The OTW is organized into committees, each of which has a specific purview supporting the OTW’s mission. Some committees also have subcommittees, which are smaller groups inside of the committee to which a specific portion of the committee’s purview has been delegated, but which still remain under the committee’s leadership. Some committees work only on one of the OTW’s projects, while others work across multiple projects.

Each committee is led by one or more Chairs, who may have support from other supervisory volunteers. As a whole, committees are overseen by the OTW Board of Directors, which consists of volunteer Board Directors who are elected by OTW members.

Each committee is made up of volunteers who are responsible for completing the work that corresponds to that committee’s purview. If you’re interested in volunteering for the OTW, check the volunteer listings to see if there are any open positions that match your skills and interests. Recruitment is normally open only one week a month, so don’t worry if that page is blank right now. You can also check out our Volunteering FAQ for answers to common questions.

To make sure you don’t miss the next recruitment announcement, consider following us on social media or subscribing to our OTW News by Email service which has an option to alert you whenever recruitment opens!

Check out the pages below to learn more about each committee and what they do.

Accessibility, Design, & Technology
Chaired by: Brian Austin & sarken
Designs, maintains, and develops the Archive of Our Own (AO3) through the creation of an open-source software package: OTW-Archive.

AO3 Documentation
Chaired by: Claire P. Baker & telescopicpoems
Creates and maintains user-facing and internal documentation for AO3. Their primary work is on FAQs and tutorials in the Archive FAQs, as well as the help pop-ups found across the site.

Board Assistants Team
Chaired by: therealmorticia
Helps the OTW Board of Directors with administrative tasks and project management so that the Board can prioritize critical issues and work more effectively.

Communications
Chaired by: choux
Handles newsletters, news posts, social media accounts, celebrations of OTW milestones, and other tasks related to promoting our various projects. They are also the primary point of contact for external organizations and members of the press.

News Post Moderation Subcommittee
Oversees and moderates comments on OTW News Posts, ensuring that all comments abide by the OTW News Post Moderation Policy.

Development & Membership
Chaired by: Amy2 & Nrandom
Handles fundraising and membership-building for the organization. They also maintain our secure database of member and donor information, and ensure that each member is able to vote in OTW Board elections.

Elections
Chaired by: disjointed & Marion McGowan
Runs the annual August election for members of the OTW Board of Directors. They are responsible for all aspects of the election process, including candidate preparation, the technical aspects of running the election, ensuring the entire process follows the OTW bylaws, and overseeing the candidacy period (when OTW members are introduced to the candidates and given the opportunity to ask questions).

Fanlore
Chaired by: Becca Bun, Jules Moon, & Noah A
Maintains the Fanlore wiki. This includes supporting Fanlore wiki editors and establishing a flexible infrastructure to define and organize the wiki’s content.

Finance
Chaired by: Yuechiang Luo
Keeps the OTW’s books accurate. They make and track payments, prepare and release financial statements, work with the Board to create and update the budget, and ensure that the OTW meets all its tax filing requirements.

Legal
Chaired by: Betsy Rosenblatt, Rebecca Tushnet, & Stacey Lantagne
Carries out the OTW’s Legal Advocacy activities, advises the Board and various committees on legal matters, and liaises with other advocacy groups and outside legal counsel to defend fannish interests.

Open Doors
Chaired by: Eskici
Manages the Open Doors project, which offers shelter to at-risk fannish projects including archives and zines.

Policy & Abuse
Chaired by: Flerken & wichard
Addresses questions and reports about potential violations of the AO3 Terms of Service.

Strategic Planning
Chaired by: Dan-i & natalieee5
Develops and oversees the OTW’s strategic plan to guide its big-picture goals. They are also responsible for reviewing and revising the strategic plan every 1–3 years.

Support
Chaired by: Kyrie & Paula
Helps to resolve technical problems experienced by AO3 users. They also pass on users’ feedback to other AO3 committees.

Systems
Chaired by: Frost The Fox
Manages servers and technical infrastructure for the OTW and its projects.

Tag Wrangling
Chaired by: Brhi, Dre, & Qem
Sorts and organizes user-generated tags on AO3 according to the Tag Wrangling guidelines, linking related tags. This allows users to tag their works however they prefer while maximising findability.

Translation
Chaired by: Ioana, Natalia Gruber & Rhine
Coordinates volunteer translators and liaises with other committees to make our projects and documents available in as many languages as possible.

TWC
Chaired by: Bridget Kies & Kristina Busse
Administers Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC), an international, peer-reviewed, twice-yearly academic online journal in the field of media studies. This involves administering TWC’s open-source journal software, considering submissions, working with authors through reviews and revisions as necessary, and shepherding manuscripts through copyediting and layout for publication.

User Response Translation
Chaired by: Qiao Chu & taki
Addresses translation needs from Policy & Abuse and Support in specific high-need languages.

Volunteers & Recruiting
Chaired by: Alison Watson & Eevee
Manages the recruiting process for all committees and projects, equips them with a variety of tools, and tracks their service. They also maintain a large database of volunteer records, and create internal reference materials and documentation for OTW volunteers.

Internal Complaint and Conflict Resolution Subcommittee
Works to resolve complaints from OTW volunteers about OTW volunteers and related conflicts within the OTW.