bethbethbeth:
(Mirror of the LJ post)

Job: Archive Usability Design Volunteer

Works With: Accessibility, Design, & Technology committee.

Description: If you are the sort of person who goes to a website and says, "Really, that CANCEL button should be blue, and on the right," you're the sort of person we'd like to help us make the Archive of Our own easy and fun to use.

We're looking for people who are detail-oriented, patient, comfortable drawing and reading diagrams, and interested in thinking about site construction in terms of making it easy for the user. Some education or professional background doing information architecture/interaction design/UCD greatly appreciated, but the beginner willing to learn is welcome as well.

Estimated Time Involved: Volunteers will be asked to take on a specific part of the design, which can vary depending on the time commitment available. "Available a few hours per week long-term" is probably preferable to "available many hours a week short-term."

Other Information: Must be able to attend online chat meetings.

How to Volunteer: Send an email to volunteers@transformativeworks.org or post a comment on the LJ post. All comments on that post are screened in order to protect the privacy of volunteers providing personal information.

( Please include the following information: )

bethbethbeth:
(Mirrored from the OTW-News LJ)

Job: Content Policy Focus Group

Works With: Content Policy.

Description: We are looking for volunteers to take part in roundtable discussions and reviews of the Archive of Our Own content policy. This round of discussions will cover the policy in its entirety. We are especially interested in people who have experience in drafting abuse policies, but it's not required!

Skills Required: Good communication skills.

Estimated Time Commitment/Length of Commitment: Up to 2-3 hours/week throughout May.

Other Information: Must have ability to participate in online chats.

How to Volunteer: Please read more here, and leave a comment if you're interested.

Anyone can contact the Volunteers & Recruiting committee at any time by commenting on the LJ post (all comments are screened) or sending an email to volunteers@transformativeworks.org

bethbethbeth:
(Mirrored here from the original LJ post)

Welcome to the second April 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.

( Committee Updates! )

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, mira_reads, shrift, madelyn
Community Relations Committee

bethbethbeth:
(Mirrored here from LJ)

There's been another update to our official FAQ. Please note the following additional ( Questions and Answers regarding Organizational Structure, An Archive of Our Own, Open Doors, and More! )

As always we welcome your thoughts and discussion whether in the LJ comments, in your own journals, or via email to comrel @ transformativeworks.org.

bethbethbeth:
(Mirrored from here)

Welcome to the first April 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.

Committee Updates

( Accessibility, Design, and Technology Update from Naomi Novik )

( Board Update from Naomi Novik )

( Community Relations Update from shrift )

( Content Policy Update from ainsley )

( Development and Membership Update from Ignaz )

( Elections Update from Ellen Fremedon )

( Financial Update from Sanders )

( Journal Update from Mafalda Stasi )

( Legal Update from Killalla )

( Public Relations Update from LauraJV )

( Systems Update from Jade Lennox )

( Translation Update from Ciderpress )

( Volunteers and Recruiting Update from KellyAnn Bessa )

( Wiki update from Rache )

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, mira_reads, shrift, madelyn

Community Relations Committee

bethbethbeth:
(Mirrored from here)

During our last Community Relations meeting, we decided that we no longer liked English as a language. I mean, it's nice that a lot of us speak it and everything, but we want OTW to stand out a bit more.

To that end, we've decided that the OTW will no longer conduct its business primarily in English. We asked a few of our org members to translate bits of our FAQ into more interesting languages, and we have to say - these languages are WAY more exciting than their predecessor. This FAQ will be *rocking.*

Once we have additional web updaters/designers in place, we'll be ready to take on the whole FAQ, but for now, here's a taste of what you can expect coming to a post near you soon!

You can find the old FAQ here, for awhile at least.

( For more details! )

In addition, there's an ongoing volunteer search Volunteer Search: Webmaster Team Click here to read the full search post, but the basics can be found here:

( Webmaster Team Search information )

bethbethbeth:
(Mirrored from here)

The Financial and Public Relations Committees have been hard at work closing out the fiscal year and preparing the financial statements over the past few months, and now the Organization for Transformative Works is happy to release our first annual report! We encourage all fans to take a look at the financials and if you have questions, please feel free to ask for clarification either here or by emailing the Financial Committee at finance@transformativeworks.org. Thank you for all of your support over the past year!

(If you'd like to become a financial supporter in 2008, you can find donation/membership information here.)

( An Introductory Note from the Financial Committee )

Organization for Transformative Works Annual Report 2007

mira_reads:
Mirrored from OTW-News LJ

مرحبا 你好! Salut! Namaste! Ciao! 안녕하세요! Ya'at'eeh! ¡Hola! Hej! Hello!

What is Spotlight on . . .?
A monthly opportunity to highlight some of the more arcane goings-on at the OTW. There are a lot of people doing a lot of work, most of it not readily discernible. Over thirty people are writing the code for the new archive; others are working on the content policy of the archive; others are starting the first membership drive (which went live Monday, 24 March, 2008); some are writing the first Annual Report of the organization, including the financial overview; and many more people are involved in many more projects. The OTW currently has almost ninety staff members (including the Board) plus volunteers all putting in many hours each week on these projects. We'd like to share some of them with you.

If you're interested in a particular person, committee, or project, please email Community Relations at comrel@transformativeworks.org!

Why start with the translation subcommittee?
Because it's new and shiny? Because it's near and dear to my heart? Because it began as a small project coordinated by ComRel that kept growing and growing? Mostly because it's such important work if the OTW is to achieve its vision of a safe place for any fan or fandom looking for "unhindered cross-pollination and exchange of fannish ideas and cultures."

( Spotlight on Translation )

--written by mirabile_dictu with significant assistance from ciderpress

--femmequixotic, bethbethbeth, ciderpress, mirabile_dictu, shrift, svmadelyn
Community Relations Committee

ETA: If you can help with translations, please comment here or drop the Volunteers committee a note at volunteers@transformativeworks.org. And thank you!

bethbethbeth:
English

Maybe you've had the experience of clicking on a link, wanting to read or reread a favorite story or visit a recs page, and discovering that it has vanished. An archive goes down, a web host decides to purge fannish content, and untold numbers of vids, stories, and communities are lost.

But what if there was an archive that wasn't supported by advertising traffic? An archive supported by a nonprofit organization, itself supported by fans, whose stewardship could be depended on? That's our vision for the Archive Of Our Own, a multi-fandom archive where stories of all kinds will be safe from arbitrary deletions and where you’ll never have to fear that your creations are being used to generate profit for someone else.

The Archive of Our Own is the project around which the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) coalesced. We're a nonprofit organization established by fans, for fans.

Over the last ten months, we’ve incorporated as a nonprofit; drafted bylaws and internal policies; created and revised vision, values, and mission statements; launched a website; and applied for U.S. tax-exempt status. We’ve launched Open Doors, a project which offers shelter to at-risk fan projects and archives, and Transformative Works and Cultures, a peer-reviewed academic journal on fan studies. We've drafted the Terms of Service for An Archive of Our Own, and we’ve recruited coders to begin building the open-source archive software. Now we're ready to ask for your support; we want you to become a member of OTW.

The OTW is based on the model of public broadcasting. All of our projects and services are free and open to the fan community, and we will never charge for them. For example, we will not require a donation to read or house fanfiction in the archive, nor will we sell advertising to support the archive, the journal, the wiki, or any other of the OTW’s projects.

However, creating and providing these services does cost money, and so the OTW needs some financial support. In return for a minimum annual donation of $10 USD, you can become a voting member of the OTW. (We happily accept larger donations, too!) Your membership fee allows us to support our projects without selling ad space. And since each membership is assigned a unique ID number, this membership process will help us ensure fair elections. Members elect the board of directors, who in turn shape the work the organization takes on.

(You can read more about OTW membership in our Membership FAQ, and you can read more about where membership fees & donations go in our Finances FAQ.)

Here are a few reasons why you might consider joining the OTW:

> Because I want us to own the goddamned servers, ok? Because I want a place where we can't be TOSed and where no one can turn the lights off or try to dictate to us what kind of stories we can tell each other. (-- cesperanza, here.)

> Because our stories, our art, our meta are waaaaaay too cool and shiny to create and then abandon to the whims of those who own the servers, or even a single archive owner. What we've created? Needs to be preserved. (-- cordelia_v, here.)

> Because people outside fandom don't understand fandom. It's up to us to defend ourselves; it's up to us to explain what our community is; it's up to us to provide a safe place for our fanworks. (-- femmequixotic, here.)

(Read more posts like these here.)

We've filed for 501©3 status as a federally-recognized nonprofit organization in the US. By the time 2008 taxes are due, we hope that all donations made to OTW in 2008 will be tax-deductible for fans in the United States. (We'll keep you posted on that.) If you're able to donate more than $10, we appreciate that too!

You can donate and/or become a member securely online, or choose to download and print out a PDF copy of our membership form to mail in.

The OTW is a labor of love. We’re fans of fandom. Join us in building the fannish future we dream of.

signed,

The Development/Membership Committee of the OTW:

Kass (kassrachel), Artaxastra (artaxastra), Ivy (thefourthvine), Ignaz (ignazwisdom), Carla (beledibabe), Vera (copracat), Elizabeth (watersword), and Jeniece (nullabona)

---

Čeština

Možná už se vám stalo, že jste klikli na odkaz, abyste si poprvé nebo poněkolikáté přečetli oblíbenou povídku nebo se podívali na stránku doporučení, a zjistili jste, že stránka zmizela. Archiv je zrušen, poskytovatel hostingu se rozhodl vymýtit fanouškovskou tvorbu a nesčíslné množství videí, povídek a komunit je ztraceno.

Ale co kdyby existoval archiv, který by se neopíral o prodej reklamy? Archiv, který by se opíral o podporu neziskové organizace a ta zase o fanoušky, na jejichž dohled by bylo spolehnutí?

( Tak si představujeme Náš vlastní archiv (An Archive Of Our Own), multifandomový archiv, ve kterém by byly povídky všeho druhu v bezpečí před svévolným mazáním a u kterého byste se nikdy nemuseli bát, že vaše tvorba bude sloužit někomu jinému jako zdroj příjmů.  )

---

Deutsch

Vielleicht ist es euch auch schon passiert dass ihr eine Lieblingsgeschichte (nochmal) lesen wolltet und den Link dazu geklickt habt, nur um zu merken dass er nicht mehr existiert. Ein Archiv ist nicht mehr verfügbar, ein Webanbieter hat beschlossen, Inhalte von Fans zu löschen, und unzählige Vids, Geschichten und Communities gehen verloren.

Aber was wäre, wenn es ein Archiv gäbe, das sich nicht durch Werbung finanziert? Ein Archiv, das von einer Non-Profit-Organisation getragen wird, die wiederum von Fans unterstützt wird, auf die man sich verlassen kann?

Das ist unsere Vision für "An Archive of Our Own" (deutscher Name: "Ein Eigenes Archiv"), einem Multi-Fandom-Archiv, in dem Geschichten jeder Couleur vor willkürlicher Löschung sicher sind und wo ihr nicht befürchten müsst, dass jemand anderes eure Werke ausbeutet, um Profit zu machen.

( Ein Eigenes Archiv ist das Projekt, um das sich die Organisation für Transformative Werke (Organization for Transformative Works, OTW) gebildet hat. Wir sind eine gemeinnützige Organisation, die von Fans für Fans gegründet wurde. )

---

Español

Tal vez haz tenido la experiencia de hacer click en un enlace queriendo leer o releer una historia favorita o visitar una página de recomendaciones, y descubrir que ha desaparecido. Un archivo no funciona, un servidor decide purgar contenido fandomero, e incontables vids, historias, y comunidades se pierden.

¿Te imaginas un archivo que no fuera mantenido por tráfico publicitario? ¿Un archivo mantenido por una organización no comercial, en sí sostenida por fans, en cuya gestión responsable pueda confiarse? Esa es nuestra visión para Nuestro Propio Archivo, un archivo multi-fandom donde historias de todos los tipos estarán a salvo de eliminaciones arbitrarias y donde nunca tendrás que temer que tus creaciones estén siendo usadas para generarle ganancia a alguien más.

( Nuestro Propio Archivo es el proyecto alrededor del cual la OOT se ha formado. Somos una organización no comercial establecida por fans, para fans. )

---

Français

Avez-vous déja suivi un hyperlien pour découvrir que la page web à laquelle il référait avait disparu?

Peut-être cherchiez-vous un fanfic que vous aviez lu il y a longtemps, ou une page de recommandations? Mais l'hôte a décidé de se débarasser des auteurs de fanfic, ou les archives ont été retirées, et le contenu a disparu.

Mais s'il existait une archive qui n'était pas financée par le traffic publicitaire? Une archive appuyée et financée par une organisation à but non lucratif qui serait lui-même appuyé et financé par des fans? Des fans qui en assureraient une gestion fiable?

( C'est là notre vision pour Archive Of Our Own, une archive multi-fandom où histoires de toutes sortes seraient protégées des décisions arbitraires et où vous n'auriez jamais à craindre que vos créations servent à générer du profit pour une tierce personne. )

---

Italiano

Forse ti è successo di cliccare su un link, perché volevi leggere o rileggere una delle tue storie preferite o visitare una pagina di recs (set di segnalazioni di fanfiction consigliate), e di scoprire che è sparita. Scompare un archivio, un web host decide di rimuovere i contenuti legati al fandom, e così si perdono innumerevoli vid, storie e intere comunità.

Ma se invece ci fosse un archivio non sostenuto economicamente dal traffico pubblicitario? Un archivio supportato da una organizzazione noprofit, supportata essa stessa da fan, con una amministrazione affidabile? Ecco la nostra visione per Un archivio tutto per noi, un archivio multi-fandom dove le storie di ogni genere saranno al sicuro da cancellazioni arbitrarie e dove non rischierai mai che le tue creazioni vengano usate per generare un profitto altrui.

( È attorno al progetto di Un archivio tutto per noi che l'Organization for Transformative Works< - OTW (Organizzazione per le opere trasformative) ha iniziato a riunirsi. Siamo una organizzazione noprofit fondata da fan, per fan. )

---

(To leave questions/comments on the original LJ post, click here)

bethbethbeth:
For those of you who might have missed this notice in our latest newsletter, the Development and Membership Committee has moved the opening of membership from Friday, March 21 to Monday, March 24. As noted in the Development and Membership committee update:

We've been planning to open up membership in the OTW on Friday, March 21 — the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere, the first day of fall in the southern hemisphere. We've since made a slight change in plans: we're going to open up membership on Monday, March 24, instead. We want[ed] a few more days to test our webform to ensure a smooth registration process for everyone; also some fans [were] boycotting livejournal on Friday, and many fans receive information about the organization via lj; plus Friday [was] a religious holiday for many fans. We appreciate your patience and we will be in contact on Monday with more information on how you can join the OTW. Thanks, all!

Also, Community Relations is so excited about the new Archive roadmap that we just had to share our favorite features:

• bethbethbeth's Favorite Feature: Authors have control over their own work. (And hopefully, full-text searches to come.)
  
• ciderpress's Favorite Feature: Languages, lots and lots of languages supported from the get go.
• mira_reads's Favorite Feature: It isn't owned by an individual or a for-profit organization.
  
• shrift's Favorite Feature: Shrift's off on holiday this weekend but her reaction on reading the roadmap was a great big squee.
  
• madelyn and femmequixotic's Favorite Feature: Communities! With subscriptions! And challenges! And moderation! (We both liked this feature so much we had to share it.)
  
• femmequixotic's Second Favorite Feature: Tags for story organization and reccing.
  
• madelyn's Second Favorite Feature: You can track what you're reading easily.

--bethbethbeth, ciderpress, femmequixotic, madelyn, mira_reads, shrift
Community Relations Committee

(To leave questions/comments on the original LJ post, click here)

bethbethbeth:
Some of you have already noticed that there's been an interim update of the official FAQ, but for those of you who haven't, we'd like to draw your attention to the following questions/answers in particular:

Added to Transformative Works

7. What do you mean by a transformative work?

Added to Organizational Structure

9. How was the first board chosen?
10. Who makes up the board and staff of the OTW? Is the OTW a small group of friends?
11. Who is welcome to use the OTW services and to volunteer?

Added to Additional Questions

14. Does the OTW represent all of fandom?
15. Why do the values and mission statements focus on female fans?
16. What's the purpose behind the journal?
17. Is your wiki only going to be about media fandom?
18. Why is the OTW focused on LiveJournal?
19. If you legitimize or legalize fanfic, won't people commercialize fanfic and expect to be paid for it?
20. Most creators currently turn a blind eye to fanfiction; by pushing for its legality, won't you encourage them to crack down?
21. If fanfiction is legitimate, wouldn't that also mean that publishers or studios could produce derivative works without compensating the original authors?

More to come!

ETA: Just an FYI, upon consideration, given concerns raised in
our previous FAQ post, we've decided to update the FAQ directly on the
website and point people there via our various updating portals as the
FAQs are added. As always we welcome your thoughts and discussion
whether here in comments, or in your own journals, or via email to
comrel @ transformativeworks.org.

(To leave comments/questions on the original LJ post, click here)

bethbethbeth:
We would like to a create pinch hit list of fanartists to make small graphics for the OTW, such as icons, avatars, and banners. If you can draw, paint, manip, or do any other number of awesome artistic things, we'd love to have you.

Anyone interested in participating will be added to a mailing list, where OTW staffers can submit requests for graphics--if you have the time and interest, you can snatch up a request and work on it, and if you don't, you don't!

To get added to the mailing list, send us your name and email address, either at volunteers@transformativeworks.org or by leaving a comment here. (Comments are screened for privacy.)

--bethbethbeth, ciderpress, femmequixotic, madelyn, mira_reads, shrift
Community Relations Committee

bethbethbeth:
Welcome to the February 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, ComRel will be compiling some updates about what the various committees are working on and we'll share them here.

Committee Updates

( Accessibility, Design, and Technology Update from Naomi Novik )

( Board Update from Naomi Novik )

( Community Relations Update from Shrift )

( Development and Membership Update from Ignaz )

( Elections Update )

( Financial Update from Sanders )

( Legal Update from Killalla )

( Public Relations Update from LauraJV )

( Systems Update from Jade Lennox )

( Volunteers and Recrutiting Update from KellyAnn Bessa )

( Content Policy Update from ainsley )

( Journal Update from Mafalda Stasi )

( Open Doors update )

( Wiki update from Rache )

***

What details would you like to know? Where else should we be reaching out to fandom? Please give ComRel a helping hand and let us know! Email us at comrel @ transformativeworks.org.

--bethbethbeth, ciderpress, femmequixotic, madelyn, mira_reads, shrift
Community Relations Committee

(To leave questions/comments on the original LJ post, click here)

bethbethbeth:
Welcome to the second January 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, ComRel will be compiling some updates about what the various committees are working on and we'll share them here.

Committee Updates

( Accessibility, Design, and Technology Update from Naomi Novik )

( Board Update from Francesca Coppa )

( Community Relations Update from Femme )

( Development and Membership Update from Ignaz )

( Elections Update from Ellen )

( Financial Update from Sanders )

( Legal Update from Killalla )

( Public Relations Update from Dafna )

( Systems Update from Jade Lennox )

( Volunteers and Recrutiting Update from KellyAnn Bessa )

( Content Policy Update from ainsley )

( Journal Update from Mafalda Stasi )

( Open Doors update from Mary Ellen Curtin )

( Wiki update )

***

What details would you like to know? Where else should we be reaching out to fandom? Please give ComRel a helping hand and let us know! Email us at comrel @ transformativeworks.org.



--bethbethbeth, ciderpress, femmequixotic, madelyn, mira_reads, shrift
Community Relations Committee

(To leave questions/comments on the original LJ post, click here)

bethbethbeth:
Last week, ciderpress wrote:

There has been a great deal of discussion during and after our "Why OTW?" week, not only about OTW, but also about what it is to identify as a fan, what fandom means to different people and how individual fans and groups shape their own fannish experiences.

It's evident from what we've read that there have been some misconceptions about what our org is and what we hope to do. We apologise if we have been unclear about some of the concepts and policies, and we hope you will understand that we are still in the process of setting up policies and honing language. We don't have all the final, polished answers yet and we need time, hard work and your help to do that. In fact, our content policy will be up for discussion and feedback in a fandom-wide setting before we set our policies in stone.

In the hopes of not overwhelming you, we've decided to post the FAQ in bundles of five or six questions and answers, one bundle every other day or so. Ultimately, they'll all be added to the OTW website's FAQ.

What you'll read here in otw_news is a bit more informal than what will appear on the website; that's because the website is for fans and non-fans alike. But here, in otw_news, we're fans talking to fans. SRSLY.

Keep a look out for more bundles of FAQs as well as interviews with a few of the OTW's board members in the next few weeks!

( Questions and Answers, set one )

--bethbethbeth, ciderpress, femmequixotic, madelyn, mira_reads, shrift
Community Relations Committee

(To leave questions/comments on the original LJ post, click here)


Edited 7:39 p.m. 1/31/08 to remove phrase regarding hair colors per comments below.
Edited at 9:59 a.m. 2/1/08 to remove question 5 per comments on the LJ post.
Edited at 9:50 p.m. 2/1/08 to re-add question 5, struckthrough, for archival and transparency purposes.

bethbethbeth:
(Mirrored from otw_news LJ)

Last week's anti-fanfic bingo voting had a fantastic turn out. If you didn't have the chance last week, please swing by to check out the questions and answers and tell us which ones are your favourites.

*

There has been a great deal of discussion during and after our "Why OTW?" week, not only about OTW, but also about what it is to identify as a fan, what fandom means to different people and how individual fans and groups shape their own fannish experiences.

It's evident from what we've read that there have been some misconceptions about what our org is and what we hope to do. We apologise if we have been unclear about some of the concepts and policies, and we hope you will understand that we are still in the process of setting up policies and honing language. We don't have all the final, polished answers yet and we need time, hard work and your help to do that. In fact, our content policy will be up for discussion and feedback in a fandom-wide setting before we set our policies in stone.

This week, we have been discussing and working on plain language FAQs which address some of the concerns and rumours making the rounds. For example, the rumour that we will ban men from using the archive and other org services -- not only is that rumour completely untrue (and on the internet, how would we even know if you're a man?), we'd like to remind everyone that we have men among the staffers at OTW. We welcome all fans, regardless of gender, race and age, who wish to use the archive and wiki or need advice. (Plus, we don't eat babies, no matter how much ketchup there is and how tasty they look.)

Keep a look out for those FAQs as well as some interviews with some of the board members in the next few weeks!

*

Finally, we need your help. We're kicking off our outreach campaign this March. One of our outreach goals is to make the archive and website accessible to a wide population. The archive is being built so that fanfiction in any language can be uploaded and read.

We know that there are a huge number of fandoms across the world: German fandoms, Spanish fandoms, Japanese fandoms, Korean fandoms... all kinds of different language fandoms. If you are currently in fandoms that are conducted in a language other than English or have been in these fandoms, we would appreciate your advice and your experience! We want to know about archiving, we want to know about legal situations in different countries, we want to know about how large the fandoms are, and what kind of fandoms there are.

Currently, we would like to start off by translating the OTW website into different languages so that people who speak various native languages can find out about us. We've also realised that organising chats in different time zones can be tricky. We're planning to open some discussion posts conducted in different languages where various native speakers of those languages can ask questions more easily.

We need volunteers who can give us a hand with international outreach. If you are interested, please read the Volunteers post here for more info.

--bethbethbeth, ciderpress, femmequixotic, madelyn, mira_reads, shrift
Community Relations Committee

bethbethbeth:
Job: Translation Volunteer

Works With: Community Relations committee.

Description: Community Relations is looking for people to help us with international outreach. We want to collect information (via chat or email) about your experiences in non-English fandoms/fannish forums, translate the OTW's mission statement and values, and recruit people to help us hold discussion posts in multiple languages.

For more information, please read the full job description on otw_news LJ

--bethbethbeth, ciderpress, femmequixotic, madelyn, mira_reads, shrift
Community Relations Committee

bethbethbeth:
Vounteer search posts have gone up today on the LiveJournal site looking for people to fill the following positions:

1. Job Title: OTW Tax Preparer

Reports To: Treasurer, Financial Committee

Job Description: Volunteer would be responsible for advising and assisting the OTW in preparing the organization's annual state tax (Delaware) and federal (990) returns. Volunteer should be prepared to represent the OTW and provide explanations regarding the preparation of the returns in any hearing with a state or federal authority.

(Click here for more information)

2. Job Title: OTW Accountant

Reports To: Treasurer, Financial Committee

Job Description: Volunteer would be responsible for general accounting tasks and responsibilities, including but not limited to:

1) Managing the day-to-day accounting activities of the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW):

Maintaining the OTW's hard copy financial records, including maintaining paper files for cash receipts and disbursements and all other important financial records.

Maintaining the OTW's electronic financial records, including data entry, running reports, and reconciling documentation to electronic records.

Managing cash receipts, including reconciling checks to pending invoices, recording and depositing cash receipts, and entering cash receipts into the OTW's electronic financial records.

Managing cash disbursements, including verifying that the proper documentation and authorizations are included in any cash disbursement request, entering cash disbursements into the electronic financial records, and preparing checks for final signature.

2) Preparing monthly financial reports for the Board.

3) Providing assistance in the preparation of the OTW's annual financial statements.

4) Providing assistance to the Treasurer and the Financial Committee in the preparation of annual audit, including:

Gathering and preparing records and documentation for review by the Board, Treasurer and the Financial Committee, and assisting in the reconciliation process, and posting corrections or amendments to the electronic financial records as necessary.

Providing assistance to the OTW's contracted auditors, including meeting with their personnel (via telephone or other electronic means if necessary) to provide information about OTW's policies and procedures.

5) Assisting the Treasurer and the Financial Committee in the development and maintenance of systems designed to improve the OTW's ability to recognize, analyze, and respond to critical financial management issues.

6) Assisting the organization in start-up activities such as the establishment of a chart of accounts, ledgers, and systems.

(Click here for more information)

bethbethbeth:
A quick reminder, ladies and jellyspoons! We announced our plans for a third IRC chat on Saturday, January 19th at 20:00 AWT, 11:00 GMT and 06:00 EST with Cathy Cupitt from the board attending [in this post].

(You can also find instructions on downloading an IRC client for your particular OS and information on how we run our IRC chats in the aforementioned post.)

If you are planning to attend, please comment to the linked post with your screen name and your question by 14:00 AWT (19th), 05:00 GMT (19th) and 00:00 EST (19th) so we can gauge how much interest there is.

So far, we haven't had any confirmed participants. *g* As we mentioned previously, we will not be able to hold the chat unless at least ten (10) people commit to attending.

If there aren't enough interested participants in this time zone at this particular time, we'll reschedule the chat or find a different way to continue the public dialogue between OTW and all interested parties.

Thank you!

--bethbethbeth, ciderpress, femmequixotic, madelyn, mira_reads, shrift
Community Relations Committee

(To leave questions/comments on the original LJ post, click here)

bethbethbeth:
We're drawing the Anti-Fanfic Bingo response challenge to a close after three weeks of lively discussion and intelligent and often downright hilarious responses ("Ah, fuck you!"). You can still vote for Row One, Row Two, Row Three, and Row Four! (C'mon, it's Friday, and there are ticky boxes to check!)

Throughout this week, we've asked you to vote for your favorite responses to each square, one row at a time. And now for the final row, please check your favorite responses (as many as you like!); we'll be collecting the results and announcing the favorites at the end of the week. We've been assured that there are plans to do something very sparkly with the bingo card and the winners.

Again, many thanks to ithiliana, half_elf_lost, kitsune13 and cofax7 for creating the card and giving us permission to use it.

If you don't have an LJ, please feel free to leave your responses in a comment below. We'll be including all responses in the final tally!

Anti-Fanfic Bingo Row Five can be found
here.


--bethbethbeth, ciderpress, femmequixotic, madelyn, mira_reads, shrift
Community Relations Committee

(To leave questions/comments on the original LJ post, click here)