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Published:
2024-03-14 16:40:50 UTC
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OTW logo with the words 'Spotlight on Legal Issues'

Tennessee's proposal of the ELVIS Act might sound like something fun for fans, but in fact has the potential to create problems for fans engaging in a variety of fannish activities. This legislation is moving forward next week under pressure from Tennessee Governor Lee, but there is still some time to voice concerns and message the governor about how this act will hurt the public interest.

A number of organizations including the American Society for Collective Rights Licensing, Authors Guild, Copyright Clearance Center, National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) are sponsoring this act. The proposed legislation creates a new right of publicity “in any medium in any manner” for life + 10 years.

OTW Legal is concerned about the potential impact of this Act, and believes Tennessee fans should be aware of the profound risks posed to both RPF and fictional fanworks that invoke an actor's image. One part of the law is relatively minor: it adds “voice” to the existing right of publicity, which covers commercial uses. But it goes further. There is new, broad liability for anyone who knowingly “publishes, performs, distributes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to the public” content that includes someone's voice or likeness, with no limitation to commercial uses. This could potentially harm artists, authors who describe an actor (or a character played by a particular actor), vidders, and other fannish creators. There is also broad liability for anyone who “distributes, transmits, or otherwise makes available an algorithm, software, tool, or other technology, service or device” whose purpose is to make the replicas.

Because the ELVIS Act establishes liability for both the “user” and the “developer/platform”, it means that – without clear definitions – there could be a legal free-for-all on social media. The act's wording could mean that anyone clicking on an infringing document could be at legal risk. One of the OTW's partner organizations, NetChoice has more information about why the ELVIS Act could put fans at risk just for posting concert photos or for being associated with violations. As their post points out, there could be better laws passed instead to ban deep fakes.
The ELVIS Act is unnecessary as Tennessee law already adequately handles fraud, deception, and misappropriating someone’s likeness. If you are also concerned about this Act, let Tennessee officials know.


The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

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Published:
2024-03-13 16:06:12 UTC
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OTW recruitment banner by Blair

Would you like to wrangle AO3 tags? Can you read and translate from Russian to English? Can you read and translate from Filipino to English? Are you a digital artist interested in the OTW's work? The Organization for Transformative Works is recruiting!

We're excited to announce the opening of applications for:

  • Tag Wrangling Volunteer - closing 20 March 2024 at 23:59 UTC [or after 90 applications]
  • Tag Wrangling Volunteer (Russian) - closing 20 March 2024 at 23:59 UTC [or after 30 applications]
  • Tag Wrangling Volunteer (Filipino) - closing 20 March 2024 at 23:59 UTC [or after 30 applications]
  • Communications Graphics Volunteer - closing 20 March 2024 at 23:59 UTC [or after 40 applications]

We have included more information on each role below. Open roles and applications will always be available at the volunteering page. If you don't see a role that fits with your skills and interests now, keep an eye on the listings. We plan to put up new applications every few weeks, and we will also publicize new roles as they become available.

All applications generate a confirmation page and an auto-reply to your e-mail address. We encourage you to read the confirmation page and to whitelist our email address in your e-mail client. If you do not receive the auto-reply within 24 hours, please check your spam filters and then contact us.

If you have questions regarding volunteering for the OTW, check out our Volunteering FAQ.

Tag Wrangling Volunteer

The Tag Wranglers are responsible for helping to connect and sort the tags on AO3! Wranglers follow internal guidelines to choose the tags that appear in the filters and auto-complete, which link related works together. This makes it easier to browse and search on the archive.

If you’re an experienced AO3 user who likes organizing, working in teams, or having excuses to fact-check your favorite fandoms, you might enjoy tag wrangling! To join us, click through to the job description and fill in our application form. There will also be a short questionnaire that will help us assess whether you have the skills and attributes that will lead to your success in this role.

Please note: you must be 18+ in order to apply for this role. For this role, we’re currently looking for wranglers for specific fandoms only, which will change each recruitment round. Please see the application for which fandoms are in need.

Wranglers need to be fluent in English but we welcome applicants who are also fluent in other languages, especially Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian), Português brasileiro (Brazilian Portuguese), Čeština (Czech), Español (Spanish), isiZulu (Zulu), Italiano (Italian), Polski (Polish), Suomi (Finnish), Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese), Türkçe (Turkish), Українська (Ukrainian), ไทย (Thai), 한국어 (Korean), беларуская (Belarusian) and 中文 (Chinese - we welcome all dialects) — but help with other languages would be much appreciated!

Applications are due 20 March 2024 [or after 90 applications]

Tag Wrangling Volunteer (Russian)

The Tag Wranglers are responsible for helping to connect and sort the tags on AO3! Wranglers follow internal guidelines to choose the tags that appear in the filters and auto-complete, which link related works together. This makes it easier to browse and search on the archive.

If you're a fluent Russian speaker who likes organizing, working in teams, or having excuses to fact-check your favorite fandoms, you might enjoy tag wrangling! To join us, click through to the job description and fill in our application form. There will also be a short questionnaire that will help us assess whether you have the skills and attributes that will lead to your success in this role.

Please note: you must be 18+ in order to apply for this role. We’re currently looking for applicants who are fluent in both English and Russian (we welcome all dialects!). The work for this position will involve both regular Tag Wrangling work and translating tags from Russian into English. While this role has specific language requirements, we also always welcome multilingual speakers as part of our regular role, so please consider applying for that role if translating for any language as part of the wrangling team is of interest.

Applications are due 20 March 2024 [or after 30 applications]

Tag Wrangling Volunteer (Filipino)

The Tag Wranglers are responsible for helping to connect and sort the tags on AO3! Wranglers follow internal guidelines to choose the tags that appear in the filters and auto-complete, which link related works together. This makes it easier to browse and search on the archive.

If you're a fluent Filipino speaker who likes organizing, working in teams, or having excuses to fact-check your favorite fandoms, you might enjoy tag wrangling! To join us, click through to the job description and fill in our application form. There will also be a short questionnaire that will help us assess whether you have the skills and attributes that will lead to your success in this role.

Please note: you must be 18+ in order to apply for this role. We’re currently looking for applicants who are fluent in both English and Filipino (we welcome all dialects!). The work for this position will involve both regular Tag Wrangling work and translating tags from Filipino into English. While this role has specific language requirements, we also always welcome multilingual speakers as part of our regular role, so please consider applying for that role if translating for any language as part of the wrangling team is of interest.

Applications are due 20 March 2024 [or after 30 applications]

Apply at the volunteering page!

If you have further questions, please contact us.

Communications Graphics Volunteer

Are you a digital artist interested in the OTW's work? The OTW Communications committee is looking for graphic designers to create digital art for our news posts and other official documents. Communications is the main information distribution team for the OTW. We manage the OTW News blog and related social media accounts, and we assist other teams in managing project-specific communication. If you would like to join the OTW and help bring news to fandom and the public, click through to learn more about the role and apply to join as a Communications Graphics Volunteer.

Applications are due 20 March 2024 [or after 30 applications]

Apply at the volunteering page!

If you have further questions, please contact us.


The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

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Published:
2024-03-08 17:12:03 UTC
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Banner of a paper airplane emerging from an envelope with the words 'OTW Newsletter: Organization for Transformative Works

I. TWC FANS OF COLOR RESEARCH PRIZE

TWC recently announced their new Fans of Color Research Prize. The award recognizes the best peer-reviewed article about fans and/or fandoms of color published in Transformative Works and Cultures in the preceding 3 years (currently no earlier than 2021) and furthers the journal’s goal to support scholars whose work fills critical gaps in fan studies literature about racially marginalized and/or non-western fans. The winner will receive a $500 cash prize. Please feel free to disseminate the prize widely and nominate qualifying articles!

In addition, TWC is putting the finishing touches on their upcoming special issue on Fandoms and Platforms, which will be published on March 15th.

II. AT THE AO3

Open Doors has recently finished importing works for The Common People Warehouse, an archive focusing on the ordinary people of the Marvel universe, inspired by The Common People (TCP) genre of Marvel Comics fanfiction. They have also imported both prompts and fills for The Disney Kink Meme, a prompt meme focusing on the Disney animated films.

In February, Accessibility, Design & Technology deployed updates to several dependencies, including preparation for the upgrade to Rails 7, as well as changes to the mass wrangling bin to make loading it snappier. The details of these changes are in release notes for the changes deployed from November through February. Systems also migrated their version control to a new location so that they will have less to manage in the near future.

In January, Policy & Abuse received 2,112 tickets, while Support received 2,106. During January, Tag Wrangling handled more than 437,347 tags across upwards of 63,400 fandoms, more than 1,000 tags per wrangler.

III. INTERNATIONAL FANWORKS DAY

Communications had a particularly successful IFD celebration – many thanks to all our participants! The IFD survey apparently led many fans to become more aware of our social media outlets and project websites, as we received more visits or followers to all of them.

Thanks too to everyone who took part in the IFD Fanlore Challenge, which has been a great success with 47 participants! Fanlore volunteers also worked hard on posts for Femslash February!

IV. GOVERNANCE

In the past month, Board successfully ran the first Board public meeting of 2024. They had 110 attendees and answered a total of 21 questions received from the participants, of which 14 questions were answered during the live meeting period. The OTW’s contracted culture firm also delivered their report, and Board is excited to share their findings with OTW volunteers soon.

Meanwhile, the Board Assistants Team has recruited a Board Cybersecurity Delegate to begin working on Strategic Planning's cybersecurity goals.

V. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PEEPS

Volunteers & Recruiting

From 19 January to 21 February, Volunteers & Recruiting received 111 new requests, and completed 118, leaving them with 42 open requests (including induction and removal tasks listed below).
As of 21 February 2024, the OTW has 867 volunteers. Recent personnel movements are listed below.
New BAT Volunteers: spacegandalf (Project Specialist) and 2 other Project Specialists
New Legal Volunteers: 1 Legal Committee Member
New Open Doors Volunteers: Eggy (Technical Volunteer), 1 Import Assistant and 2 Technical Volunteers
Departing Fanlore Volunteers: 1 Policy & Admin Volunteer
Departing Open Doors Volunteers: 1 Administrative Volunteer, 2 Import Assistants
Departing Support Volunteers: 1 Support Volunteer
Departing Systems Volunteers: 1 Technical Writer
Departing Tag Wrangler Volunteers: hmweasley (Supervisor), Kaysa, JoJo, mutedpiano (Tag Wranglers), and 10 other Tag Wranglers
Departing Translation Volunteers: Fifi, Mana (Translators) and 4 other Translators

For more information about the purview of our committees, please access the committee listing on our website.


The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

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Published:
2024-03-05 19:50:58 UTC
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These eight releases feature quite a few notable improvements, including: modernizing the way we generate PDFs, making it more obvious which comments were made by guests, and fixing an issue that caused forced logouts. Additionally, we started laying the groundwork to upgrade to Rails 7.

Thank you and welcome to first-time contributors Albert Pedersen, Claire C, Domenic Denicola, isaackwatra, kwerey, leo60228, and Paul Lemus! We'd also like to thank de3sw2aq1 for pointing out two security issues.

Credits

  • Coders: Albert Pedersen, alien, Bilka, bingeling, Brian Austin, Ceithir, Claire C, Domenic Denicola, EchoEkhi, Eliah Hecht, ellieyhc, james_, isaackwatra, Ivedonestranger, kwerey, leo60228, Paul Lemus, salt, Sarken, ticking instant, warlockmel, weeklies
  • Code reviewers: alien, Bilka, Brian Austin, Ceithir, redsummernight, Sarken, ticking instant, weeklies
  • Testers: alien, Brian Austin, Chelsea Cheyanne, Claire C, Dre, Frost the Fox, Jennifer D2, Kitsune_Scribe, lydia-theda, Maine, Priscilla, Runt, Sam Johnsson, Sarken, Sveritas, Teyke, Vio, wick

Details

0.9.352

On November 18, we released a bunch of bug fixes for tests and work downloads, and changed the way we generate PDFs.

  • [AO3-5626] - When a download contained information about works it inspired, the title of those works overlapped the little "Works inspired by this one" heading, making it hard to read. We've stopped that from happening.
  • [AO3-5774] - Tag category names in downloads were not pluralized when there was more than one tag, so the information block at the top of the work would say, for example, "Character: Name 1, Name 2." We've fixed it so it will now say "Characters" (or "Archive Warnings" or "Relationships" or...) when there are multiple tags of that type.
  • [AO3-5776] - There's a note at the end of work downloads that encourages you to leave a comment. It used to use the word "author," but we've switched it to "creator," because "author" generally implies written works, and not all works on AO3 are written.
  • [AO3-6058] - Downloads and work pages had inconsistencies galore when it came to including information about translations and other related works, so we standardized things a bit and fixed a bug that could sometimes reveal the title and creator of unrevealed works.
  • [AO3-6601], [AO3-6632], [AO3-6633], [AO3-6638] - We made it so a whole bunch of automated tests that used to fail from time to time are more reliable!
  • [AO3-6625] - The table of contents for EPUB downloads didn't always work on Kindles. We figured out the problem was related to spaces in the download's filename (seriously!), so we've started replacing them with underscores.
  • [AO3-6605] - The tool we were using to flag syntax and style issues in code submissions was out of date and unlikely to be updated, so we switched to a different one that's up-to-date and has more capabilities.
  • [AO3-5629] - When we started using Calibre to create the downloadable versions of works, it had some dependencies that meant we didn't want to use it for creating PDFs. Since it no longer has that dependency, and we'd found a security issue with the way we'd been creating PDFs, we've started using Calibre for PDFs as well.

0.9.353

We had a little two-issue deploy on November 29!

  • [AO3-6611] - Autoloading constants during initialization outside configuration blocks will cause an error when we update to Rails 7, so we've addressed that issue ahead of time to make the update easier.
  • [AO3-6636] - We've started using Chrome's prefetching to load the next chapter of works, which should make the site feel a little faster for Chrome users.

0.9.354

On January 6th, we rang in the new year with a packed release! Highlights include adding the ability to filter all works in a specific language and making it easier to tell which comments were left by guests.

  • [AO3-3217] - On fields with character counters, screen readers used to tell you how many characters you had remaining every time you pressed a key. That was very annoying, so we made them stop doing that. Now they only provide this information if you ask for it by navigating to the character counter.
  • [AO3-3471] - You can now filter all the works in a specific language by going to, for example, /languages/fr for works in French or /languages/ko for works in Korean.
  • [AO3-5048] - When a collection owner or moderator changed their username or pseud, the blurb for the collection didn't always update to use the new one. Now it will.
  • [AO3-5259] - If you opened the tag filter menu on AO3 News after filtering news posts by tag or language, it would contain a messy list of duplicated tags. We've tidied it up so it only includes each tag once, in alphabetical order.
  • [AO3-6528] - If a collection owner tried to add a banned or suspended user to their collection, they'd receive a message telling them the user was banned or suspended. For privacy, we've changed the message.
  • [AO3-6533] - Works are only supposed to have one rating, but it was possible to get around that by using your browser's developer tools. Now you'll get an error message if you try to do that.
  • [AO3-6551] - We added a character counter to the CSS field on the page for creating skins and made sure it gives a nice error message when you're over the limit, rather than just giving a 500 error with no indication of what's causing the problem.
  • [AO3-6626] - Wranglers could create tags containing Chinese and Japanese commas, which was bad because tag autocomplete expects commas to indicate the end of one tag and the start of a new one. Trying to create these tags will error now, so we don't end up with unusable tags.
  • [AO3-6643] - We fixed a bug that resulted in errors when trying to sort work search results by certain fields.
  • [AO3-6645], [AO3-6646] - We fixed some occasional failures in our automated tests.
  • [AO3-5995] - The database column that indicates whether a comment was marked as spam has a rather confusing name, so we took the first step toward renaming it by adding a new column named spam.
  • [AO3-5386], [AO3-6314] - We removed some unused columns from the database tables for preferences and external works.
  • [AO3-6505] - We made some performance tweaks to how statistics and collections are fetched to show in work blurbs.
  • [AO3-6639] - We did a schema dump to capture what the current data structure looks like before we upgrade to Rails 7.
  • [AO3-6548] - Comments left by guests got a makeover! They'll now have a different icon from the default icon for logged in users, plus the word "(Guest)" will be added in nice bold text beside the commenter's name.
  • [AO3-6579] - We changed the browser page title on the Create Account from "New Registration" to "Create Account." Consistency! 🎉
  • [AO3-6609] - Checking the status of your invitation will now give you the option of having it resent to you, assuming you haven't used it yet and it was sent more than 24 hours ago.
  • [AO3-6631] - The Twitter widget on the homepage no longer worked, so we replaced it with links to where you can find us on social media.
  • [AO3-6386] - Our previews for testing translated emails weren't working right because the fake email addresses were being translated, which would sometimes result in invalid characters in the addresses. To fix that, we've changed how the fake email addresses are generated.
  • [AO3-6650] - After we added chapter prefetching in the last release, we noticed the new code wasn't always included when it should've been. We tracked down the cache block that was causing this and moved the prefetch code outside it.
  • [AO3-6653] - We updated the tool that automatically adds and removes labels on pull requests.

0.9.355 & 0.9.356

On 8 January and 11 January, we fixed some performance and security issues.

  • [AO3-6664] - We made some performance improvements to the code that handles both redirects for works imported by Open Doors and checking to make sure a URL has only been imported once.
  • [AO3-6665] - We added protocol restrictions for URLs used for the source and track elements of audio and video embeds to ensure they begin with http:// or https://.
  • [AO3-6666] - Allowing users to resend invitations (AO3-6609) was causing some performance issues, so we reverted that change until we can make the code work better.

0.9.357

We did a bit of housekeeping on January 16.

  • [AO3-6662] - The automated task for deleting unused tags stopped working, so we fixed it on production. Then we had to commit that fix to the codebase.
  • [AO3-6663] - We fixed an occasional test failure related to archivists and co-creators.
  • [AO3-6654], [AO3-6655], [AO3-6660] - Our dependency updater updated a few things we use when running automated options on GitHub.

0.9.358

On January 24, we made some changes to session cookies, which required some downtime to ensure logged in users didn't get logged out.

  • [AO3-6629] - We've switched from encrypted cookies to signed-only cookies to increase compatibility with Cloudflare. This change, combined with some work by our lovely Systems team, should reduce the number of forced logouts some users were experiencing.

0.9.359

Our February 10 release features the ability to add parent skins in the skin wizard, plus a big performance improvement for wrangling pages.

  • [AO3-6566] - The code for telling assistive technology (e.g., screen readers) that help links control the help pop-up was written wrong, so we made a one-character change and fixed it.
  • [AO3-6574] - We updated how our menu items present themselves to screen readers to match current standards.
  • [AO3-6659] - When banning a user for spam, admins have the option to delete all their creations, including collections. The list could include collections the user belonged to but did not own, which wasn't quite right. That bug has been fixed.
  • [AO3-6473] - There was some code in the Application Controller that wasn't used, so we got rid of it.
  • [AO3-6651] - We've been using Rails 6.1 for about a year now, so we updated to use the default settings that go with that version.
  • [AO3-6656], [AO3-6657], [AO3-6673], [AO3-6675], [AO3-6677] - Our handy bot friend updated several of our dependencies and automated tools for us. 🤖
  • [AO3-2722] - You can now add parent skins from the skin wizard!
  • [AO3-6210] - In order to improve performance and make some nifty things possible down the line, we've begun loading the tags in the mass wrangling bins from Elasticsearch, not from SQL.
  • [AO3-6500] - Entering a URL with the HTTPS protocol when bookmarking an external work, providing a link in a challenge prompt, or setting a header for your collection will no longer result in the protocol getting changed to HTTP.
  • [AO3-6572] - For troubleshooting and anti-abuse purposes, admins can now see exactly when a user blocked or muted someone.
  • [AO3-6637] - Remember release 0.9.353, when we started using prefetching to speed up chapter loading times in Chrome? Well, now we've moved on to an even newer and faster way of doing the same thing: prerendering!
  • [AO3-6640] - With each new version of Ruby on Rails, there are new default configurations for how things work under the hood. We still had some old ones set, so to prepare for upgrading Rails, we removed them.

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Spotlight on Open Doors

Open Doors is pleased to announce the completion of 11 archive import projects in 2023, a total of over 10,000 works! We hope that you will find old and new favorites in the collections listed below.

Open Doors has been importing at-risk archives of fanworks since 2012, starting with the Smallville Slash Archive. These latest projects bring our total number of archives imported to 101! The 100th archive imported was the LeBeau Library of the Gambit Guild forum.


A Priest in Korea

Completed: January 2023

Susan Leinbach created fanart and fanfiction in a number of fandoms, including M*A*S*H (as Iolanthe) and Star Trek. Unfortunately, Susan passed away in June 2006. Susan’s next of kin agreed for archivist Quordle to preserve Susan’s M*A*S*H fanfiction, which Susan originally shared using the pseud Iolanthe on her website titled A Priest in Korea.

Find works at the Iolanthe_memorial AO3 account.

For more information about the archive and its move to the AO3, see the A Priest in Korea import announcement post. To learn the history of the archive or to share some stories of your own, check out the Susan Leinbach and A Priest in Korea Fanlore pages.


Dragonfayth

Completed: February 2023

Dragonfayth is an archive dedicated to the Yu-Gi-Oh! pairing of Anzu Mazaki/Seto Kaiba.

Find works at Dragonfayth Collection.

For more information about the archive and its move to the AO3, see the Dragonfayth import announcement post. To learn the history of the archive or to share some stories of your own, check out the Dragonfayth Fanlore page.


Lord of the Rings Fanfiction

Completed: February 2023

Lord of the Rings Fanfiction was an archive for fic inspired by the Lord of the Rings books and movies. While the archive included sections for crossovers, Lord of the Rings RPF, and slash, the main focus was canon-based non-slash works. Founded in 2004 by Adora, the archive was eventually entrusted to Queen Mab, who worked with Open Doors to move its works to the AO3.

Find works at the Lord of the Rings Fanfiction Collection.

For more information about the archive and its move to the AO3, see the Lord of the Rings Fanfiction import announcement post. To learn the history of the archive or to share some stories of your own, check out the Lord of the Rings Fanfiction Fanlore page.


Viggorli Secret Santa

Completed: May 2023

Viggorli Secret Santa, an annual Lord of the Rings RPS fanfiction gift exchange focusing on the Viggo Mortensen/Orlando Bloom relationship, has been running on AO3 since 2020. In an effort to consolidate all the older works (2010-2019) from the LiveJournal and Dreamwidth sites, the moderator wanted to move those works across to AO3 as well.

Find works at Viggorli Secret Santa Exchange Collection.

For more information about the archive and its move to the AO3, see the Viggorli Secret Santa import announcement post. To learn the history of the archive or to share some stories of your own, check out the Viggorli XMAS Fanlore page.


Offpanel.net

Completed: September 2023

Offpanel.net was a superhero comics-focused online archive that ran from 1999 to 2016, featuring the works of approximately 15 creators on separate homepages. Its byline is, "Where 4-Color Doodles Do Off-Color Things," though the content includes stories of every rating and category.

Find works at Offpanel.net Collection.

To learn the history of the archive or to share some stories of your own, check out the Offpanel.net Fanlore page.


Weir/McKay Fanfiction Archive

Completed: September 2023

Weir/McKay Fanfiction Archive is an archive for Stargate Atlantis Rodney McKay/Elizabeth Weir fanfiction. The site launched in January 2006 and remained up until sometime in 2015, when the founder, Purpleyin, could not maintain it anymore and the site went down.

Find works at Weir/McKay Fanfiction Archive Collection.

For more information about the archive and its move to the AO3, see the Weir/McKay Fanfiction Archive import announcement post. To learn the history of the archive or to share some stories of your own, check out the Weir/McKay Fanfiction Archive Fanlore page.


Echoes from the West

Completed: October 2023

Echoes from the West was a Saiyuki fanfiction archive. It was closed and imported to the AO3 due to the original provider being no longer able to support the archive.

Find works at the Echoes from the West Collection.

For more information about the archive and its move to the AO3, see the Echoes from the West import announcement post. To learn the history of the archive or to share some stories of your own, check out the Echoes from the West Fanlore page.


The ARC

Completed: November 2023

The ARC is an archive for Primeval fanfiction. The site was hosted online from 2008 until 2014, when due to the founder's impossibility to maintain it, it went offline.

Find works at The ARC Collection.

For more information about the archive and its move to the AO3, see the The ARC import announcement post. To learn the history of the archive or to share some stories of your own, check out the The ARC Fanlore page.


What Makes the Desert Beautiful

Completed: November 2023

What Makes the Desert Beautiful (WMTDB) was an archive for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation fanfiction focused on the Nick and Greg slash pairing, active from 2004 to 2017.

Find works at What Makes the Desert Beautiful Collection.

For more information about the archive and its move to the AO3, see the WMTDB import announcement post. To learn the history of the archive or to share some stories of your own, check out the WMTDB Fanlore page.


LeBeau Library

Completed: November 2023

The LeBeau Library of the Gambit Guild forum was an X-Men fanfiction archive focusing on the character Remy LeBeau or "Gambit", active between 2006 and 2010.

Find works at LeBeau Library Collection.

For more information about the archive and its move to the AO3, see the LeBeau Library import announcement post. To learn the history of the archive or to share some stories of your own, check out the Gambit Guild Fanlore page.


Library of Moria

Completed: December 2023

The Library of Moria was founded in 2002, shortly after the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and was one of the first online archives for The Lord of the Rings! Unlike other Tolkien archives at the time, its focus was movie-based slash fanfiction organized by pairing. However, it quickly grew in scope and popularity. The AO3 collection is open and accepts all Tolkien-based slash, gen, and RPS fanfiction.

Find works at Library of Moria Collection.

For more information about the archive and its move to the AO3, see the Library of Moria import announcement post. To learn the history of the archive or to share some stories of your own, check out the Library of Moria Fanlore page.


We want to give a huge THANK YOU to all of the archivists and volunteers who made these imports possible, as well as all the creators who have transferred or claimed their works! We look forward to importing more archives in 2024.

 

Commenting on this post will be disabled after two weeks, on 18 March. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments regarding these imports after that date, please contact Open Doors.


The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

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Published:
2024-02-24 21:52:45 UTC
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Five Things an OTW Volunteer Said

Every month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer's personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Today's post is with Tanya D. Zuk, who volunteers for Transformative Works & Cultures.

How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does?

As an Assistant Editor for Transformative Works & Cultures (TWC), I help to review incoming scholarship on fans and transformative works by connecting articles with peer reviewers, synthesizing feedback, and maintaining journal standards. But mostly I help to keep track of where articles are in the process of being published. The cool thing about this position is that I can read new scholarship and help elevate marginalized voices in both fandom and academia.

What is a typical week like for you as a volunteer?

Lots and lots of emails. But in all seriousness, it is a lot of reviewing emails and updating the back end of the journal as each article transitions from stage to stage. There really isn’t a typical week as articles are in a variety of stages as reviewers come in and feedback goes out throughout the year. I will say that I’m always learning new things about the position and what it entails.

What made you decide to volunteer?

I’m a huge believer in open-source /open-access in academia and in education more generally. The opportunity to support an organization like OTW that makes things like TWC possible was something I couldn’t pass up. I’m a fan and an academic and TWC is the first journal that focused on fan studies that isn’t behind a paywall. So much of academia and what I do with research is behind paywalls, which can severely limit research, especially for precarious or independent scholars.

What has been your biggest challenge doing work for the OTW?

Networking. A lot of what we do is matching articles to the best peer reviewers for that piece, which requires a lot of networking and recruiting. Networking is still a skill that I’m developing. I think a lot of people struggle with creating networks and I look forward to building up my network of people invested in TWC & OTW.

What fannish things do you like to do?

I’m a hallway cosplayer, I tend to do mash-ups and cosplay of fanart. I’ve done a Steampunk TARDIS (life sized), Leia/Bowie “Rebel, Rebel” mash-up, Hooded Figure walking a corgi from Welcome to Night Vale (fan art), and a gender-swapped Professor X (with a femme Magneto partner). In addition to cosplay at various cons over the years, I am an avid collector of fan art and display my collection throughout home and office.


Now that our volunteer’s said five things about what they do, it’s your turn to ask one more thing! Feel free to ask about their work in the comments. Or if you'd like, you can check out earlier Five Things posts.

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

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Published:
2024-02-21 16:44:16 UTC
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OTW recruitment banner by Blair

Do you have an interest in fandom history or in fannish culture and the different tropes, ships, communities and viewpoints that make up fandom? Are you interested in social media, community management or outreach? Would you like to moderate fannish social media accounts? Would you like to help keep the Fanlore Discord server a lively and welcoming place? Are you fluent in a language other than English? The Organization for Transformative Works is recruiting!

We're excited to announce the opening of applications for:

  • Fanlore Discord Moderator Volunteer - closing 28 February 2024 at 23:59 UTC [or after 30 applications]
  • Fanlore Outreach Analyst Volunteer - closing 28 February 2024 at 23:59 UTC [or after 30 applications]
  • Fanlore Social Media & Outreach Volunteer - closing 28 February 2024 at 23:59 UTC [or after 40 applications]
  • Fanlore Social Media Moderator Volunteer - closing 28 February 2024 at 23:59 UTC [or after 30 applications]
  • Translation Volunteer - closing 28 February 2024 at 23:59 UTC

We have included more information on each role below. Open roles and applications will always be available at the volunteering page. If you don't see a role that fits with your skills and interests now, keep an eye on the listings. We plan to put up new applications every few weeks, and we will also publicize new roles as they become available.

All applications generate a confirmation page and an auto-reply to your e-mail address. We encourage you to read the confirmation page and to whitelist our email address in your e-mail client. If you do not receive the auto-reply within 24 hours, please check your spam filters and then contact us.

If you have questions regarding volunteering for the OTW, check out our Volunteering FAQ.

Fanlore Discord Moderator Volunteer

Are you interested in community management? Do you enjoy chatting with fans about fannish history and fandom in general? Do you like helping people answer questions about wiki editing? The Fanlore team needs Discord moderators to help Fanlore editors connect with each other, answer questions, and run our quarterly editing chats.

The Fanlore editing community on our Discord server documents fandom history, engages in challenges and editing chats, and works on editing Fanlore together. We need your help to keep the server a lively and welcoming place. If you think you might enjoy that, come and join us!

Applications will close on 28 February 2024 or after 30 applications are received.

Fanlore Outreach Analyst Volunteer

Would you like to help Fanlore reach more fans and reach new editors? Do you have a background in digital marketing or social media strategy? If so, we need your help! The Fanlore team needs analysts to research Fanlore's social media environment and fan internet activity surrounding Fanlore editing. Analysts will draft reports and strategies to help us reach more fans and potential editors. We have a lot of amazing fan history and fandom content, and a team creating promotional posts and graphics for social media, but we need your help to develop our social media strategy.

If you think you might enjoy that, come and join us!

As part of our application process, candidates who pass the initial review will also be asked to create a sample social media post for Fanlore consisting of a 280-character tweet and a 100-word Tumblr post promoting a Fanlore article. Further directions will be given upon applying.

Applications will close on 28 February 2024 or after 30 applications are received.

Fanlore Social Media & Outreach Volunteer

Do you have an interest in fandom history, or in fannish culture and the different tropes, ships, communities and viewpoints that make up fandom? Are you interested in social media, community management or outreach? The Fanlore committee is recruiting for Social Media & Outreach volunteers!

Fanlore Social Media & Outreach volunteers are responsible for writing and editing Fanlore's promotional posts on social media, planning and running Fanlore's editing challenges, maintaining Fanlore's social media channels, and thinking of ways to reach out to and engage with new corners of fandom.

No extensive experience required—only reliability, teamwork, good communication skills, and an interest in fandom and Fanlore in particular. Join us!

As part of our application process, candidates who pass the initial review will also be asked to create a sample social media post for Fanlore consisting of a 280-character tweet and a 100-word Tumblr post promoting a Fanlore article. Further directions will be given upon applying.

Applications will close on 28 February 2024 or after 40 applications are received.

Fanlore Social Media Moderator Volunteer

Are you an experienced user of a social media platform such as Tumblr, Bluesky, or Twitter/X? Do you enjoy interacting with fans about fannish history and fandom in general? The Fanlore team needs social media moderators to manage Fanlore's presence on social media platforms, reblogging a range of posts of relevance and interest to Fanlore editors, interacting with users on the site, and passing questions along to the rest of the Fanlore team.

If you think you might enjoy that, come and join us!

As part of our application process, candidates who pass the initial review will also be asked to select two social media posts on the relevant social media platform for reblogging/retweeting/reposting onto Fanlore social media and write 2-3 sentences explaining the decision. Further directions will be given upon applying.

Applications will close on 28 February 2024 or after 30 applications are received.

Translation Volunteer

If you enjoy working collaboratively, if you're fluent in a language other than English, if you’re passionate about the OTW and its projects, and want to help us reach more fans all around the world, working with Translation might be for you!

Translation volunteers help make the OTW and its projects accessible to a wider global audience. We work on translating content by the OTW and its projects from English to other languages, such as site pages, news posts, AO3 FAQs and AO3 Support emails. (However, we do not translate fanworks.)

We really need volunteers who speak Afrikaans, Arabic, Basque, Bengali, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Filipino, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Macedonian, Marathi, Persian, Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian, Thai, Turkish and Welsh—but help with other languages would be much appreciated. If you're interested in starting a team for a language we don't have yet, you're very welcome to!

(Please note that our Catalan, Chinese, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese teams are not accepting new members at this time. If you are fluent in one of these languages and interested in volunteering, please consider volunteering for another team within the organization instead.)

Applicants will be asked to translate and correct short text samples and will be invited to a chatroom interview as part of the selection process. More information about us can be found on the Translation committee page.

Applications will close on 28 February 2024.

Apply at the volunteering page!

If you have further questions, please contact us.


The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

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Published:
2024-02-16 16:42:52 UTC
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International Fanworks Day is a celebration of so many things we love about fandom. Whether you contributed on AO3, Fanlore, social media, or Discord, we're delighted that you've joined in for the 10th year of this special day.

Be sure to check out everyone's contributions in the International Fanworks Day 2024 tag on AO3 and using the tag #IFD2024 on social media. We have also had over 120 contributions to Feedback Fest on AO3 and at the OTW website, so stop by and add your own. Our OTW Tumblr mod has also been keeping up with many rec lists posted there.

So far over 55,000 people have taken the IFD 10th year survey. The survey will remain open until February 19th if you haven't yet taken part.

For 30 hours between February 14 and 16, many of you joined OTW volunteers for our annual chatroom games marathon on Discord. As usual, all of the filk participating fans created as part of our Lyrics Round Robin games is now available on the IFD AO3 account.

Finally, there's still a chance to get in on the fun over at Fanlore, whose IFD 2024 Fanlore Challenge will continue to run until February 18th.

We hope to see many of you back next year to celebrate our activities in fandom once again. And aside from activities run by the OTW, some of the other fandom group events are still going on. If you know of any others, link them here in the comments!


The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

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