Today is the OTW’s 10th Anniversary

Today is a very special day: it’s been 10 years since the OTW launched. The Organization for Transformative Works is the parent organization of multiple projects including AO3, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures and OTW Legal Advocacy. We have a number of activities planned this month to celebrate and we hope you’ll join in!

Each weekend in September we will be hosting chats with guests and offering Q&A sessions with OTW staff representing different areas of the organization. Below is our schedule of events and special posts for the month. Links to our chatroom will go live during the hours shown, so check back here on the day in order to click through and attend.

Room attendance is capped at 60 people at any one time. If you can’t get in you can try again later or check out the transcripts, which will be posted within 24 hours (Available through all OTW news outlets)

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Saturday, September 9th from 05:00 to 07:00 UTC (check when that is in your timezone)

The OTW’s Fanlore Committee held an open house. Thanks to those who took part and be sure to check out pages for your favorite fannish topics on Fanlore.

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Sunday, September 10th from 16:00-18:00 UTC (check when that is in your timezone)

The Magicians author and journalist Lev Grossman will be joining us to discuss his work in a talk about “Television and Book Fandoms.”

Read the transcript

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On Wednesday, September 13th we’ll be making a special Five Things an OTW Volunteer Said post with one of the OTW’s founders, Naomi Novik. She’ll be looking back at the OTW’s early days and the organization’s arc. (Available through all OTW news outlets)

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Saturday, September 16th from 17:00 to 19:00 UTC (check when that is in your timezone)

In a discussion about the Romance Genre, authors Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings will discuss their work as Christina Lauren, along with romance author and professor Catherine Roach.

Read the transcript

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Sunday, September 17th from 16:00-18:00 UTC (check when that is in your timezone)

Authors Seanan McGuire and Martha Wells will be joining us for a discussion about “Fantasy and Fandom”, their works, their time in fandom, and maybe some filk too!

Read the transcript

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On Monday, September 18th we’ll be taking a look back at our history with “25 Things to Know About the OTW.” (Available through all OTW news outlets)

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On Thursday, September 21st we’ll be sharing a Guest Post from noted media scholar Henry Jenkins. (Available through all OTW news outlets)

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Saturday, September 23rd from 14:00-15:00 UTC (check when that is in your timezone) and 19:00-20:00 UTC (check when that is in your timezone)

The OTW’s Legal Committee will be holding an open house. If you’ve ever wanted someone to answer your questions about fandom, fanworks and legal issues take this opportunity to find out more! Have you ever had questions about why the AO3’s terms of use allow posting of some kinds of fanworks but not others? Do you find yourself puzzling over whether Patreon and crowdfunding change the legality of fanworks? Have you ever wondered what fans can do to keep their fanworks from being exploited by others? Are you worried about ways that countries may seek to regulate the Internet? These are just a few of the many topics Legal could chat with you about. (Here are some more examples of questions Legal could discuss). Just keep in mind that the chat can’t be used to give you personal legal advice, and if a question looks like it might violate a user’s privacy to answer (if it needs an email address or other personal information, for example) the Legal staff will redirect you to the Legal contact form so you can communicate via email.

Thanks to those who attended, and if you missed asking your question, you can contact Legal by email.

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Sunday, September 24th from 14:00-16:00 UTC (check when that is in your timezone)

The OTW’s Support Committee will be holding an open house to answer your questions about using the AO3. Live chat is best for questions of a “How do I…?” or “Why does it…?” nature. For example, you might have been wondering how to run a challenge, how to post using formatting the Rich Text Editor won’t give you, or perhaps you want to add a lot of your older works to the AO3 so what would be the easiest way to do that? Ask away! Two caveats though: Support’s function is to help users with technical bugs and issues so any questions or comments about AO3 or OTW policies — good or bad — Support Chat isn’t the right place for them. Additionally, if a question looks like it might violate a user’s privacy to answer (if it needs an email address or other personal information, for example) we may not be willing to work with it in chat. In those cases, we’ll redirect you to the Support Form so you can communicate via email.

Thanks to those who attended, and if you missed asking your question, you can contact Support by email.

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Monday, September 25th we’ll launch a 72 hour OTW Trivia Contest. Submit your answers and try for a variety of prizes, including some donated to us by author Tamora Pierce! (Available through all OTW news outlets)

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Thursday, September 28th a post from editors Kristina Busse, Francesca Coppa, and Karen Hellekson about books that support the OTW! (Available through all OTW news outlets)

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Saturday, September 30th from 17:00-19:00 UTC (check when that is in your timezone)

Author Tessa Gratton will be discussing her work, which includes YA novels and the Tremontaine series based on Ellen Kushner’s Riverside books. Kate McNair, a YALSA Board member and the Teen Services Coordinating Librarian for the Johnson County Library will also be joining us to talk about the Young Adult genre.

Read the transcript

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Sunday, October 1 from 17:00-19:00 UTC (check when that is in your timezone)

The OTW’s Translation Committee will be holding an open house to answer your questions about how the OTW communicates in over 30 languages, but also to chat with you about fandom and fanworks! If you’ve wanted to make contact with other fans at the AO3 in your native language(s), wondered what it might be like to be on the OTW’s translation team, or considered how many ways you can translate ‘kudos’, take this opportunity to find out more!

Thanks to those who attended, and if you missed asking your question, you can visit Translation’s committee webpage.

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More Ways to Participate

1. If you want to find out more about the OTW’s history, you can read its first announcement as a new organization, or browse our Pinboard account for news posts old and new, which includes announcements from all our projects as well as news from AO3 and Fanhackers posts.
2. You’re a part of fannish history too! Chances are the fandoms you’ve been in and the works you know about could use more information on Fanlore. And if you’d like some help starting out, drop into the Fanlore chat session this month.
3. Thanks to our graphics volunteer Rachel G, we have some snaggable art below which you can repost on your fannish accounts to let everyone know that you’re also celebrating our birthday this month! Copy the information in the text box to post a linked version of the larger badge, or right-click to download the smaller badges.