you like to know? Please give ComRel a helping hand and let us know! Email us at comrel @ transformativeworks.org.
-Femme, Beth H, Ciderpress, Madelyn, Mira, shrift
Community Relations Committee