Organization for Transformative Works/Open Doors
| OTW Committee | |
|---|---|
| Committee Name: | Open Doors Committee |
| Organization: | Organization for Transformative Works |
| Date(s): | |
| Focus: | preservation at-risk fanworks of all kinds. |
| Committee Roles: | |
| External Links: | Open Doors |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Open Doors is one of the committees involved in the Organization for Transformative Works.
The OTW website describes its role:
The Open Doors project is dedicated to offering shelter to at-risk fannish content. We have several subprojects and rescue efforts aimed at archiving and preserving different kinds of fanworks and artifacts of fan culture.
Open Doors is dedicated to preserving fannish projects that might otherwise be at risk of disappearing. We assist fan creators and archivists in preserving a wide range of historical and contemporary fanworks, from mimeographed zines to multimedia projects to entire archives. In addition to its work documenting and backing up at-risk fanworks in AO3, Fanlore, or as special collections on the Open Doors website, Open Doors oversees the Fan Culture Preservation Project, which works to preserve fanzines, etc. in partnership with the University of Iowa libraries. The Open Doors project supports the OTW's mission of "preserving the history of fanworks and fan culture."
Open Doors looks for people who are familiar with the AO3 and Fanlore or who are willing to become familiar with them, and who also possess good organization and communication skills. This work potentially involves lots of communication with fans who want assistance in preserving their fanworks; many of these fans have roots in older fannish traditions or modes of interaction. Ability to communicate with AD&T about current and desired AO3 features would be helpful, since Open Doors makes use of the Archive importer, which is still under development.
Open Doors meets regularly as a committee, but the workload is intermittent, since it is mainly based on special projects and archives/sites that request upload support. [1]
History of Chairs
2008: Francesca Coppa
2009: Francesca Coppa
2010: Heather Cook
2011: Heather Cook[2]
2012, January - March: Heather Cook
2012, April - December: FishieMishie
2013, January - June: FishieMishie & Jay Bee[3]
2013, July - December: FishieMishie[4]
2014: Michelle Dong[5]
2015: Michelle Dong[6]
2016: Michelle Dong
2017 January - July: Michelle Dong
2017 July - 2019 April: Michelle Dong & Alison Watson[7]
2019, May - 2020, March: Michelle Dong & Alison Watson & Eskici
2020, April - present: Alison Watson & Eskici
Open Doors Projects
- Main page: Open Doors
- Special Collections Gallery: The Special Collections Gallery links to rescued archives and challenges hosted at the Archive of Our Own, as well as to digital projects such as the Foresmutters Project, Kista and Demeter, and Missed the Saturday Dance which cannot currently be integrated into the Archive or Fanlore. These include .pdfs, multimedia fanworks, historically important fan sites, and other digital artifacts.
- Fan Culture Preservation Project: The Fan Culture Preservation Project (FCPP) is a joint venture between the OTW and the Special Collections department at the University of Iowa to archive and preserve fanzines and other non-digital forms of fan culture.
- GeoCities Rescue Project: The GeoCities Rescue Project is dedicated to preserving fan sites which would otherwise have been lost through Yahoo's closing of GeoCities in October 2009.
References
- ^ OTW list of Committees
- ^ OTW's "How You Can help Volunteer - List of Contact Names, accessed 19 November 2011.
- ^ OTW's List of Chair Names, accessed 2 February 2013.
- ^ OTW's List of Chair Names, accessed 22 July 2013.
- ^ OTW's List of Chair Names, accessed 20 February 2014.
- ^ OTW's List of Chair Names, accessed 9 December 2015.
- ^ OTW's List of Chair Names, accessed 27 July 2017.