briar_pipe
Hi everyone, and welcome to our Candidate Chat for 2019!
Today you’ll have the opportunity to observe all 3 Candidates: Kirsten Wright, Morgan Schroeder, and Rebecca Sentance.
My name is briar_pipe, and I’ll be hosting the candidate side today. On the audience/open_chat side, your host will be my fellow Elections Committee member disjointed.
disjointed, can you wave so everyone can see you?
If you as a Board member could change one committee policy/procedure, what would it be?
The Board does not (and should not) suggest committees changes their policies and procedures unless there’s a very strong reason to do so, such as legal requirements changing or inter-committee issues requiring arbitration. Even in those cases, I wouldn’t push for change without the committee’s agreement.
Even if I as a Board member could just go in and change how a committee operates, I likely wouldn’t know enough about the intricacies of the committee to do so unless I was a staff member. I do look forward to learning more about committees as a Board member, if I am elected, but that still wouldn’t give me the ability to go digging around in their policies.
As for the committees that I am staff on, I would definitely bring up potential changes as a committee member rather than a Board member, so that we could discuss and decide together.
Is there anything about the AO3’s Terms of Service or how they’re currently applied that you think should be modified?
I don’t think anything needs to be modified at the moment, though I would of course be open to reviewing them as legal needs require, should I be elected. As our Vision Statement says, “We envision a future in which all fannish works are recognized as legal and transformative,” and I think our Terms of Service reflects that. The last time we revised our Terms of Service for AO3 was to comply with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, and unless other legislation is passed that would affect us or the site undergoes a major change, I don’t see any need to further modify either the Terms of Service or how we apply them.
What is your strategy to raise awareness of OTW’s projects, aims and goals in future?
I feel that an important part of being a member of the Board is to be there to support all the committees as needed, and help them to coordinate efforts between themselves whenever possible. With that in mind, my strategy would start with turning to our Communication committee and our Development and Membership committee, since they produce the means with which we provide outreach to the general public. Another committee that I’d want to offer assistance to would be the Translation committee, since they would be able to help get awareness out to the general public on a more international level.
Morgan Schroeder: Morgan has been in fandom since high school, though staying in one fandom is very difficult for them. They joined the AO3 Documentation committee in 2016 and the Tag Wrangling committee not long afterwards, and they were also on the Support committee for some time. Outside of the OTW, Morgan works as a manager at an arcade, directing employees during the school year and assisting day camps during the summer.