All issues of the newsletter will be tagged accordingly, so you can follow our progress chronologically.
Accessibility, Design and Technology Update from Naomi Novik - We've had our first big coders meeting, our QA team has come on board, and Dana Dupont has come on as fabulous tech writer to put in order all the heaps of tutorials we're putting together. We're finishing up our intro projects and the roller-coaster of the archive project is approaching the end of that first steep climb.
Board Update from Naomi Novik - The board continues working on the FAQs -- more updates coming to an OTW website near you. In addition, Board member Francesca Coppa discussed the OTW at Slashday, a one day conference at De Montfort University in Leicester, England. We're also working on streamlining and centralizing all the internal documentation for the org itself.
Community Relations Update from
svmadelyn - Community Relations is currently working on a plan designed to help increase transparency in OTW's efforts. We will be spotlighting at least one committee, group or person within the organization monthly and showing what they're doing in their org efforts, why and how. (It'll be hopefully a bit more exciting than I just made it, yay!) Our first spotlight will be on the Translation group, headed up by ComRel's own ciderpress. bethbethbeth will be at two panels at Escapade this weekend: "The Organization for Transformative Works: The Best Thing Since Ever, or the End Of Days?" and "If you build it, will they come? Roundtable on meta fannish infrastructure building strategies."Content Policy update from
ainsley - It's a pretty safe bet that as long as there have been humans, humans have had sex. *gasp* I know, right? Sometime not too long after that, people started trying to regulate sex, whether through laws, religions, or resorting to fisticuffs. These regulations have had mixed success, but that doesn't appear to be stopping the stream of efforts.In other words, we're still talking sex. Fortunately, in this instance, talking doesn't prevent having. Sadly, partner not packaged with the conversation.
Development & Membership Update from
ignazwisdom - We're moving steadily forward with our plan to open OTW membership on March 21. An updated Membership FAQ is online now. We're working with our webmasters and Systems committee to develop a web form to make the process as clear and user-friendly as possible. You will be hearing a lot more from us in the coming weeks. :)Also, we are once again caught up on donation receipts as of February 29! If you made a donation to the OTW prior to that date, and you have not received an e-mail from us thanking you for that donation, please contact us at devmem@transformativeworks.org. As you can see in the Membership FAQ, people who donate $10 or more during the OTW's start-up phase (before March 21, 2008) will be automatically given a year-long membership on the date that membership opens--but in order to officially let you know about that membership, we need a working e-mail address, so please contact us. If you have received a thank-you from us and that e-mail address is still active, you don't have to worry!
Elections Update from
ellen_fremedon - No update at this time. Financial Update from Sanders - That noise you've been hearing is the crunching of numbers by members of the Financial Committee. Financial statements for fiscal year 2007 have been finalized and are being prepared for inclusion in the OTW's first annual report, which will be up on the OTW web site next week. An announcement will be made here when the report is available for viewing.
Journal Update from
mafaldastasi - The TWC journal welcomed aboard two new layout editors, who were recruited through the ad posted at 
otw_news. Nobody applied for the production editor post, so Karen Hellekson will do the job through the first issue, until a new person can be found.Legal Update from
killalla - The Legal Committee has been proceeding with review of licenses and has made some progress regarding research into licensing options, as well as supporting other committees with advice on potential legal issues where relevant. We continue to work towards developing a more comprehensive Legal FAQ and responding to queries from members of the public as they arise.Public Relations Update from
jacquez - Among other things, PR is working with Finance on the OTW's annual report.Systems Update from
jadelennox - Systems is continuing to work on all of our ongoing infrastructural projects, including backup automation, domain name registry, ticket tracking, and security.Volunteers & Recruiting Update from Jenn Ashin - To start things off on the right foot, we welcomed Ghani (
acari) as a new member this week, and are looking forward to having her on the committee.We have an exciting new opportunity for fan artists, especially those who want to be a part of OTW but might not have enough time to commit to a regular volunteer job. OTW staffers can submit requests for graphics to the Pinch Hitters mailing list, and anyone with the time, interest and the ability to draw, paint, manip or be otherwise shiny artistically can snatch up the request and go to work on it! To get added to the mailing list, either add a screened comment to the job post linked above or send us your name and email address at volunteers@transformativeworks.org.
If you missed the call for Translation Volunteers the first time, the job is open again as we're doing another round of recruiting for it.
As always, the Design Pool is open and accepting volunteers.
Wiki Update from
wickedwords - No update at this time.What details would you like to know? Please give ComRel a helping hand and let us know! Email us at comrel @ transformativeworks.org.
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femmequixotic, bethbethbeth, ciderpress, mirabile_dictu, shrift, svmadelynCommunity Relations Committee
