Some like it OTW.

[hope]

If you’re reading this on my flist and you’re completely unfamiliar with the acronym “OTW”, here’s a tiny introduction you can skim through then scroll past if you’re not interested:

OTW stands for “Organization for Transformative Works”. It’s a nonprofit organisation, set up by a bunch of fans, which will essentially function as an umbrella/support organisation for a multi-fandom fanfiction archive (with other types of fanworks to be eventually hosted there too) and a few other fandom projects.

The reason a nonprofit org model has been set up to support it is to ensure its sustainability – that it’s on independent servers that won’t disappear/be ToSed by a corporation, that the works hosted on it can be represented as legally sound, that software solutions can be developed specifically for the fannish project. Essentially, the archive will be a safe and secure fannish space, built on technology made specifically for that fannish purpose.

OTW is governed by a board and run by a handful of committees working on specific areas and projects (almost 60 people). In addition, there are a ‘pool’ of volunteers from which people are brought into committees and also invited to help out with projects (feedback, gruntwork, consultation). In the near future, the OTW will be welcoming “membership” of the organisation – that is, a donation of $10 (or more) which will go towards sustaining the org (paying for servers, etc), and also ensure you’re able to vote in OTW board elections. Use of the archive (and other services) will be completely free, and all software built open-source.

Wow, that took longer than I thought! Dammit, I *didn’t* want this to be a tl;dr. I’ll try and be more succinct from here on in.

To find out more, the OTW website is its main PR tool – for those outside of the fandom community wanting to know what it’s about – and otw_news is currently where OTW & fandom interact (you can find out more & sign up as a volunteer from there, if you wish!).

[Requisite disclaimer: I’m not speaking in an official capacity, this is my understanding of how OTW works. YMMV, but I believe this is correct on all the important points!]


Now, onto the good stuff.

I am currently involved in the OTW; I chair the committee for the fandom wiki that will be hosted by OTW. In a nutshell, here’s why I decided to join the OTW.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to make this post for about a month now; whether I should talk about my support of the mission, or like their ideals and goals, and what I think it boils down to is this:

Yes, I believe in the core ideals that the OTW is based on. That kind of stuff is a given for me – legitimacy (though my definition of that word may differ to yours) given to my hobby - which also happens to be my passion - in the form of a safe space and being in control of my own representation? Yes please. I don’t want my sub-culture to be public or for-profit. I want it to evolve organically as it has always done; but I’d like for the stories (mine included) not to disappear. I’d also like it if every journalism piece on fans *didn’t* completely degrade us; as individuals and as a community.

But the question I’d more like to answer is: Why do I have faith in the OTW?

I phrase it like that because for me, my work with OTW is extremely similar to my professional work (developing IT projects & tools for a nonprofit organisation). As clichéd as the phrase is, my time is not cheap (or limitless!); I can’t afford to give to charity so instead I do pro bono work for nonprofits & community groups, and have to choose carefully. I see my time & skill as an investment, in a way – I’m not going to waste time on something that’s not going to bear fruit.

So yes, I believe in the values of the organisation. But I also have fundamental faith in the model.

Working in a nonprofit means I get to be part of a rich sector formed of groups & organisations that have been created to support specific groups/causes – often minorities or other “disadvantaged” people. A key characteristic of these organisations is their sustainability: it is the organisation that provides the support, not the individuals involved. This ensures an infrastructure that perpetually serves its constituents (or until it is no longer needed – which is a good thing! Eg. No more Cancer Research Foundation because we’ve cured cancer! Yay!).

Another characteristic of nonprofit organisations is that they’re *not* government or corporations/for-profit. And they’re not *trying* to be government. As in, they provide support, not legislation, and not forcibly. And they’re not corporate because their primary motive is *you*, the constituent, not you the customer or you the product-generator, where the primary function is making money from you for their own (often individual – eg. shareholder/owner) ends. Nonprofit orgs are there to help you, should you want it, but if not? Fine. Happily go about your business :)

And here’s the kicker, why *I* wanted to get involved in the organisation: nonprofit organisations rely on people working within them to exist, yes, but these people aren’t the organisation themselves so much as cogs in the organisational machine. So with this model, people will move through the organisation, supporting its purpose with their own skill, experience and expertise. The organisation will be enriched by the people who will be moving through it (between now and the apocalypse), but never serve the purpose of existing to benefit solely those people.

So, um, to bring my scope back in again – that’s why I’m involved, because I think this model is ideal for supporting fandom, or those fans in fandom who wish to partake in it (which is totally fine. Not government!). When I’ve spoken to friends about why I joined OTW, I’ve obviously not had the opportunity to give them a lecture, so I end up summing up how all the above forms my opinions and decisions thus:

Naturally, I don’t share exactly the same ideas, goals and opinions as everyone else in the organisation (duh, we *are* actually a diverse group of fans with a range of different ideas). But I support the core ideals of the OTW’s mission to the extent that I am eager to take them on and expand on them in my own way.

Getting involved myself results in further diversity and wide representation in the organisation, and outside it as well – serving a wider range of constituents. In other words, I didn’t come on board to toe the party line, but to make sure that the org is representing/supporting a rich, diverse variety of groups and types of fan, who all have a variety of different ways of thinking, using and doing.

And that includes types of fans like ME. I can get in there and helping to shape it into something that *my* kind of fan finds valuable.


This post is part of Why I Joined OTW Week.