Frequently Asked Questions
List of questions:
- Transformative Works
- What is the Organization for Transformative Works?
- What is the difference between the Organization for Transformative Works and An Archive of Our Own?
- Why was OTW created?
- What does transformative mean?
- Why was this terminology chosen?
- What do you mean by a transformative work?
- Organizational Structure
- Who is behind OTW?
- Who chooses the Board of Directors?
- How is the board elected?
- Can I become a member of the OTW?
- How were the committees selected?
- Can I volunteer to help?
- How can I become a committee member?
- How can I become a board member?
- How was the first board chosen?
- Who makes up the board and staff of the OTW? Is the OTW a small group of friends?
- Who is welcome to use the OTW services and to volunteer?
- Do the people running OTW have ties to fandom?
- Why are people volunteering so much time and money when they're not going to get anything out of it?
- Is there an official list of all OTW committee members on all OTW committees?
- Legal
- Why does OTW believe that transformative works are legal?
- What is the OTW's position on fanfic of fanfic?
- What is the OTW's position on plagiarism vs. fanfiction?
- Is the OTW trying to change the law?
- Who are the OTW's legal partners?
- Does the OTW support the commercialization of fanfic?
- I am a professional creator. Is the OTW trying to destroy my copyright?
- If fanfiction is legal, can I sell my Harry Potter fanfiction novel?
- Will OTW's legal advocacy project be willing to help fans outside the US, such as fans from Germany where the copyright laws are different?
- What are your plans for a test case?
- Finances
- Who profits from the formation of OTW?
- Where is the OTW incorporated?
- Why does OTW need money, and what is it going to be spent on?
- Who decides what OTW spends money on?
- How can I donate to OTW?
- Are donations to OTW tax-deductible?
- Will I be able to donate if I live outside the United States?
- How will OTW protect the data collected on individuals making donations?
- What measures are in place to protect the investments of members?
- When will the financial records of the OTW be made public?
- An Archive of Our Own
- When will the archive be available for use?
- Why another archive?
- What restrictions will be placed on those who want to upload their fanfiction?
- What standards will be used to approve or restrict use of the archive?
- Will I be able to upload art and videos as well as stories?
- Who profits from the formation of An Archive of Our Own?
- Will the archive accept real person/anime/comics fanfic?
- How will the archive's Terms of Service (TOS) read?
- How will the Terms of Service be enforced?
- Will archive access be restricted by age? If so, how will it be policed?
- How will plagiarism allegations be handled?
- Will I be able to delete my own stories?
- Will fans have to pay to use the Archive? Do you charge a membership fee for the otw_news LiveJournal community?
- Why is it taking such a long time to make the archive?
- Is the OTW trying to replace all other archives?
- Will the archive protect me from spam?
- How will the archive control inappropriate content?
- Open Doors
- What is the Open Doors project?
- Why would I want to transfer my collection/fannish project to Open Doors and the OTW?
- What are your Terms of Service for Open Door projects?
- Do you provide server space to any fannish project that needs it?
- Why was the Foresmutters Archive the first Open Doors project?
- I have a large fanfic archive and I don't have time to run it anymore. Will you take it over for me under Open Doors?
- I put my story in a collection or archive that has since been transferred to the OTW. If I don't want it there anymore, can I get it removed?
- Membership
- How do I become a member of the OTW?
- Do I need to be a member or pay in order to use the OTW's services, including An Archive Of Our Own?
- Do I need to be a member to volunteer?
- What does membership include? Why should I become a member?
- Why is there a fee for membership?
- Is membership tax-deductible?
- Can I get a membership for someone else?
- How does membership work?
- Am I already a member?
- So if I'm already a member, and I make a donation, what happens?
- This terminology is confusing. Can you clarify?
- If I become a donating member of the OTW under my real name, will my fan identity be exposed?
- Will you connect fan identities and real life identities in the archive or the wiki?
- Can I buy a gift membership for someone else?
- Can I pay for my OTW membership with cash? (Why not?)
- Can I pay for my OTW membership with a money order?
- Can I use a family member’s credit card or bank account to buy a membership / make a donation? How about a business card/account?
- Will there be a public listing of members?
- Additional Questions
- If fan creators really don't want to make money, why do they need an organization?
- Why do people write fanfiction? Why don't you just write original fiction?
- Does Naomi Novik allow fanfiction based on her own work?
- Why is Naomi Novik's Temeraire universe not released under a Creative Commons license?
- Does the OTW represent all of fandom?
- Why do the values and mission statements focus on female fans?
- What's the purpose behind the journal?
- Is your wiki only going to be about media fandom?
- Why is OTW using LiveJournal as a means of communication with fandom?
- If you legitimize or legalize fanfic, won't people commercialize fanfic and expect to be paid for it?
- Most creators currently turn a blind eye to fanfiction; by pushing for its legality, won't you encourage them to crack down?
- If fanfiction is legitimate, wouldn't that also mean that publishers or studios could produce derivative works without compensating the original authors?
- Who is the target audience for OTW announcements?
- How does the Organization for Transformative Works define fandom? In what ways do non media fandoms (e.g., sports and music) fit into that definition?
- What services will OTW offer to attract audiences that their competitors can't offer?
- Why does it take so long for the FAQ to be updated and for my questions to be answered?
Transformative Works
1. What is the Organization for Transformative Works?
The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) is a nonprofit organization established by fans to serve the interests of fans by providing access to and preserving the history of fanworks and fan culture in its myriad forms.
2. What is the difference between the Organization for Transformative Works and An Archive Of Our Own?
The OTW is the name of the nonprofit organization created to advocate for fandom and to house other projects such as the archive (which will be known as An Archive Of Our Own) and the academic journal.
3. Why was OTW created?
OTW was created to work toward a future in which all fannish works are recognized as legal and transformative, and accepted as legitimate creative activity. Our mission is to be proactive and innovative in protecting and defending our work from commercial exploitation and legal challenge, and to preserve our fannish economy, values, and way of life by protecting and nurturing our fellow fans, our work, our commentary, our history, and our identity, while providing the broadest possible access to fannish activity for all fans.
4. What does transformative mean?
Transformative works are creative works about characters or settings created by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creators. Transformative works include but are not limited to fanfiction, real person fiction, fan vids, and graphics.
A transformative use is one that, in the words of the U.S. Supreme Court, "adds something new, with a further purpose or different character, altering the [source] with new expression, meaning, or message." A story from Voldemort's perspective is transformative, so is a story about a pop star that illustrates something about current attitudes toward celebrity or sexuality.
5. Why was this terminology chosen?
The term transformative was specifically chosen to highlight in the nonprofit organization's name one of the key legal defenses for fanworks of all kinds (including real person fiction): that they are transformative of original source materials. The courts have analyzed "right of publicity" claims against creative works by using the transformative use test from copyright law, so this also applies to one of the main legal issues real person fiction faces. Because one of our primary goals is to defend the right of fanworks to exist, having a key defense for them in our name is important to the organization.
6. What do you mean by a transformative work?
A transformative work takes something existing and turns it into something with a new purpose, sensibility, or mode of expression. Transformative works include but are not limited to fanfiction, real person fiction, fan vids, and fan art. The OTW is interested in all kinds of transformative works, but our priority will be to support and defend the types of works hosted in our archive, and the fans who create them.
Organizational Structure
1. Who is behind OTW?
OTW is an organization created by fans, for fans. It's run by a board of directors. See About Us for more information.
2. Who chooses the Board of Directors?
The 2007-2008 Board was appointed to get the OTW up and running. All subsequent boards will be elected by OTW members. It is the Board's responsibility to organize committees, make final decisions, keep financial records, handle compliance, and so on.
3. How is the board elected?
Board members are asked to serve three-year terms. One-third of the Board is elected every year (starting after the first year). Every member of the OTW gets one vote in the election, regardless of how much they contribute.
4. Can I become a member of the OTW?
Absolutely! We welcome anyone who wants to support the organization. The minimum annual donation for membership is US $10.
5. How were the committees selected?
The Board determines which committees should be organized, then appoints chairs to those committees and approves committee members chosen by the chairs. The initial committee members were chosen from people who responded to the first public "Willing to Serve" call for volunteers.
6. Can I volunteer to help?
Absolutely! Please contact our Volunteers committee at volunteers@transformativeworks.org.
7. How can I become a committee member?
We are always on the lookout for great committee members! Committees are appointed annually, with occasional midseason replacements as needed. Chairs generally have a free hand in appointing their committees, and they will naturally be drawing most from those who have volunteered with their committee or have other (fannish or real-world) relevant experience. If you are interested in serving on a particular committee, please let the Volunteers committee know.
8. How can I become a Board member?
The Board is elected from among members in good standing who have served at least one year on a committee. Please note that Board members are required by U.S. law to serve under their legal names, so if this or a connection between your fannish pseudonym and legal name would be problematic for you, you cannot serve on the Board. You can still volunteer and serve on committees and as a committee chair, however, under a fannish pseudonym. If you are interested in running for the Board, please contact the Elections committee at elections@transformativeworks.org.
9. How was the first board chosen?
Naomi Novik put out a call for those willing to serve in the organization in June of 2007, and chose the first board from among those who responded, on the basis of putting together a team with the particular set of skills and experience needed to set up the infrastructure of a nonprofit organization, including its bylaws. These bylaws include the rules and terms under which a membership could be gathered and a future board legally elected.
A third of the board seats will be up for election this year, and within three years, the entire board will have been elected by the membership.
10. Who makes up the board and staff of the OTW? Is the OTW a small group of friends?
There are currently around 100 volunteers participating in the OTW's projects as board members, staffers, and volunteers. Most of them did not know each other before their involvement with the OTW. Some have been recruited through friends, but the large majority are those who have volunteered in response to our public recruiting posts. OTW's volunteers include people of many races, genders, cultures, sexual identities, and abilities. The OTW does not discriminate on the basis of any of the above, and we value diversity among our staff.
11. Who is welcome to use the OTW services and to volunteer?
We welcome everyone who wishes to discuss sources (shows, bands, sports players, anime, etc.) and fandom; we welcome everyone who creates or enjoys fanfiction, vids, fanart, and other kinds of transformative works.
12. Do the people running OTW have ties to fandom?
We are all fans first, and that is why we are giving our time to the organization. The OTW is run by the same people who have helped make, collectively: The Automatic Archive software, Yuletide, Buffistas.org, Polyamorous Recs, Pornish Pixies, the Exwood Archive, Vividcon, con.txt, DSX, DSA, The Snarry Reader, the "Snape After Deathly Hallows" fest, the SGA Big Bang, the Sugar Quill, the DS Seekrit Santa, the Supernatural Wiki, the Foresmutters Project, Sweet Charity, pirate_hunters, the Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive, the X-Men Movieverse Fan Fiction archive—among many other major fannish projects—and more stories, vids, and fannish art than you could shake the proverbial stick at.
You can find the biographies of the current Board of Directors, including their fannish affiliations, here on the website.
13. Why are people volunteering so much time and money when they're not going to get anything out of it?
We believe that volunteering is what fandom is all about: volunteering our time, our energy, our hearts (and yes, from time to time our funds—like when we pitch in to help someone travel to a con) in service of a thing we love and the people we love it with. The people building the OTW are donating time and energy because we want the OTW to exist in order to serve fandom. Same goes for the people who build holiday fic exchanges, the people who run cons, the people who make fannish icons for free, the people who write all kinds of glorious stories and make beautiful vids for free. (Besides, doing this kind of thing with other fans is incredibly fun!)
14. Is there an official list of all OTW committee members on all OTW committees?
Because we are an all-volunteer organization, our staff can change frequently, as volunteers' available time may change unexpectedly or vary from month to month. Community Relations keeps a current staff list in the otw_news journal, but this may not always be completely up to date, so please note that the best way to reach us is via the shared addresses listed on our Contact page.
Legal
1. Why does the OTW believe that transformative works are legal?
Copyright is intended to protect the creator's right to profit from her work for a period of time to encourage creative endeavor and the widespread sharing of knowledge. But this does not preclude the right of others to respond to the original work, either with critical commentary, parody, or, we believe, transformative derivative works. The legal case of Campbell v. Acuff-Rose held that transformative uses receive special consideration in the fair use analysis. For those interested in reading in-depth legal analysis, there is a bibliography at the Fandom Lawyers LJ community.
2. What is the OTW's position on fanfic of fanfic?
Fanfiction is fair use, whether or not it is based on a television show, a published book, or another piece of fanfiction. It is still a new expression of transformed ideas. The OTW does not make distinctions between stories based on the source.
As a matter of courtesy, fanfiction writers commonly seek permission to write a spinoff or a remix of another writer'swork, or will refrain from writing fanfiction for a universe where the original creator has expressed objections. However,this is etiquette and not law, and the OTW will not try to enforce politeness. Our official policy is "credit, notpermission": fan writers must acknowledge the source, but are not obligated to ask permission to write or remix.
3. What is the OTW's position on plagiarism vs. fanfiction?
There is a distinction between plagiarism (the unacknowledged use of someone else's words claimed as one's own), fanfiction (the acknowledged or obvious borrowing of story elements to tell a new story in the fanfiction writer's words), and quotation (the acknowledged or obvious use of small excerpts of another's work).
(By "obvious" we mean that even if a fan writer didn't put a disclaimer on her story, readers know that she did not invent Wonder Woman or Voldemort, or the phrase "Use the Force, Luke.")
Plagiarism is deceitful and prevents the original author from receiving credit for her own original work. Fanfiction and quotation are important fair uses which acknowledge the original author and her work. The OTW does not support plagiarism; we do support fanfiction and quotation.
4. Is the OTW trying to change the law?
No. While case law in this area is limited, we believe that current copyright law already supports our understanding of fanfiction as fair use. We seek to broaden knowledge of fan creators' rights and reduce the confusion and uncertainty on both fan and pro creators' sides about fair use as it applies to fanworks. One of our models is the documentary filmmakers' statement of best practices in fair use, which has helped clarify the role of fair use in documentary filmmaking.
5. Who are the OTW's legal partners?
The OTW's Legal committee is consulting with the Stanford Fair Use Project and the EFF.
6. Does the OTW support the commercialization of fanfic?
The mission of the OTW is first and foremost to protect the fan creators who work purely for love and share their works for free within the fannish gift economy, who are looking to be part of a community and connect to other fans and to celebrate and to respond to the media works that they enjoy. These fans create vibrant and active communities around the work they are celebrating, tend to spend heaps of money on the original work and associated merchandise, and encourage others to buy also. They are not competing with the original creator's work and if anything help to promote it.
While some transformative works legitimately circulate in the for-profit marketplace-parodies such as The Wind Done Gone (the retelling of Gone With The Wind from the perspective of a slave), critical analyses that quote extensively from an original, "unauthorized guides," etc.—that really isn't what fanfic writers and fan creators in general are doing, or looking to do. We just want to enjoy our hobby and our communities, and to share our creative work, without the constant threat hanging overhead that an overzealous lawyer at some corporation will start sending out cease-and-desist notices, relying not on legal merit, but on the disproportionate weight of money on their side.
7. I am a professional creator. Is the OTW trying to destroy my copyright?
Not at all. The OTW does not oppose the derivative works right that allows copyright owners to authorize a mass-market film adaptation, for instance, or allows Anne McCaffrey to authorize Todd and not somebody else to commercially publish Pern sequels. The first president of the OTW is Naomi Novik, herself a professional novelist, whose work is under copyright and who has a stake on both sides.
8. If fanfiction is legal, can I sell my Harry Potter fanfiction novel?
The mission of the OTW is to support the noncommercial sharing of fanworks within fan communities.
Some transformative works do legitimately circulate in the for-profit marketplace as well: parodies such as The Wind Done Gone (the retelling of Gone With The Wind from the perspective of a slave), critical analyses that quote extensively from an original, "unauthorized guides," and other types of transformative works have long traditionally been sold.
However, these works are generally of a type which the original copyright owner would not authorize and which the courts have found should be allowed regardless of the copyright owner's consent. If you try to sell your derivative Harry Potter novel, on the other hand, you would have to make a strong case justifying your doing so without authorization from J.K. Rowling. The courts are going to be justly skeptical that you are borrowing her property for any reason other than to make yourself some cash off her characters.
9. Will OTW's legal advocacy project be willing to help fans outside the US, such as fans from Germany where the copyright laws are different?
We are absolutely willing to help if we can find someone with the necessary legal knowledge. Fortunately, our friends at the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) are making a major effort to develop global legal expertise, and we plan to call on them in such situations. In any situation, US or non-US, we'll see what we can do based on the facts and our resources.
10. What are your plans for a test case?
Right now we have no plans for a test case. Before the archive goes up, there's no way to know what content will be in it. We are focusing on building relationships with legal advocacy groups like the EFF and developing legal resources of our own.
One of the most exciting and helpful developments in copyright of late has been the development of "best practices," principles and procedures establishing what constitutes fair use in the judgment of a community of creative users. Best practices can successfully defend fair use rights even without litigation - see the statement of best practices in fair use. It is our position that, at a minimum, noncommercial, transformative fanworks are fair use, and the OTW will defend that position, just as the documentary filmmakers are using their best practices to make films and do business without litigation.
Finances
1. Who profits from the formation of OTW?
In a fiscal sense, no one; OTW is a nonprofit, so any revenue the organization takes in goes into the organization's coffers to support the work the organization does. The OTW does not currently have any paid staff and is run by volunteers. Our official conflict-of-interest policy is the one recommended by the IRS for nonprofits.
2. Where is the OTW incorporated?
The OTW is incorporated in the state of Delaware, in the United States.
3. Why does OTW need money, and what is it going to be spent on?
The OTW will need money to purchase goods and services that cannot be provided by its volunteers, such as expenses related to operations and certain administrative costs. Such operational expenses include the purchase of software and server space to create and maintain the archive.
Administrative expenses include a variety of items typical to a nonprofit organization. Such expenses include insurance, monthly charges to maintain a bank account, tax preparers, an accountant, and an auditor. Many of these services are designed to protect the OTW's membership by ensuring good stewardship of OTW's funds.
The OTW also will raise money for legal assistance to defend fanworks from legal challenge.
4. Who decides what OTW spends money on?
The Board is ultimately responsible for these decisions as part of its fiduciary obligation. For smaller transactions, the Board will delegate responsibility to OTW's committees to determine what goods and services may be necessary. All expenditures are reviewed (for reasonableness and against established budgets) by the Financial committee, which will actually be responsible for making payments.
5. How can I donate to OTW?
The OTW will be able to accept donations via the Web site by credit card or e-check, or by check via mail to our post office box. See Get involved for the details.
The gateway used by the OTW will not reveal credit card or bank account numbers to the OTW. (A gateway is an automated service that processes payments and transfers the funds directly to the OTW's bank. The gateway is administered by an outside company, which adds another level of oversight to the OTW's financial activities.)
Personal checks received by mail will necessarily have account information on them, but the information will not be retained.
6. Are donations to OTW tax-deductible?
Not at this time. We are filing for the 501-(3) status required for tax-deductible donations in the United States, but for now, contributions to OTW are not tax-deductible.
7. Will I be able to donate if I live outside the United States?
Absolutely! Fans living outside the United States also will be able to use the Web site tools to make electronic donations.
8. How will OTW protect the data collected on individuals making donations?
It is important for donors to realize that the OTW must track the names and some contact information about donors to comply with IRS regulations. Given the prevalence of fans using pseudonyms in their fannish life, this information will be held closely by the OTW and will only be available to those individuals on the Board and the Development, Financial and Election committees, who must have access to this information to perform their duties.
Anonymous donations can only be made in cash. We are considering what security procedures can be put in place should these kinds of donations represent a significant portion of our donor base.
9. What measures are in place to protect the investments of members?
It is important to remember that the OTW is a nonprofit corporation and therefore subject to laws and regulations that cannot easily be dismissed or overlooked by the OTW. The Board has fiduciary responsibilities to conduct activities in a manner that upholds the public trust because the OTW benefits from the special rights and privileges conferred on nonprofits by the IRS. The OTW will not only be scrutinized by its members and fans outside the organization, but also by the IRS.
That said, there are a number of safeguards in place. Misuse of OTW funds would constitute fraud and could be subject to prosecution. This operates as a solid deterrent. Distribution of the OTW's funds will require the review of at least two different individuals within the organization, as required by generally accepted accounting principles, thereby reducing the opportunity for fraud. The organization's accounts will be kept by an outside accountant who will be required to make regular reports to the Financial committee and the Board. An annual audit will be conducted each year, and financial statements will be prepared by the auditors. Finally, the OTW is required to file Form 990 with the IRS each year to report the organization's financial activities.
The OTW will produce an annual report, which will include a summary of OTW's activities over the previous year, as well as the organization's financial statements, and make the report available on the OTW Web site. Form 990 will not be available on the OTW Web site (it contains personal information about individuals that should not be made available on a Web site); however, individuals can obtain a paper copy of the annual report and Form 990 for the cost of duplication and postage.
10. When will the financial records of the OTW be made public?
This answer will be different for our first year, as opposed to subsequent years. Given that 2007 represents our startup year and that little financial activity will occur before the end of the fiscal year (December 31), it is likely we will be able to produce an annual report in fairly short order after the end of the year -- possibly within 30 days, and certainly no more than 60 days.
In subsequent years, when our financial activity is more significant and these services are being provided by outside accountants and auditors with schedules over which we have less control, final reports will likely take up to 120 days to produce. However, the OTW will be able to provide an interim report subject to final verification within the same 30- to 60-day period we anticipate for our first year.
An Archive Of Our Own
1. When will the archive be available for use?
Right now the archive is in the very early stages of development. We hope it will be ready for a grand opening by June-August 2008 and open for beta testing well before then. Those who would like to volunteer for alpha and beta testing should contact volunteers@transformativeworks.org.
2. Why another archive?
Our first goal is to create a new open-source software package to allow fans to host their own robust, full-featured archives, which can support even an archive on a very large scale of hundreds of thousands of stories and has the social networking features to make it easier for fans to connect to one another through their work.
Our second goal is to use this software to provide a noncommercial and nonprofit central hosting place for fanfic and other transformative fanworks, where these can be sheltered by the advocacy of the OTW and take advantage of the OTW's work in articulating the case for the legality and social value of these works.
3. What restrictions will be placed on those who want to upload their fanfiction?
Our legal team and our content team are now working on drafting those policies.
4. What standards will be used to approve or restrict use of the archive?
Our legal team and our content team are now working on drafting those policies.
5. Will I be able to upload art and videos as well as stories?
Initially, the archive will only host text. This is so we can get the first version up and running more quickly and so we can work out our costs and our policies before we add the (sadly more expensive and more complicated) hosting of art and video. However, from early on, you will be able to embed art and videos hosted off site.
6. Who profits from the formation of An Archive Of Our Own?
No one (including the OTW as an organization) will be making money from the archive or its content; in fact, the opposite, because the OTW will be paying to host the archive. Advertising will not be shown. Instead, we will likely have public radio-style pledge drives to ask for support from our users. However, no donation will ever be required to use the archive or any of its tools.
7. Will the archive accept real person/anime/comics stories?
Yes, absolutely.
8. How will the archive's Terms of Service (TOS) read?
We're working now on drafting a TOS document that works within legal confines and expresses the principles of the organization: primarily that fanworks are fair use and that we intend to be as inclusive as possible. An archive content committee comprised of nonlawyer fans who volunteered in the Willing To Serve call is working on the draft and attempting to write it in user-friendly language. When the committee has a full draft of the TOS, it will be opened to the fannish community for their input in a Request for Comments period. Additional comment rounds may be opened depending on the amount of revisions required. So the short answer is, we're working on that, so stay tuned for the first draft of the TOS.
9. How will the Terms of Service be enforced?
We will not be policing the archive actively; someone must report a violation of the TOS to us before it is investigated. An OTW committee will be organized from volunteers to handle these reports of TOS violations. These volunteers will themselves be archive users and fans. Like all OTW committees, this group's membership will rotate on a regular basis.
10. Will archive access be restricted by age? If so, how will it be policed?
We're working on figuring out an appropriate policy, and we will make this answer available for community comment as soon as we can.
11. How will plagiarism allegations be handled?
The content committee will draft an abuse policy as part of the Terms of Service. The policy will be shared with the community for comments. We do draw a firm distinction between transformative work, which we believe is legitimate, and the uncredited reproduction of others' work in whole or in part.
12. Will I be able to delete my own stories?
The Archive of Our Own is being designed to allow fans the maximum possible control over the stories and other material they upload - doing it that way makes both the fans and the archivists happier! This control will include (among other things) the ability to edit and delete your own stories, and, if you wish, to allow only other registered users of the archive to access them.
We do encourage you not to delete your work! One of the goals of the archive is to provide a permanent long-term home for stories. We are planning to offer you features to let you anonymize or even "orphan" your stories to eliminate all your connection to them, while still leaving them up so you don't break the links for people who have bookmarked or recommended them.
13. Will fans have to pay to use the Archive? Do you charge a membership fee for the otw_news LiveJournal community?
Fans do not have to pay to use the Archive or any of OTW's other services, including the archive software, academic journal, or wiki. All of these things will be free. We do not charge anyone a membership fee to belong to the OTW community on LiveJournal, or any other journaling service.
We have been formed on the model of public television and radio: anyone can listen to NPR or call in; it is supported by voluntary membership drives. People who pay to become members in the OTW will be able to vote in OTW elections and thereby shape its future direction, but the things we're building will be free and open to everyone, members and nonmembers alike.
14. Why is it taking such a long time to make the archive?
Building the kind of archive the OTW envisions is not a simple process. We're not just setting up an archive using existing software, but building new open-source archive software that can be easily maintained and easily reused, and which can handle potentially millions of stories from hundreds of thousands of simultaneous users.
This work is being done by a group of volunteers, including a group of trainees learning how to write and maintain code, to help build the fannish community of coders and a group of people who can help to maintain the archive software in future. In other words, we're not just building the Archive, we're building the builders.
We are also trying to write comprehensible and fan-friendly policies, such as content and abuse policies, with as much input from fandom as possible, using focus groups and public comment periods.
This will take a little while to do, but we absolutely believe it's worth the time.
You can follow the progress of the Archive's development in our biweekly newsletters. To get involved, e-mail the Volunteers committee at volunteers@transformativeworks.org.
15. Is the OTW trying to replace all other archives?
No, not at all. In fact, we hope that other fans will use our archive software (which will be open-source and free to use and modify) to build their own archives.
In the Archive of Our Own, we hope to create a multi-fandom archive with great features and fan-friendly policies, which is customizable and scalable, and will last for a very long time. We'd like to be fandom's deposit library, a place where people can back up existing work or projects and have stable links, not the only place where anyone ever posts their work. It's not either/or; it's more/more!
16. Will the archive protect me from spam?
We'll do our best. While spam prevention will evolve along with typical spam attacks, we currently plan to require email confirmation for new account creation, and to use a CAPTCHA-style spam prevention measure for comments from non-registered users. We feel this is a good compromise that keeps signing up for an account accessible, while also protecting users from anonymous spammers.
17. How will the archive control inappropriate content?
We will not screen content in advance, and so like most websites which host content posted by many users, we can't guarantee that you will never see objectionable content on the site. In particular, we are committed to hosting all legal, on-topic content, whether or not some users find that content objectionable.
Our content policy (currently in progress) will specify in more detail what content is inappropriate for the archive, and we will provide a mechanism for users to report inappropriate content to archive administrators. However, please remember that administrators are all volunteers, so investigating complaints may take some time.
Open Doors
1. What is the Open Doors project?
The Open Doors project of the Organization for Transformative Works is dedicated to preserving fanworks for the future. Our goal in particular is to preserve those fannish projects that might otherwise be lost due to lack of time, interest, or resources on the part of the current maintainer.
Once the Archive of Our Own is up and running, we will be happy to help maintainers of typical fanfic archives preserve or backup their collections by transferring the contents of their archive into the Archive of Our Own. We plan to collect these stories under the name of the archive from which they came, as well as to set up automatic redirecting from the original URLs if desired and whenever possible. Other fannish projects that cannot be integrated into the Archive may also be preserved as special collections, resources permitting. Both kinds of projects will be featured on the Open Doors page.
Please see the Open Doors project page for a complete explanation.
2. Why would I want to transfer my collection/fannish project to Open Doors and the OTW?
There are several advantages to transferring your collection.
- Long-term preservation. Your collection will be maintained and supported even if you lose internet access, interest, or time.
- Infrastructure. The OTW is set up to bring in volunteers, provide advice and technical help for maintaining and growing your collection or project.
- Encouraging contributions. Volunteers and contributors are more likely to invest their time and energy in a project when they have a real expectation that their work will be preserved into the future.
- Financial support in a nonprofit environment. The OTW will never exploit your work or the work of your contributors for individual profit.
3. What are your Terms of Service for Open Door projects?
These are still in progress and will be posted under the Open Doors project page as soon as they are ready.
4. Do you provide server space to any fannish project that needs it?
While the Archive of Our Own welcomes fanworks of all kinds, our resources for supporting projects that can not be easily integrated to the Archive are limited. While we are open to talking to the maintainer of any fannish project which needs our help, we are not providing general hosting like an ISP. A special project that requires its own server space or other resources will need to be approved by the Board as a special collection before it is brought on.
The maintainer of a collection brought on under Open Doors also has to agree to the Open Doors Terms of Service.
5. Why was the Foresmutters Archive the first Open Doors project?
Foresmutters is a bibliography and collection of some of the stories from the very earliest days of recorded slash: principally Kirk/Spock from the mid-1970s. The original maintainer of Foresmutters, Mary Ellen Curtin, was urgently looking for help to preserve and grow the collection, just as we were looking for a test case for the Open Doors project. She was willing to work with us on the Open Doors Terms of Service and to come on while they were still in a tentative state.
6. I have a large fanfic archive and I don't have time to run it anymore. Will you take it over for me under Open Doors?
Once the Archive Of Our Own is up and running, we will be happy to help the maintainer of an existing archive to transfer the contents of their archive into the Archive Of Our Own.
While exactly how this will work is still under development, we currently are thinking the process would create a new community for these transferred stories within the archive, owned by the maintainer, and all stories added will be tagged with the name of the original archive. So for instance, if the Due South Archive at Hexwood archive were transferred in, all the stories might be tagged automatically with "hexwood" and a Hexwood community would be created within the Archive Of Our Own. The moderator of the original archive would be invited to moderate the community within the Archive of Our Own.
In cases where the original archive site and address are still available, we also hope to set up automatic redirecting from the original URLs to the new locations in the Archive of Our Own, ensuring that existing links will be preserved. We also welcome maintainers who wish to back up the contents of their archives in the Archive of Our Own.
Archives that have been integrated into the Archive of Our Own will also be listed in the Open Doors gallery.
7. I put my story in a collection or archive that has since been transferred to the OTW. If I don't want it there anymore, can I get it removed?
Yes, absolutely. We will also gladly work with you to find some solution other than deletion that preserves your work as part of the collection in a way that makes you comfortable.
Membership
1. How do I become a member of the OTW?
Please fill out our membership form and send in a donation (minimum US $10).
2. Do I need to be a member or pay in order to use the OTW's services, including An Archive Of Our Own?
No. We will never charge a fee to use any of our services, nor will we place paid advertising on fanworks.
3. Do I need to be a member to volunteer?
No. We welcome anyone who would like to help!
4. What does membership include? Why should I become a member?
The OTW is a member-supported nonprofit organization, like NPR or PBS. Your donation helps us provide services not just to you personally but to all who might want to use them. Becoming a member also gives you a stake in the organization, and as mentioned above, confers the right to vote in OTW elections.
5. Why is there a fee for membership?
The requirement that most nonprofits use for membership is a minimum donation. This is a straightforward and easy-to-check requirement, and ensures that each member is a single individual (as opposed to one person creating multiple membership accounts in order to have multiple votes).
These fees also go to help support the OTW - to pay for our operating costs for both the organization and the archive, so that we do not need to use advertising or charge fees to users. We intend to keep our minimum donation low in order to ensure that it is not a barrier to entry for anyone who cares about the organization, but we hope that most members will give more if they can!
6. Is membership tax-deductible?
Membership dues will be fully tax-deductible in the US once we get 501(c)(3) status. Donations over and above the amount of membership dues will also be tax-deductible.
We hope that by the time we're all doing our tax paperwork for 2008, we'll be able to offer tax deductions for your 2008 membership fees and donations even if you became a member before our nonprofit status was formally granted. (Although we cannot guarantee we will get that status!) We'll keep you posted.
7. Can I get a membership for someone else?
Sorry, but no! You are however more than welcome to make a non-membership donation in someone else's honor, and we will notify your honoree that you have donated in their name.
8. How does membership work?
Membership costs US $10. In return, you get a membership which lasts for one year, and which entitles you to one vote in the annual organization elections.
Individuals can become members in the OTW; corporations cannot.
Memberships cannot be shared; if you're a member, that membership is yours alone.
One month before your membership expires, we'll send you an email to let you know it's time to start thinking about renewing the membership. A membership can be renewed at any point during the month before it expires.
9. Am I already a member?
If you donated during the OTW's startup phase (before 3/24/08), you automatically became a voting member when we opened the doors for membership on 3/24. (If you didn't receive an email from us about that, let us know!) OTW membership lasts for one year; an election will be held within a year of the launch of membership. Donations above the US $10 membership fee will be counted purely as gifts to the organization.
We invite everyone who wants to support the OTW, or who wants a hand in shaping its future, to join the organization as a member.
10. So if I'm already a member, and I make a donation, what happens?
We thank you for it, and we sing your praises! But it doesn't buy you extra years of membership; for elections purposes, memberships have to be renewed each year.
Or, phrased another way: the first $10 of your annual gift keeps your membership status active for an additional year. Anything you donate beyond that $10, during that year, is a donation, not a membership fee.
11. This terminology is confusing. Can you clarify?
We'll do our best. Here's a list of the various terms we use, and definitions for each:
User - Anyone who uses or participates in a project under the umbrella of the OTW, including anyone who contributes content to An Archive Of Our Own. There is no fee associated.
Member - Someone who has paid the annual membership fee of $10 to the OTW, and receives a vote in our annual elections in return. Only an individual can become a member.
Donor - Someone who donates money to the OTW, over and above the $10 membership fee. Individuals and corporations can both be donors. (See our corporate gifts policy for information on how, and under what circumstances, we'll accept corporate gifts.)
Staffer - Someone who is doing a specific, long-term job for the OTW and has access to all of Basecamp and Campfire (our web-based project collaboration tools). These people may be board members, committee members, or individuals (non-board, non-committee) with an assigned long-term task. All staffers are unpaid.
Board Member - Someone who is on the Board of Directors. You'll know these folks because they're listed on our website, and because we'll always use the word "Board" to differentiate Board Members from Members.
Committee Member - Someone who is on a committee. We'll always refer to these folks as "Committee Members," to differentiate them from Members.
volunteer - in lowercase, this means someone who is doing a temporary or limited job for the OTW under the guidance of a committee or the board.
Volunteers - in uppercase, this means the OTW's human resources committee.
12. If I become a donating member of the OTW under my real name, will my fan identity be exposed?
The OTW firmly supports the right of users to separate fannish and nonfannish identities. Donating to the OTW and using the OTW's services are entirely separate—if you choose to donate (and we hope you do!), you do not need to tell us your fan identity, and we will not have any connection between your fan identity and your financial information or real-life identity.
13. Will you connect fan identities and real life identities in the archive or the wiki?
The OTW is committed to protecting the privacy of fans, whether they are users of our services or not. We do not allow anyone to connect fan identities and real life identities on our services against the wishes of the individual in question. Our content policy committee and focus groups are working on policies and procedures to both prevent this and minimize the damage should someone break the rules.
14. Can I buy a gift membership for someone else?
In order to ensure that all voting members of the OTW are in fact real people, and to hold fair elections, we cannot allow gift memberships. Supporters are welcome to make donations in honor of others through our form, but the donations will not confer voting rights or membership status.
15. Can I pay for my OTW membership with cash? (Why not?)
Only non-membership donations can be made with cash. For membership purposes, we need to be able to connect your payment with a bank account or credit card so we can verify that you’re a real person and an individual when we hold elections.
16. Can I pay for my OTW membership with a money order?
Only non-membership donations can be made with a money order. For membership purposes, we need to be able to connect your payment with a bank account or credit card so we can verify that you’re a real person and an individual when we hold elections.
17. Can I use a family member’s credit card or bank account to buy a membership / make a donation? How about a business card/account?
OTW memberships can be purchased with a family member’s credit card or bank account if the address associated with the card/account is the same as the address given by the new OTW member (and, of course, if the new OTW member is authorized to use that card/account!).
18. Will there be a public listing of members?
There will not be a public members list at this time. Please see our Privacy Policy for specific information on under what circumstances we may be obliged to release donor information to third parties. Members are encouraged to identify themselves as such on their own sites, blogs, and journals, and we provide a page of official OTW supporter graphics for this purpose.
Additional Questions
1. If fan creators really don't want to make money, why do they need an organization?
Currently, most fannish infrastructure projects - like archives, mailing lists, forums, communities, newsletters, and others - are run by private individuals using for-profit hosting services. These for-profit companies do want to make money, and to them, fan creators are a source of free content. They do not have an incentive to support the fannish community unless they can make money off that community, either through fees or advertising.
The free hosting services, like Livejournal and Yahoo!Groups and Youtube, put paid advertising on the content that is hosted with them. The larger services are subject to widespread public scrutiny, and have no incentive to resist copyright-infringement claims against individual fanworks hosted on their sites, even if those fanworks have a valid fair use defense.
Paid ISPs like Dreamhost or Aplus charge individuals regular fees for their websites. If the individual owner ever stops paying or can no longer maintain their project, their site will quickly grow stale or disappear entirely, often taking the work of hundreds if not thousands of fans with it.
As a formal nonprofit organization staffed by active fans, the OTW allows us to pool our resources within a legal framework that ensures long-term continuity and preservation of our work, even if any one individual has to quit. We have been founded explicitly as a nonprofit organization, so that we have no pressure to exploit fanworks for profit, and with the goal of supporting fans and fanworks.
2. Why do people write fanfiction? Why don't you just write original fiction?
Fans write fanfiction not simply to write fiction, but to write in a community and to share their ideas about the source with other fans. It is part of a larger conversation. Much fanfiction makes no sense without the context of the original source and the fan community, and is not even intended for an outside audience. Its purpose is as much social and critical as literary.
As for why we do this — people have been telling stories around the campfire as long as there have been campfires, and these stories have often been about familiar characters like King Arthur, Coyote, Baba Yaga, Anansi, and others, already known to their listening audience.
In any case, even professional writers working on "original" fiction for commercial work have always borrowed heavily from the work of those before them. Shakespeare took many of his characters and plots from existing works, not just historical works but poems and plays by other writers. More recently, the bestselling novels Wicked and March are both transformative works that share the same spirit of putting a spin on an original as does much fanfiction.
3. Does Naomi Novik allow fanfiction based on her own work?
and
4. Why is Naomi Novik's Temeraire universe not released under a Creative Commons license?
From Naomi:
I believe that fanfiction is fair use and does not require my permission. I do highly encourage Temeraire fanfiction and am thrilled if anyone wants to write it.
I love Creative Commons and license all of my photography under one of the most liberal CC licenses. However, Creative Commons licenses are not a substitute for the existing fair use rights that readers already have. They are a way for creators to give readers additional rights as desired.
Like most pro writers, I am very happy to have the right to control who can publish Temeraire novels commercially and to authorize film adaptations. I feel that my readers already have the right to write fanfiction and share it noncommercially, and that I don't need to do anything special to make this happen.
And I think that it is a lot more important to make people aware they have this right than to argue with my publisher over CC licensing my work. Fair use rights are ours without any effort on the part of the creator, who may not know about CC licensing, and often doesn't have a whole lot of leverage in negotiations with commercial publishers to insist on it.
5. Does the OTW represent all of fandom?
The OTW neither wants to nor can speak for all of fandom: fandom is huge, no matter how you define it. Right now, the OTW wants to provide a useful, searchable, reliable and stable home for all fanfiction regardless of rating or fandom, and in the longer term expand to other fanworks. In order to do that, we're trying to set up a stable, defensible infrastructure - that's the OTW.
We welcome all fandoms in the archive, the journal, the wiki, etc. We want your Batman stories and your wiki entries on anime fandom and your scholarly articles about fan films or machinima. All of us engaged in making transformative fannish works face a common set of legal issues; we'd like to help fellow fans fight off pointless cease & desist letters, or find legal help if they've got a good case and want to pursue it.
We are trying to find allies and make connections before there's any trouble, while also explaining to the world (via the journal, wiki, PR) why there shouldn't be trouble, because fans are loyal customers.
6. Why do the values and mission statements focus on female fans?
The OTW has its roots in a fan community with a decades-long history as a community made up mostly of women. Today, due to the internet and new technology, that community and its interests are rapidly growing in various ways and intersecting with other fan communities with different histories. We are excited and hopeful about the way our community is expanding and meeting with other varieties of remix culture, and we welcome anyone who wants to do what we're doing. At the same time, it is still important to us to acknowledge that this particular creative community is a place created and shaped so strongly by the tastes of women, because that is historically a pretty rare and amazing thing.
OTW values all fans, and the contributions made by fans of all genders. As the Organization grew out of a practice of transformative fanwork historically rooted in a primarily female culture, we also specifically value that history of women's involvement, and the practices of fandom shaped by women's work.
Many organizations, including the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, focus on issues and interests related to fandom; the OTW is specifically focusing on issues relating to transformative works of fanfiction, fanvids, and fanart.
7. What's the purpose behind the journal?
The journal is meant to provide a space for academic analysis of individual transformative works and the larger culture of fandom from which they come, helping to demonstrate the social, educational, and aesthetic value of fandom and fannish works.
A successful journal will also help fans who happen to be interested in engaging in fandom in a more theoretical and academic way to share their scholarship more widely, improving communication between fans and academia, as well as provide a theoretical background for OTW's mission of explaining and preserving fandom and transformative fanworks. The journal will also explain the context of particular works to help establish fanworks as creative art in their own right.
8. Is your wiki only going to be about media fandom?
The broad scope of the wiki is fandoms and transformative fanworks of all kinds, not just the media fandom community and its history. We are looking to host contributions from a diverse range of fans, as they share experiences about the history of their own fannish communities, including but not limited to anime, comics, manga/manhwa, and various RPF fan communities.
9. Why is OTW using LiveJournal as a means of communication with fandom?
The OTW began with a discussion on LiveJournal, but we are taking steps to spread the word beyond LJ, and do want to include people whose primary fannish homes are elsewhere. We already have the following outlets in place and hope to add more:
Our plan is to eventually host all of our communications and discussions on our own site, transformativeworks.org. Getting the right tools in place, and the right volunteers to manage them, takes time, consideration, and effort. For the time being, we have chosen to centralize communications with people interested in OTW on our LiveJournal community, because it is simple and convenient to do so. The fact that over a thousand people are currently following otw_news gives us an obligation to those people to make sure that we maintain a simple, easy-to-follow channel of communication moving forward, and that any transition we make off of LiveJournal is done with the community members' needs as our first priority.
10. If you legitimize or legalize fanfic, won't people commercialize fanfic and expect to be paid for it?
Something can be legitimate without being commercial. You can play sports without being a professional athlete; you can sing without selling an album.
Our mission is first and foremost to support the fan creators who work purely for love and share their works for free within the fannish gift economy, and who respond to the works that they enjoy. In fact, the OTW was specifically formed to offer an alternative to commercializing fanfic.
11. Most creators currently turn a blind eye to fanfiction; by pushing for its legality, won't you encourage them to crack down?
We believe fanfiction is already legal and legitimate in the U.S. under Fair Use provisions (and many other countries have a similar legal framework that allows for commentary on and critique of copyrighted texts). There is, however, a lot of confusion and unnecessary fear in this area among both pro and fan creators, and we would like to help clarify the murky waters for everybody.
Fans create vibrant and active communities around the work they are celebrating and spend heaps of money on the original work and associated merchandise, and to encourage others to buy also. They are not competing with the original creator's work: if anything, they help to promote it. We believe there is every reason for creators to encourage these activities once they know more about them and understand their own rights are not threatened by fan activity.
12. If fanfiction is legitimate, wouldn't that also mean that publishers or studios could produce derivative works without compensating the original authors?
No, it doesn't. Profit matters, and the degree of transformative quality matters: telling stories around a campfire, freely sharing nonprofit fanfiction, summarizing plot in a book review, or making a documentary film about fans, is not the same as a major commercial derivative enterprise like making a major TV miniseries out of a novel.
13. Who is the target audience for OTW announcements?
It depends on the announcement. For instance, announcements by our academic journal, Transformative Works and Cultures, are intended for an audience of academics and acafans. Some of our PR materials are intended for an outside audience who may know nothing about fandom, such as reporters or the general public.
Our Community Relations announcements and volunteer-recruiting posts are meant for an audience of fellow fans, and we do our best to keep those friendly and more casual.
14. How does the Organization for Transformative Works define fandom? In what ways do non media fandoms (e.g., sports and music) fit into that definition?
We aren't trying to craft a comprehensive definition of fandom, or to tell anyone whether they should consider themselves a fan. If you consider yourself a fan and are interested in creative transformative works based on your fandom, we hope you may find one or more of our projects useful or interesting.
15. What services will OTW offer to attract audiences that their competitors can't offer?
We don't see ourselves as being in competition with anyone. Much as the ACLU, the EFF, and other organizations have all been involved in the battle for online civil liberties, we think there is a lot of room for a wide range of organizations representing fandom and fannish fair use. We're happy to make common cause with other organizations that share our commitment to serving the fannish community in a not-for-profit, community-based spirit, and we look forward to doing so.
16. Why does it take so long for the FAQ to be updated and for my questions to be answered?
Please remember that the OTW is an entirely volunteer-run organization—that includes the board members, the committee chairs, and all our staff. Our time is limited and our tasks are many. We do strive to answer questions as quickly as possible, but drafting new answers is time-consuming and they often raise issues that have to be discussed at committee or board meetings.
Your question wasn't answered?
Please contact us with your question and we'll be happy to answer it.