More Archive Updates!

Our Chair of ADT (Accessibility, Design, Technology), the team responsible for building the Archive of Our Own (AOOO, AO3) has been blogging about her committee work and the status of the Archive on her LJ; from now on, we will be crossposting those entries here and across our various platforms.

Her latest entry is, “…am I too late to the party?” (The answer, btw, is, “No!”)

ADT have also added two additional question & answers to our FAQ:

How can I stay up-to-date with the progress of the Archive?

and

How can I get an account on the Archive?

More news soon!

2009-09-10 admin

Archive of Our Own

Mareen commented: I have a question about getting an account for the archive. I do understand there has to be a test phase during which only a selected group of people will be able to get an account to post their stories. But what happens afterwards? I donated for these servers. Will I for some reason have to wait for one of the lucky one's to invite me, even after the test phase is over? Or will everybody who donated automatically receive an invite? I distinctly remember that is what was promised when OTW was formed, but there's not a word of it in the FAQ.

fcoppa commented: This current phase of testing has been Closed Beta, with a very very small group (mostly OTW coders, staffers, and volunteers themselves, or people who were giving lots of design feedback) having accounts. We're about to move into Open Beta, where we will begin to take on larger and larger groups of users exponentially and making sure things still function. We'll also be adding new features--collections, subscriptions, new bookmarks/recs among others--throughout the Open Beta period, so users who come in during Open Beta should still be prepared to work with rapidly evolving software. This next phase of Open Beta will *not* require you to get an invite from someone who's already got an account; you'll be able to sign up with us directly. That being said, we will be taking on users in exponentially bigger batches all through the Open Beta period, so its not a guaranteed automatic that you will get an account the moment you sign up, (though I think its very likely indeed, as we'll have to do outreach we haven't done yet and talk to people who haven't been paying much attention to OTW in order to get the kind of numbers we really want for a successful Open Beta. Or to put it another way, with the number of invites we're envisioning, we think we will very quickly move past all the people who are paying any sort of regular attention to us as an org, if you see what I mean.) Eventually, after Open Beta, we will just be open, and anyone who wants an account can get one at any time. I want to add, lastly, that its just not true that donation to OTW = account in AO3. There are a number of reasons for this. First of all, donating to the OTW is something we need fans to do under their legal/financial names, and most people will want accounts in the A03 using their fannish emails and pseuds. But secondly, and more importantly, the OTW is not a business and is not in any way "selling" accounts or even levels of service; we're a nonprofit organization that is building tools that any fan--old, young, rich, poor, member or not--can use. If you like our tools, or support our mission, we hope you'll become a member, and we hope to have enough donating members to support those fans who can't donate. But all OTW membership gets you is our thanks and a vote in any elections we have; we work on the model of U.S. public television or radio. I hope this both clarifies and reassures you a little!