I. MEET THE CANDIDATES FOR THE OTW BOARD OF DIRECTORS
In June, the Elections committee was pleased to announce the candidates running for the OTW Board of Directors’ two open spots. In alphabetical order by given name, the 2018 candidates are:
Click on a candidate’s name to see their biography and platform statement.
Thank you to everyone who submitted a question for the candidates to answer! Follow @OTWElections on Twitter and otwelections on Tumblr for notifications of when candidate Q&As are posted, as well as for information about upcoming live chats with candidates.
Reminder: Voting will take place from August 10-13, 2018. Check out the Elections website for the election timeline and voting instructions for more information about eligibility and procedures.
II. NEW VOLUME OF TRANSFORMATIVE WORKS AND CULTURES
In June, TWC published the 27th volume of Transformative Works and Cultures, Tumblr and Fandom. The issue was edited by Lori Morimoto (Independent Scholar) and Louisa Ellen Stain (Middlebury College), with a cover image by Hannah Craig. Essays in this issue focus on Tumblr and include topics such as the Johnlock Conspiracy, the rhetoric of gifs in Supernatural fandom, and “Ms. Marvel” and identity in digital spaces.
Next up for TWC is its special 10th anniversary issue, out September 15, 2018, exploring the future of fandom while looking back to its past. If you’re interested in contributing to upcoming issues, visit the TWC announcements page for current calls for submissions.
III. LEGAL ADVOCACY
OTW Legal had a particularly active month in its continued fight for fan-friendly laws globally.
In late June, Legal addressed fan questions about potential changes to EU copyright law resulting from June’s adoption of a “Proposal for a Directive on Copyrights in the Digital Single Market” by the Legal Affairs Committee of the EU Parliament. The proposal goes before the EU Parliament in early July.
Legal made a submission with the Canadian Parliament as part of Canada’s regular review of its Copyright Act. Their submission used Canadian fans’ stories to argue that Canada’s Fair Dealing and User Generated Content exceptions were effective and socially beneficial. Many thanks from Legal to all the Canadian fans who sent in their stories!
Legal continued to work on the process of seeking clarified and expanded exemptions to the U.S. DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions, filing letters in response to the U.S. Copyright Office’s requests for follow-up information.
For the second year in a row, OTW Legal joined a number of allies to successfully oppose a New York State legislative proposal attempted to expand right-of-publicity laws.
For more on Legal’s current world-wide advocacy efforts, check out their June public post.
IV. ELSEWHERE AT THE OTW
Leading up to the June 30 membership deadline for voting rights in the 2018 Board of Directors election, Development & Membership ran a successful mini-membership drive. New members who donated between June 28-30 got a special icon made just for them!
In June, it’s been all hands on deck for Translation in translating 2018 elections candidates’ biographies and platforms.
Updated search is here! Accessibility, Design & Technology continued the Elasticsearch upgrade process for AO3 and released a post on some of the new features available.
Tag Wrangling handled an amazing 205,626 tags in May! Policy & Abuse received over 700 tickets this month. Support received over 1,100 tickets in June, down substantially after two months with over 1,400 tickets each!
Follow @AO3_Status on Twitter for real-time updates on AO3.
V. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PEEPS
As of 27 June the OTW has 634 volunteers. \o/ Recent personnel movements are listed below:
New Committee Staff: Nrandom, Relle, Dre, and Ingi (Tag Wrangling) and two other Tag Wrangling Staff, MagnusIsMyRock, Beth Paige, Nedmac (Policy & Abuse) and 2 other Policy & Abuse Staff
New Fanlore Volunteers: danifellis, and 1 other volunteer
New Tag Wrangler Volunteers: Addy, Adi M., BeautifulMistake3, brougeoisie, Chloé Hendrickx, galvelociraptor, gmpmdullsen, Iron_x_4, Izzy, JacenBoy, Janneke, Kaelin, Kerri Jo Holmes, KH Ivywater, Lesbian Valkyrie, Lorena, Lyssie, Maca, Mae Caringal, middnighter, Morgan Jane, Peophin, Rebecca Lee, Rochie, roguewords, Rustled, Saloni, SLiverofJade, teyla, WhitedSepu, Yumeko
New Translator Volunteers: Stefan Fjellander and 2 other volunteers
Departing Committee Chairs: puckling (Systems)
Departing Committee Staff: 2 Communications Staffers, puckling (Systems), Priscilla Del Cima (Finance), 1 Fanlore Staffer, 1 Elections Staffer, 1 Webs Staffer, 1 Development & Membership Staffer, and 3 Support Staffers
Departing AD&T Coder Volunteers: 1 Volunteer
Departing AD&T QA Tester Volunteers: 3 Volunteers
Departing Fanlore Volunteers: 2 volunteers
Departing Tag Wrangler Volunteers: Anna S., ChelsealBelieve, nocokenojoke, and 6 other Tag Wrangler volunteers
Departing Translation Volunteers: redsummernight, Urtin, Michelle H Costa, MiaVivisol, Rabbit, and 2 other volunteers
For more information about the purview of our committees, please access the committee listing on our website.