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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 therealmorticia, who volunteers as Chair of the Board Assistants Team.
How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does?
I've been lucky enough to have several roles in the OTW, but my main job that keeps me busy these days is serving as the chair of the Board Assistants Team (BAT). BAT helps the Board of Directors with the administrative aspects of leading the OTW: documentation, copyediting, project management, etc. We also collaborate with other committees to help coordinate and complete special projects that require extra support.
A lot of our tasks might not sound the most exciting on paper, if I'm being honest, but I genuinely enjoy the work—especially since it brings a lot of variety in the types of tasks I get to take on. The Board's work covers all corners of the OTW, so in supporting the Board, I get to see and work with many different areas. Many of my projects are cross-committee efforts and involve collaborating with people I may never have connected with before.
What is a typical week like for you as a volunteer?
My week-to-week varies greatly depending on what's going on. If there's a public Board meeting coming up, I’m likely focused on its preparation and scheduling, and during the meeting I will help moderate the chat and pass questions on. If we’re working on a project with an approaching deadline, that will pull my focus. In a normal week, I am helping draft documentation for the Board, beta items drafted by the Board or other BATs, and make sure requests made to the Board don’t fall through the cracks. The vast majority of my work is asynchronous, so I tackle it in bits and pieces throughout the week as I have time. However, it’s not uncommon for me to have a synchronous meeting or two, whether with the Board, other BAT members, or a project team.
As a chair, I also spend a fair amount of time on more managerial tasks. This can include handling personnel duties (such as planning for recruitment or training new volunteers), writing documentation, overseeing projects, and the like.
What made you decide to volunteer?
I first signed up to be a volunteer in 2016 as a tag wrangler. At the time, I was spending a lot of time on AO3 reading and writing, and I felt that volunteering was a way I could give back to the site that had given me so much. Since then, I’ve held several other roles across a few committees, but my motivation has remained the same. I spend a lot of time enjoying the work done by the OTW's projects—whether it's fanworks on AO3 or interesting articles on Fanlore—and it's important to me that I can contribute in return.
What has been your biggest challenge doing work for the OTW?
Tough question. The main thing that comes to mind is the process for setting up BAT in the first place. It had been a long time since the last time a new committee was created, so lots of the documentation was outdated or lost to the sands of time. This meant the BAT proposal and setup process involved a lot of back-and-forth between various committees for guidance, answers, and feedback on the next steps.
Beyond that, being a brand-new committee meant that all of our documentation and processes had to largely be written from scratch, so there was a lot of setup work to do (and in fact it is still being done). In a way, this is an advantage to BAT, as it allows us to more easily adapt to current needs; but it's also a challenge, as it means a lot of work in establishing procedures, building up the volunteer pool, and so on.
What fannish things do you like to do?
I’m a big reader, first and foremost. I’m always on the hunt for new works to consume. I've returned to an old favorite and am currently back to obsessing about Star Trek. I’ve also really gotten into Hockey RPF lately, and I’m happy to take recommendations if you’ve got any!
I’ve done some writing in the past, but that’s not a major focus of my fannish time. The main fannish activity I focus on now, aside from reading, is volunteering; it’s both enjoyable and fulfilling, as it allows me to give back and help provide some of that enjoyment to others.
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.