July 2008 Newsletter, vol. 13
Mirrored from otw_news on LJ

Welcome to the first July 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.

Academic Journal Update from mafaldastasi

The academic journal staff members are handling routine submissions in preparation for the first issue this fall.

Accessibility, Design, and Technology

AD&T have been chewing through tough design questions and coming up with brilliant solutions; we're working up a navigation scheme and putting together a funky user profile/dashboard for new users. Our Coders are now putting together the Tagging back end and making inexplicable jokes about something called Aptana *pats Coders lovingly*.

Board Update from Francesca Coppa

The Board continues to push projects along at the top level. All hands are currently on deck for the Archive, Wiki, and Journal projects, and we've been thinking about new promotional materials and future fundraising drives."

Community Relations Update from femmequixotic

Community Relations continues to work on outreach plans for the upcoming wiki and archive launches, as well as field FAQ questions and prepare for a few upcoming additions to the website.

Content Policy Update from ainsley

The Content Policy committee is still working on revising drafts of the policy.

Development and Membership Update from ignazwisdom

At our meeting today we talked about revisions to the Membership/Donations page and various other issues. We also recently sent out a call for a swag researcher.

Elections

No update at this time.

Financials

No update at this time.

Legal Update from killalla

The Legal Committee has begun a collective review of Terms and Conditions and related policies for potential dedicated hosts, as well as supporting other committees with advice on potential related legal issues. We continue our efforts to establish contact with other groups internationally and respond promptly to queries from members of the public as they arise.

Open Doors Update from Francesca Coppa

The V.1 Open Doors page is up; we are now consulting with ADT to discuss how and when we can do future acquisitions.

Public Relations Update from jacquez

PR managed to have a meeting this week, and we discussed flyer drafts and revisions.

Systems Update from jadelennox

In Systems, work proceeds apace on the wiki, Ruby on Rails software is being upgraded, our backup system is being made more efficient, we've improved our security monitoring, and volunteer training is chugging along.

Translations Update from morganlefae

Here in the land of fandom translation, we have been learning about Cultural Differences and How They Affect One's Website. You'd think we'd have learned our lesson after the Anti-Fanfic Bingo debacle (did you know that the the non-anglophone world had (mostly) never heard of bingo?), but no! The multi-language dysphasia continues. But have no fear, non-English-language fandom! The translation team will overcome!

Volunteers and Recruiting

No update at this time.

Webmasters

No update at this time.

Wiki Update from angstslashhope

The Wikimittee late last month made a post announcing our name: Fanlore. At the same time we put up a call for beta volunteers, for which applications closed yesterday. However, if you've missed out on that window but are still interested in being involved in Fanlore, send an email to Volunteers any time. Meanwhile, the Wiki Committee is also working through the feedback from the rest of the org on our policy drafts, customising our install of MediaWiki, and plotting what we are going to do with our volunteer applicants once we have them in our clutches.

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, svmadelyn
Community Relations Committee