Welcome to the first November 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, 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.
News: Vidding History Project
The OTW is pleased to announce the release of a series of six short documentaries on vidding made by Francesca Coppa and Laura Shapiro and produced by OTW for MIT’s New Media Literacy project. These are part of a larger group of documentaries on remix culture, and the whole series is aimed at middle and high schoolers (so are very introductory to the art of vidding.) You can see these documentaries online here, and the OTW will also be hosting them as part of our new Vidding History project (you’ll be hearing more about this in OTW’s second year: if anyone wants to work on one of the OTW’s vidding projects, please contact the Volunteers committee.)
Committee Updates
Academic Journal Update from mafaldastasi
The TWC academic journal has added Veruska Sabucco to the Review team. Welcome, Veruska!
TWC staff member Julie Levin Russo is co-hosting a HASTAC forum discussion (Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory). The discussion’s theme is Online Academic Publishing, Open Access and Copyright issues; the forum will remain active through November 17. You’re invited to join the conversation at http://www.hastac.org, or simply to read it here.
Check out Julie’s video introduction!
Accessibility, Design, and Technology Update from black_samvra
AD&T are having a bit of a break right now. We have also added over half of the people who gave feedback (that we have emails for) and nothing has melted (except some Coder brains).
Board Update from kellyannbessa
The Board has been on a short, impromptu break due to so many of us being out of town or fighting off pestilence (or, in a few cases, both). Back to work this week!
Community Relations Update from femmequixotic
ComRel has been assisting Elections, helping update FAQs, fielding questions from the internets, and documenting for the transition to a second term and the upcoming merger with PR to form an all new Communications team!
Content Policy Update from ainsley
Content Policy has posted the draft version of the remaining portion of the Archive’s ToS and its additional policies at here. Please read and let us know what you think!
Development and Membership Update from ignazwisdom
DevMem continues to meet weekly and is currently in the process of drafting a list of our technical requests for fundraising and donation tracking in 2009.
Elections Update from ellen_fremedon
Check your inboxes! Elections has sent members a letter about the Board changeover. We’ll be inviting members to our chats with Board candidates on November 11 and 16; see the email for the chatroom URL.
Financials from sandersyager
The sharks of FinCom have been swimming along through the political waters of not one but two elections. Here in the US, our members have blogging in support of their candidates, walking door to door to talk to voters, and making calls to encourage people to get out and vote. In addition to fulfilling our civic duties, we have been quietly supporting the recent OTW membership drive and preparing for our role in the OTW elections.
Legal Update from killalla
The Legal Committee continues to provide advice and support to other Committees as needed. Currently, we are reviewing the organization bylaws and the related sections of the FAQ in the context of the OTW election. And as ever, we attempt to respond promptly to queries from the public as they arise.
Open Doors Update from Francesca Coppa
The Open Doors project is currently in the process of contacting research libraries to discuss the possibility of a zine preservation project.
Public Relations Update from jacquez
The PR team is working with a volunteer graphic designer on ads for a virtual season, among other things. We continue to prepare for the transition to the new unified Communications team.
Systems
No update at this time.
Translations Update from logovo
We’ve started the translation of donation forms, following the lead of our fearless leader lian, who has already tackled the task in German. We’ve welcomed new volunteers, although we’re always on the look out for new people. On the OTW page front, we’re still working on getting Portuguese language uploaded.
Volunteers and Recruiting from kellyannbessa
Volunteers has been busy sending acknowledgments to everyone who replied to our Willing to Serve post. If you volunteered for a position and did not receive a confirmation email, please contact us.
While the official recruiting period is over, we happily accept volunteers at any time. If you are interested in any of our committees or projects, send us your info via our contact form.
Webmasters Update from juniperphoenix
It’s been a relatively quiet two weeks. We have upgraded our website software and continue to work on our website documentation project.
Wiki Update from angstslashhope
Fanlore continues to grow, as meanwhile the Wikimittee busily monitor changes, provide assistance and nut out issues.
What details would you like to know? Please give ComRel a helping hand and let us know! Email us at comrel @ transformativeworks.org.
–femmequixotic, bethbethbeth, ciderpress, mirabile_dictu, shrift, and svmadelyn
Community Relations Committee
\o/
The vidding series is awesome. Great work!
Barnard College has a 2000-strong zine collection, including fanzines, and might be a good resource for your current project.
I loved the vidding documentaries, it was so neat to see the vidders talk about vidding, why they vid, how they vid. I enjoyed the various convention shots, and it was really cool to see the different computer and software set-ups. But most of all I loved the enthusiasm everyone showed for the hobby and community.
RD