Anna Temel
Ok, we’re going to start the official chat now! 🙂
Hi everyone, and welcome to our candidate chats! My name is Anna and I’m a member of the Elections Committee. I’ll be hosting today.
This is the third in a series of five 90-minute-long chats with our Board candidates – the candidates present today are Aline Carrão, Andrea Horbinski, and Matty Bowers. The purpose of these chats is to see how candidates interact, both with each other and the public, and to give OTW volunteers and members a chance to ask questions not already covered in their manifestos, bios, and Q&A, as well as to ask individual questions of specific candidates. Transcripts of this chat will be posted publicly on our website.
We welcome all questions, subject to the following restrictions:
– Raise your hand to speak, like this: o/. You will be called on when it is your turn to speak. Use /done when you’re finished asking your question.
– Specify who your question is for, or if it’s for all candidates.
– Refer to everyone in the room by the name given in the sidebar for them. Don’t use other names you may know them by.
– Please keep questions reasonable and polite (these are our expectations: https://elections.transformativeworks.org/node/534).
– Make sure your question is not a repeat of one already answered in the manifestos (http://transformativeworks.org/news/board-candi…) or the Q&A (http://transformativeworks.org/news/elections-2…). If it’s a follow-up to one of those, please say so.
Let’s get started! If anyone has a question, please raise your hand 🙂
Isa
o/
Anna Temel
Yes, Isa?
Isa
Give me a minute to type
This question is for Andrea: You are the only candidate that is on the ballot that did not answer all of the questions submitted via Q&A. Why?
Anna Temel
Thanks Isa!
Please give Andrea a minute to type, too 🙂
Andrea H.
Thanks for the question. In the past three and a half weeks I’ve moved from Japan to California to Belgium, attended the OTW Board’s annual meeting in Vancouver, and made trips to Denver and Hawaii on top of carrying out my work as a director and as Secretary. In other words, I’ve been extremely busy and didn’t always have reliable internet. I wish I could have completed all the questions, but unfortunately I haven’t yet acquired a time-turner! /done
Anna Temel
Thanks Andrea! Isa, do you have any follow-ups?
Isa
Not for now
Anna Temel
Ok! Do we have more questions?
syllic
o/
Anna Temel
Please go on, syllic!
syllic
Thanks Anna. My question is for Andrea as well. Hi, Andrea. The current Board has spoken a lot about confidentiality policies and how they relate to transparency. Two chats ago you mentioned you would “try to educate the OTW membership about what confidentiality means in the context of a non-profit so that they can have more reasonable expectations about transparency”. Could you give a quick summary of what it means to you, and perhaps of the current policies in place governing your decisions to disclose/not disclose info?
Anna Temel
is that all, syllic?
syllic
Sorry! /done
Anna Temel
no problem! thank you for the question!
Nerine Luna C.
o/
CJ R.
o/
Anna Temel
Nerine, we’ll get to you right after Andrea answers, if syllic won’t have any follow-ups 🙂
Andrea H.
Thanks for the question. The short answer is that the Board of Directors is bound to keep a lot of information about the OTW and/or the Board’s decisions and/or operations confidential in order to safeguard the organization. We’ve seen first-hand that a lot of people don’t understand what that means or that in many cases that it’s not that we don’t want to discuss these things with larger sets of people; it’s that we’re simply bound as directors not to do so because we’re bound to put the good of the organization as a whole first. In terms of my decisions, like everyone on the Board, I’m bound by these principles and specific advice from the organization’s counsel. If you have more specific questions about what directors can and can’t talk about, I’d actually suggest you consult Legal, as they are the organization’s counsel and they can give you the most specific answers, since they are actually lawyers. /done
syllic
Thanks very much Andrea. Anna, I have a follow up?
Anna Temel
please go on!
syllic
This is for all candidates: given what Andrea highlighted above re: possible misunderstanding from OTW members regarding confidentiality, if elected, would you consider publishing a kind of “Confidentiality: What it means, what it covers, and the legal underpinnings”-type post on the site? /done
Anna Temel
Thank you! Give our candidates a moment to type. Then, if you have no more follow ups, we’ll move to Nerine, then to CJ R.
Andrea H.
Thanks for the question. This is actually something that the current Board is discussing doing at some point in the near future, though not necessarily in the form of a blog post, or not just in the form of a blog post. The Non-Profit 101 chats that were held about a year ago might be another good model; that would be specifically targeted at OTW personnel. /done
Aline C.
I have nothing against posting something like this. It would require input from Legal and the whole board so the information is based in our concrete case and address the limitations the OTW specifically have, but in general I like the idea. /done
Matty Bowers
I think having a document that clearly outlines Board’s confidentiality policy should be mandatory and would help clear up quite a bit of confusion. /done
syllic
One final follow-up, Anna.
This is for Andrea (or for any other candidate who can answer; asking her as current Board member). You mentioned contacting Legal: how would a member go about doing that? /done
Anna Temel
Thank you!
Andrea H.
Their email is http://transformativeworks.org/contact/legal /done
syllic
Thank you so much to all three of you for your answers and for standing. I really appreciate it. /done
syllic
And thanks Anna for moderating.
Anna Temel
Thanks for the questions, syllic! Nerine please go on, then CJ R.
Nerine Luna C.
This question is for all three candidates. It’s my understanding that the Code of Conduct doesn’t apply to the Board – which I assume is because it’s needed to be able to run the OTW/legal reasons? However, I assume we all agree that we would want a Board that behaves along the lines of the CoC, as long as it doesn’t directly interfere with their need to run the OTW, and generally behaves appropriately – towards the rest of the Board, towards the rest of the Organisation, towards OTW members, and towards basically everyone else. What do you think should be done to make sure there are safeguards in place to make sure a (future) Boardmember would not behave in an unbecoming way, and how would you want to make sure Boardmembers are held accountable for possible violations?
Anna Temel
is that all, Nerine? 🙂
Nerine Luna C.
Oh, I’m sorry. /done
Anna Temel
No problem! 🙂 Thank you for the question, please give our candidates a moment.
Muriel
o/
Aline C.
As far as I know, the Code of Conduct is applicable to board members, but it can’t be enforced, since you couldn’t remove a director from the OTW, only volunteers and staff, as a result of misconduct. That may change now that there is a procedure for board members to vote one of their own out of the board, but even so, that means that only other board members can be the judges of when a board member is out of line. I believe the essential element here is to put in place a way to mediate and, if necessary, remove a board member that doesn’t fall under board’s exclusive purview, one that can be used in last-case scenarios. /done
Andrea H.
Thanks for the question. One very positive consequence of the Board’s decision to amend the bylaws to allow for removal of directors by the Board itself is that directors can now be subject to the CCAP process. At the annual meeting the VolCom representatives present said that they might want to rewrite the language of the CCAP policy a little bit to reflect that fact, as the policy is currently written from the standpoint of committee chairs. But, in principle, it seems that CCAP can actually now apply to the Board, which is a very good thing as it should, like you say, hopefully make for a healthier Board and healthier organization overall. /done
Matty Bowers
This is a troubling issue; while a complaint can be filed, it can’t actually be enforced without the rest of Board’s support. If they ignore the complaint, there isn’t much else that can be done. This is one reason I’d like to give our members access to the rights given to them in our Bylaws – they should be able to vote out a Board member who is no longer acting in the best interests of the organization.
I do think we need another way to enforce complaints filed against a Board member that does not solely rely on Board’s active involvement. I would probably want to speak with Volcom and Legal to see what options are available. /done
Anna Temel
Nerine, do you have any follow-ups?
Nerine Luna C.
Yes, I have.
Anna Temel
Please go ahead!
Nerine Luna C.
Andrea, both Aline and Matty mention thinking about putting in place something or someone outside of Board who would be able to enforce a complaint being acted upon if, for example, the Board seems to ignore the complaint. Would you also be in favour of such an option? /done
Anna Temel
thank you!
Andrea H.
Thanks for the question. It’s an interesting idea and definitely worth considering. The Ombuds Committee, when it’s in place, should definitely be able to handle some issues involving directors, or at least that was part of the concept in principle when we approved the proposal last year. However, since the directors are the people who are legally responsible for the OTW, that does mean that there are legal constraints on how complaints involving them can be dealt with. That was part of the reason the current Board amended the bylaws to allow for removal of directors by the Board; it gives us a way to police ourselves and makes us responsible to each other in a way that we weren’t before, and it also makes us subject to CCAP. /done
Anna Temel
Thank you Andrea. Nerine, any more questions?
Nerine Luna C.
No thank you, I’ll give the floor to someone else 🙂
Annal Temel
Thanks! CJ R, please go ahead, then Muriel.
CJ R.
The OTW has a number of rather diverse projects, in spite of the common “the Archive and other things” view much of fandom seems to have. While communications within single projects (such as the Archive-related committees) is very effective, it’s very easy for one group of volunteers (say, wranglers) to have no idea what another (say, journal) group is doing. Across a volunteer team that’s crossed the 500-person line, this has lead to communications “silos”, and could influence some of the oft-discussed volunteer burnout, as well as prevent more synergistic efforts between teams. It’s hard to expect the general public to know what we do and why to support us when some of our own volunteers aren’t there. It also prevents volunteer and staff development into roles that might interest them or fit their talents better.
In other large multi-interest non-profits, it’s the responsibility of the leadership team to coordinate cross-project interaction. Do you have any thoughts on how you, and Board as a whole, would help promote and facilitate more effective internal, intercommittee communication? /done
Anna Temel
Thanks for bringing your question!
CJ R.
(sorry, for clarity, that’s to all and sundry.)
Anna Temel
(no worries! I should’ve noticed that /o\ :D)
Sofia
o/ (I’d just like to clarify something that’s been mentioned, if possible?)
Carli A.
o/
Andrea H.
Thanks for the question. It’s definitely an issue that we’re aware of and that we’re looking forward to solving during the implementation of the strategic plan, which specifically mentions involving chairs and other OTW personnel in the operations of the organization as a whole to a greater extent. At this point it’s difficult to say for sure what exactly that will involve, partly because it will depend on how the Board itself winds up solving the issue of its current workload. The fact that OTW personnel are so geographically distributed is also an additional complication that a lot of organizations simply don’t have to deal with–but since we’re not all sharing an office, we’ll have to get a little more creative. In the meantime, the Communications committee does a lot of great work covering the work of all the OTW projects beyond the Archive, and if anyone is curious about what they’re working on, I definitely recommend starting there. /done
Matty Bowers
I agree, this has very much been an issue. It’s one that I know many of the chairs I work with regularly have been attempting to remedy. I feel that our current communication tools contribute to the problem; one thing I’d like to do is investigate other options available to us. I know a few of our committees are trialing out other tools that seem to be working amazingly well. As a Board member, I’d like to actively encourage committees to seek out new tools that will help them do their job better.
I’d also like to encourage all committees (and Board!) to submit reports for our monthly newsletters; these are very effective at keeping volunteers updated on basic happenings around the organization. On a less formal level, I’d love to see us start holding more informal chat meetings once in a while – we use to celebrate various milestones in chat, and those informal parties were great for introducing people and opening lines of communication. /done
Aline C.
It’s my experience so far inside the organization that, once the opportunity presents itself, most volunteers are interested in the work that’s being done in other parts of the organization, and many are up to helping with it. So in my opinion, the best way the board can help promote internal communication is by providing the tools and spaces for it to happen. We need to facilitate and give incentive to informal chat and shared, open spaces, breaking down barriers and allowing volunteers to feel comfortable talking to volunteers in other committees (and in board itself) and asking questions, while at the same time making sure that up-to-date information is available on the internal wiki to those who may be interested in learning more about other people’s work. /done
Anna Temel
thanks guys! anything else, CJ? 🙂
CJ R.
nope, I’m good.
Anna Temel
ok! thanks! We dedcided to stick to the order, so we’ll move to Muriel, then Sofia, then Carli.
Muriel
So my turn now?
Anna Temel
yes! please go ahead! 🙂
Muriel
The Board’s in-person meeting this year was early October, after the candidates were announced but before the election. My question is to all candidates. From the Q&A I’ve understood not all of you are in favour of annual in-person meetings, but assuming they will continue to happen every year: what is your opinion on the timing of the Board meeting, particularly considering that departing members were involved in making decisions that will impact the organization for the next years, but not the (future) newly elected members who will be involved in implementing those decisions? In addition, some of the Q&A answers pointed out the benefit of in-person meetings in helping the Board members work together. It seems this would be especially true for new Board members who don’t yet know the people they’ll be working with, and less so for the departing ones. What is your opinion on this? /done
Anna Temel
Thank you for your question, Muriel!
Aline C.
I believe if the board retreats keep happening going forward they should take place at the beginning of the term, allowing the new board members to get to know current directors and making sure they people making decisions will be there for the implementation steps. /done
Matty Bowers
If in-person meetings continue, I would very much like to change the timing. I believe it could be beneficial to meet with new Board members fairly soon in the term to help get them up to speed on how things work and introduce them to the various projects being worked on. Financially, it also makes sense to invest in new Board members vs paying travel expenses for people who will be leaving Board in a just couple months. /done
Andrea H.
Thanks for the question. The current Board has had discussions about all of the points you mention, and in particular the desirability of having directors-elect attend the annual meetings: it happened to be the case last year that two of the three incoming directors attended the annual meeting in their capacity as staffers, and it definitely helped us to get to know one another in advance. It’s an issue with a lot of pros and cons to consider, but ultimately there’s nothing stopping the organization from moving the elections forward in order to enable directors-elect to attend, or from moving the annual meetings to some time in the first quarter–due to reasons of costs it doesn’t really make any sense to have the annual meetings from about April through August, given that that timespan is the high season in terms of travel costs basically worldwide. However, there’s advantages in keeping the annual meetings at the same spot in the calendar where they are now, particularly since we’re planning to keep approving the budgets at them and the OTW’s fiscal year is the same as the calendar year. All of this may be affected by such things as the implementation of candidate training for director candidates, too. So, it’s definitely something that I’m very open to continuing to discuss, but it’s a decision that will have to be made by the whole Board in consultation with other committees and in consideration of a lot of specific details. /done
Anna Temel
Muriel, do you have any follow-ups?
Muriel
No, thank you all for your answers!
Anna Temel
Thanks! We’re moving to Sofia now, then Carli
Sofia
Thank you! Regarding the answer given to Nerine’s last question: I have recently looked at the Ombuds Committee Proposal and even discussed it with a couple of Board members—I would just like to clarify that an ombudsperson can only mediate disputes, not solve them or act on them. Sorry for the interruption! /done
Anna Temel
Thanks Sofia!
Carli, please go ahead
Carli A.
This is to all the Candidates! Currently there are discussions within/outside the Org regarding over-extension of finances and personnel. Let’s ignore those. In an ideal world, what fandom-related project would you love to see the Org undertake? (E.g., Open Doors, TWC, Fanlore.)
Anna Temel
is that all, Carli? 🙂
Carli A.
yes!
Anna Temel
thank you! 🙂
Andrea H.
Thanks for the question! I’m a vidder, and I’d love for us to have the monetary, legal, and server resources to host vids on the Archive. Hopefully we’ll get there some day–and in the meantime, hopefully we can get fan art on the archive in the much nearer future. /done
Matty Bowers
A few years ago people were drafting plans for a vid related project, unfortunately the people behind it had to step away. I’d love to have the resources to get that project moving forward again! /done
Aline C.
It’s hard to consider entirely new projects with so much already in our plate, and I would certainly prioritize improving our current projects over new ones, but in a ideal world it might be nice to see the org supporting a more social platform for fannish engagement and exchanges like LJ, DW, forums etc. /done
Anna Temel
Thanks!
That’s it for today’s chat! Thank you all for coming!