[Note: There will be 1 Q&A post, covering all the topics brought up during the user-submitted Q&A period. Candidates were limited to 300 words per answer.]
How do you understand the role of the Board in the wider context of the OTW?
The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) Board functions in an interesting space compared to typical governance boards. While a generic nonprofit Board is responsible for determining the strategic direction and oversight of an organization, within the OTW we have devolved that function to the Strategic Planning committee to ensure that we have continuity of direction across multiple Board terms. We also have less financial oversight than a typical nonprofit governance board, with much of that role overseen by our Finance committee.
Having acknowledged that, the OTW Board does still have a legal responsibility for the organizations actions and finances. The Board (in consultation with Finance and other relevant stakeholders) sets the financial policies that we operate within, has ultimate approval of spend, and is responsible for ensuring that our actions are in service of our 501(c) declared purposes.
As well as executing that legal responsibility, the day-to-day role of the OTW Board is to provide oversight and support to the Organization as a whole. This takes a variety of forms; for example helping committees achieve the goals they have identified in their roadmaps, leading work in the Organizational Culture Roadmap space, and using Board’s strategic, cross-committee view to identify roadblocks or opportunities for collaboration.
What is one thing you’d improve in the current Board processes and why?
I would like to see the role of the Board members move more towards governing and focus less on delivering projects themselves. As part of that, I would like to see more structure around the interaction between the Board and committees. For example, as I mentioned in my platform, giving each Board member accountability for one or two committees with the expectation that they are responsible for supporting those committees to develop and achieve their committee strategy and goals.
I was surprised to find that as a committee Chair, my co-Chair and I were responsible for developing our committee roadmap in isolation without any review or validation from the Board. While it’s important (and appropriate) for committees to identify their own strategic priorities and understand what is actually achievable, good practice would be to ensure this is underpinned by the strategic goals and direction of the Organization as a whole.
If you could wave a magic wand and have something within the OTW change, what would it be, and what would it take to do it without magical aid?
One thing that would immeasurably improve the OTW would be the appointment of a paid permanent Chief Operating Officer or Executive Director role to support the operational and administrative running of the organization. While the Board Assistants Team has significantly improved things for the OTW, there are a number of planning, coordination and reporting tasks that would benefit from having one full-time dedicated person in charge.
What would it take to make this happen? Thankfully the Paid Staff Transition project is already in progress! So what we need now is to maintain the momentum that has been built already, coordinating and collaborating with the Paid Staff Transition Lead to progress this to completion.
What is the biggest concern for ao3, and how will you address it?
As I mentioned in my platform, my biggest concern for the Archive of Our Own (AO3) is internationalization and our lack of a multilingual interface. Developing this is a significant technical undertaking: not only does all the main content have to be translated, but there is dynamic content that has to be translated for a number of outcomes, for example some languages have a dual plural for “two” that differs from the plural for “three or more”. Beyond actual translation, sentences do not always look the same between languages; our web design needs to also work for languages that don’t use spaces between words, and for languages that read right-to-left.
Because of this complexity, a fully translated interface is not something that I can address on my own. But our users in languages other than English deserve to have their voice heard, so I will work with the teams involved on how we can communicate what is happening in this space, such as sharing a roadmap for what it will take to achieve this and ensuring that they have the resources needed.
Are you committed to preserving the OTW’s and AO3’s protection of freedom of artistic expression for fan creators, and not adding any new restrictions to the works allowed on the AO3 unless required by legal changes?
Yes, I am absolutely committed to preserving that protection. While decisions about any restrictions on types of works allowed on the AO3 fall outside the purview of the Board, to answer your question from my personal viewpoint: I emphatically support the principle of maximum inclusivity as fundamental to the OTW and the AO3.
Given the current rise of censorship in literature and media in the US, where the OTW is based, how do you plan to ensure the safety and continuity of the Archive and all it stands for?
It’s true that our servers are located in the USA, and that’s where we are legally incorporated so significant changes to US law would impact us in this space. Unfortunately censorship is also rising in many other jurisdictions as well, so making a permanent move to another country would not necessarily guarantee any greater protection in the long term…unless we follow the (unfeasible, but conceptually delightful) pirate radio approach and sail our servers out into international waters. Aside from taking to the sea however, the practical actions I can do at the moment are to keep supporting our Legal committee’s work in challenging laws that undermine freedom of creative expression, and to keep an active pulse check on the legal situation in the US. As things currently stand, the US does still offer us the greatest protection on speech and fair use, but if we receive advice that the situation is changing, then I’ll work with the technical experts to activate their contingency plans.
I’d love to ask each candidate what they believe makes them a better fit than the other candidates running!
Honestly I don’t think I’m necessarily a better fit then either of the other candidates – I think we all bring different strengths that would contribute to a successful Board. My commercial acumen and experience in organizational change do make me a very strong candidate, but Harlan brings essential experience in information security, and Ryan has such a wealth of knowledge and experience working across many OTW committees. A high-performing Board needs a diversity of viewpoints and I think all of us would add a valuable perspective.
OTW’s best-known project across the general population is Archive of Our Own, but OTW does other initiatives like Fanlore and its legal work. How do you think OTW could do more outreach to raise the profile of these other projects?
One of the challenges to overcome for the projects beyond the AO3 is name recognition: often people have only heard of the Archive. There’s a lot of really fun social engagement that we can do to direct the spotlight beyond the AO3, and I’d like to see us expand the range of communication styles we use, particularly in the slightly more casual space. Our fearless TikTok team is doing incredible work reaching out to a new user base for us, and now that the Terms of Service review is over I am excited to see them highlighting Fanlore and Transformative Works & Cultures in their recent posts.
We are also not a monolith, and there are other likeminded organizations that we can (and do!) engage with to uplift each other. I know our Legal team often file amicus briefs along with allies such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Wikimedia, and there is an entire ecosystem of other fandom wikis that Fanlore could partner with for joint events.
Finally, I’m really enjoying what’s happening on Tumblr at the moment, where users are shipping the AO3 with Tumblr (#AO3blr #TagTeam), as well as the ongoing Tumblr relationship between the OTW and JStor. I am no artist or writer myself, but this would also be a great opportunity to call on fanartists to expand the lore there. What does Fanlore think of AO3 and Tumblr moving in together? Any overprotective feelings radiating from Legal? What role has Open Doors played in opening doors to pave the way for the relationship?
I would like to know Elizabeth’s stance on censorship and the anti/proship debates.