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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 taki, who volunteers as a User Response Translation Committee Chair, Policy & Abuse Volunteer, and Tag Wrangling Volunteer.
How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does?
I've had a bunch of roles in the OTW, all of which fit into it in different ways! I started out as a tag wrangler, where I canonize and connect tags in my fandoms, helping users more easily find what they're looking for on AO3. A couple years later I found my way into the Policy & Abuse Committee (PAC), where I investigate reports of AO3 Terms of Service violations and help users who have questions about the TOS. Finally, as co-Chair and PAC liaison in User Response Translation (URT), I help run the committee that gets PAC and Support emails in AO3's busiest non-English languages translated so that people can communicate with us in their preferred language.
What is a typical week like for you as a volunteer?
In URT, what my week looks like depends on what's going on in the committee. Routine work like assigning tasks and following up on them depends on how many translation requests we get, and if we're working on a project like a boilerplate translation or having committee-wide discussions of translation standards, I keep an eye on those and help guide them if needed. If training or recruitment is going on, I need to set aside time to update related documentation or review applications. I also handle any personnel issues that come up in the committee, and regularly discuss committee changes and improvements with my co-chair, our volunteer coordinators, and the PAC and Support liaisons.
For PAC, I check our ticket management software almost every day to see if I need to follow up on any cases. At least once a week, I sit down for a longer session of investigating new cases and reviewing other volunteers' cases. Other weekly tasks include working on projects to improve our documentation, and assigning or reviewing trainee tasks when I'm helping train new volunteers (which is often, since it's something I love doing and volunteer for whenever I can).
For wrangling, I try to set aside a chunk of time every week or two to handle as many unwrangled tags in my fandoms as I can. In general, I also keep an eye on my email or our work chat channels for anything that I need to do or discussions I should contribute to in all three committees. The OTW's work chat app is frequently at the top of the list in my weekly phone screen time report…
What made you decide to volunteer?
I'd always thought tag wrangling sounded like a fun way to put niche fandom knowledge to use. So in 2021, mid-COVID lockdown, when I quit one of my jobs and saw that the OTW was recruiting tag wranglers, I thought, why not use my newfound free time to give back to an organization that has brought me a lot of joy?
I joined PAC a couple years later because I wanted to be in a more user-facing role, and I think AO3's Terms of Service and its enforcement are a big part of what creates and maintains the site's unique culture. I also really enjoy the kind of investigative work that we do a lot of in PAC!
URT was created a little while after I joined PAC, and I volunteered to Chair it because I think that as AO3 grows internationally, it's very important for users to get high quality and quick communication from us in their native languages. I've been able to see firsthand the impact that URT has had on PAC's ability to handle tickets in the four languages we currently cover, and I'm extremely happy to have contributed even a little bit to making AO3 more accessible to people around the world.
What has been your biggest challenge doing work for the OTW?
Chairing URT has been very rewarding, and I'm really happy to see how far the committee has come, but it was definitely extremely daunting when we started (we're a very young committee – in fact, the youngest in the OTW)! We had to figure out a ton of new processes and workflows to follow and, of course, write soooo much documentation. Additionally, since URT is very closely tied with PAC and Support, we had to (and still do) communicate a lot with them to balance the needs of all three committees. These days, we still face some growing pains compared to more established committees, but it feels great to have our core workflows running smoothly and to be confident we'll keep improving.
What fannish things do you like to do?
I love discussing whatever I'm currently into with my fandom friends, some of whom I met through OTW volunteering! I also spend way too much time scrolling Tumblr and reading/writing (mostly reading) meta there. In general I think meta is an underrated form of fandom engagement, I love to seek it out and wish more people knew you can actually post it to AO3. I also read fic of course, mostly in binges every few months when I suddenly get the urge to go diving through a tag, and I have dabbled in writing oneshots, the most recent of which was a joke drabble written for a friend >:)
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 previous 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, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.