I. SHINY AND NEW
This month saw the publication of a special issue of Transformative Works and Cultures, the OTW’s academic journal. Volume 21, “The Classical Canon and/as Transformative Work,” was guest edited by Ika Willis, University of Wollongong. The essays in this special issue analyze “the relationships between Classical literature (and its afterlives) and contemporary fan work,” as Willis’s editorial notes. Putting out an academic journal is a mammoth task, and the Journal team do it three times a year. Articles are open access, so anyone can head over and dip into the articles.
After a seven-year run, Communications has concluded the OTW Fannews series. In its place, the committee has debuted a series called This Week in Fandom. Each Tuesday, TWIF will present a roundup of interesting happenings throughout all of fandom from the past week–everything from trending discussions to academia to exciting announcements to media articles on fandom and more. TWIF is new, so feedback on format and content, as well as potential stories and submissions, is very welcome!
The Web Strategy, Design & Development committee has been toiling away to get the new OTW site up and running. This month, the committee moved the website to its final hosting place and is working on doing the same for the Open Doors and Elections sites. Thanks to everyone for their patience with the beta site during the move!
II. AT THE AO3
Accessibility, Design & Technology have reported a great milestone this month: the Archive now has over 800,000 registered users! They have also successfully put out four releases. Of particular interest is an overhaul of the Skin Wizard, and the ability for gift exchange moderators to search sign-ups.
The Abuse team has received 400 tickets this month.
Tag Wrangling staff inducted a new class of volunteers, who have leapt into action to help keep up with the always-expanding volume of new tags and fandoms on the AO3.
Over at Open Doors, staff worked on manually importing the Hornblowerfic.com archive.
III. LEGAL ADVOCACY
In March, Legal represented the OTW at the South by Southwest Interactive festival! Legal committee chair Betsy Rosenblatt presented on the panel “Copyright and Creators: 2026” about the future of copyright law. Legal staffer Heidi Tandy hosted a Fair Use and Transformative Works Meetup at the festival, followed by a gathering for all, including those without festival passes, at a local pub. The event featured some great opportunities for fans to interact with U.S. law- and policy-makers, as well as of course gathering and socializing with each other.
Legal also responded to a significant number of legal questions from fans, some of which came in via AO3 Support and others that came directly to Legal.
IV. GOVERNANCE
After publishing the prospective budget for 2016 at the beginning of the month, the Board of Directors met with a Chartered Professional Accountant and is working through their assessment of the OTW’s finances. They’ve also started preparing for this year’s tax filing.
V. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PEEPS
From February 29 to March 27, Volunteers & Recruiting received 84 new requests, and completed 78, leaving us with 39 open requests (including induction and removal tasks listed below). They also welcomed two new staffers. Elections brought in a new Communications Specialist staffer this month as well.
New Committee Staff: Misty Fritz (Elections), Anna S. (Volunteers & Recruiting), Katrina Hueniken (Volunteers & Recruiting)
New Tag Wrangler Volunteers: adustyspectacle, arahime, Astra, Bella Irvine, capitola, CB, Flynn J. M. Germain, godsamitdean, ImpossibleGirlWrangler, Ira Gladkova, lightofthewind, LittleMousling, lubabathegreat, M.A., mal_stoner, miaou, Miranda, Osono, Perilous Grey, PineTreePerson, Rachel Harris, RepressedLurker, ShadowRancher, Sofia, the-dreaming-hare, and Twera
Departing Committee Staff: Chrissy Sky (AO3 Documentation), 2 Support, 1 Internationalization & Outreach, and 1 Wiki
Departing Tag Wrangler Volunteers: Yenelie, radondoran, and 9 others
Departing Translator Volunteers: waywardson1978 and 2 others