My first response when skimming over this very lengthy post was, "jeez, who cares? It's just some server names."
But I knew I was being needlessly dismissive and the very fact that you wrote so much made me go back and read everything you said closely, with greater attention to detail. So of course on the second time around I find that you addressed that question of "who cares?" quite well: small issues can so easily be emblematic of bigger ones. If there was no bigger issue than this one incident would obviously not matter, but since there is a bigger issue, then it serves as an illuminating case study.
So let me just say that I think that the easiest fix for this from the outset would have been to scratch the whole One Winner Per Fandom/One Winner Per Medium idea and instead go with something like a One Medium Per Server concept instead. Please allow me to explain.
It seems to me that you're exactly right, that the only way to ensure diversity is to build it in from the very beginning, and so in a poll like this, it's the job of the moderators to frame the poll in such a way that diversity is a predetermined outcome: that diversity will happen regardless of how people vote, by presenting things in such a way where diversity is the default. (See: Framing).
Therefore, if you consider a framework of diversity from the very beginning, then I think the key is to pit like against like. If Dr. Who and SG1 and Star Trek and all the TV/Movie fandoms are put in direct competition with each other, then it doesn't matter if five or so Star Trek characters garner the most number of votes... they still only end up being able to name the one server. If you reserve another server for, say, only anime/manga fandoms, then it's anime character against anime character, and there would be no way for a Star Trek character to best them since they wouldn't even be a part of that particular poll.
Obviously this approach brings up a different problem: which six medium should be included? How do you makes is so diversity doesn't end up completely sidelining what is truly a majority of the current userbase? But I think that this is a far more manageable problem since you could first ask people to vote on a selection of various medium to be included, and then you take the top five types and assign them each a category, while reserving the sixth server for "Potpourri" or "Rare Fandom Types": all the other medium types that didn't make the initial cut.
So you'd have a staged voting process, going first for the most elemental aspect of fandom (the categories themselves), and then pitting like-against-like within each category. Does Spock or Jack Harkness win out against Uhura? Idk, but at least this way, Izumi Curtis doesn't have to compete against either of them. Pit her against Tsunade and Utena and Eva-01 and Mine Fujiko instead.
Obviously, this is only one idea. One example of an alternate way of setting up the polls which is quite different from the ways the board seemed to consider. It wouldn't have to be done this way (I'm not so arrogant as to think that my idea is the best way), but hopefully this illustrates the concept of framing. If diversity is a priority, it needs to exist in the essential framing of any question/poll/outreach program/whatever other thing the OTW or AO3 is working on. Don't depend on polling and majority vote to create diversity: I think we all need to accept that the current state of the OTW and AO3 is that it favors certain fandom types over others. I don't think this needs to be looked at as a problem so much as it is the baseline reality. This is how things are, for now. But if you want these spaces to be seen as welcoming to other currently under-represented fandom types, then the mandates for diversity need to be built in from the ground up, and from the top down. I agree with those who say that it is the responsibility of the OTW to reach out... if the people in charge actually want a diverse archive and a diverse organization, they need to institute the policies and the framework that make diversity possible.
I myself am an anime fan. I currently operate in a fandom that is small even by anime fandom standards: Ookiku Furikabutte is hardly a household name, after all. I have been happily archiving my stories at the AO3 and I've never been too worried about exposure or anything, since I take the responsibility for advertising my stories upon myself, and I advertise them to the appropriate fandom-specific communities. I don't really ask for much from the OTW or the AO3 other than a place to keep my stories. But the reality is that even if I wanted to have more in-depth involvement with other activities here, I wouldn't even know where to begin. I don't see any other "ins" for me, other than my ability to post stories. If there are even other activities going on I wouldn't have any way to know about them, since there isn't any big central organizing area where I can find out the different events and polls going on... I had never even heard of this poll before reading this post, which I came to only because it was linked in Metafandom. I might have enjoyed voting in it, but it never came up.
So outreach is critical. And it needs to be something more than just dedicated board members like you busting your ass trying to get the word out to as many different groups as possible. That sort of approach is time consuming and tedious and probably pretty emotionally draining: you did all that work and that probably makes the un-diverse outcome seem all the more bitter. My feeling about outreach is that it needs to exist in the creation of an active and central community forum/space where people can voluntarily show up, talk about things, and participate. Pan-fandom spaces like fandomsecrets or fanficrants do tend to show a diversity of media types, but it's not because they work so hard trying to get people to join in: instead, they created inviting participatory spaces where people can contribute and discuss fannish topics in a targeted fashion, and that attracted its own audience over time since the content it provided was worth seeing.
My overarching suggestion to you and the board would be to consider the concept of social networking/community more. Do you have a Twitter or Facebook page which people can follow to find out basic news? If so, that should be prominently linked on the main page of the AO3? Is there a community forum, either at the A03, OTW, or in another space (such as LJ or Dreamwidth) where any fan can come in and talk issues? Ditto my suggestion about main page linkage. I think you need to have these kind of spaces and you need to feature them prominently on the main portal pages of your websites so people can find out about them, and thus individual fans can tailor their involvement/investment based on how much they want to contribute, while at the same time making it pan-fandom so everyone will at least feel like they have a stake in what is being discussed.
Thanks for the very interesting post. It really made me think!
no subject
But I knew I was being needlessly dismissive and the very fact that you wrote so much made me go back and read everything you said closely, with greater attention to detail. So of course on the second time around I find that you addressed that question of "who cares?" quite well: small issues can so easily be emblematic of bigger ones. If there was no bigger issue than this one incident would obviously not matter, but since there is a bigger issue, then it serves as an illuminating case study.
So let me just say that I think that the easiest fix for this from the outset would have been to scratch the whole One Winner Per Fandom/One Winner Per Medium idea and instead go with something like a One Medium Per Server concept instead. Please allow me to explain.
It seems to me that you're exactly right, that the only way to ensure diversity is to build it in from the very beginning, and so in a poll like this, it's the job of the moderators to frame the poll in such a way that diversity is a predetermined outcome: that diversity will happen regardless of how people vote, by presenting things in such a way where diversity is the default. (See: Framing).
Therefore, if you consider a framework of diversity from the very beginning, then I think the key is to pit like against like. If Dr. Who and SG1 and Star Trek and all the TV/Movie fandoms are put in direct competition with each other, then it doesn't matter if five or so Star Trek characters garner the most number of votes... they still only end up being able to name the one server. If you reserve another server for, say, only anime/manga fandoms, then it's anime character against anime character, and there would be no way for a Star Trek character to best them since they wouldn't even be a part of that particular poll.
Obviously this approach brings up a different problem: which six medium should be included? How do you makes is so diversity doesn't end up completely sidelining what is truly a majority of the current userbase? But I think that this is a far more manageable problem since you could first ask people to vote on a selection of various medium to be included, and then you take the top five types and assign them each a category, while reserving the sixth server for "Potpourri" or "Rare Fandom Types": all the other medium types that didn't make the initial cut.
So you'd have a staged voting process, going first for the most elemental aspect of fandom (the categories themselves), and then pitting like-against-like within each category. Does Spock or Jack Harkness win out against Uhura? Idk, but at least this way, Izumi Curtis doesn't have to compete against either of them. Pit her against Tsunade and Utena and Eva-01 and Mine Fujiko instead.
Obviously, this is only one idea. One example of an alternate way of setting up the polls which is quite different from the ways the board seemed to consider. It wouldn't have to be done this way (I'm not so arrogant as to think that my idea is the best way), but hopefully this illustrates the concept of framing. If diversity is a priority, it needs to exist in the essential framing of any question/poll/outreach program/whatever other thing the OTW or AO3 is working on. Don't depend on polling and majority vote to create diversity: I think we all need to accept that the current state of the OTW and AO3 is that it favors certain fandom types over others. I don't think this needs to be looked at as a problem so much as it is the baseline reality. This is how things are, for now. But if you want these spaces to be seen as welcoming to other currently under-represented fandom types, then the mandates for diversity need to be built in from the ground up, and from the top down. I agree with those who say that it is the responsibility of the OTW to reach out... if the people in charge actually want a diverse archive and a diverse organization, they need to institute the policies and the framework that make diversity possible.
I myself am an anime fan. I currently operate in a fandom that is small even by anime fandom standards: Ookiku Furikabutte is hardly a household name, after all. I have been happily archiving my stories at the AO3 and I've never been too worried about exposure or anything, since I take the responsibility for advertising my stories upon myself, and I advertise them to the appropriate fandom-specific communities. I don't really ask for much from the OTW or the AO3 other than a place to keep my stories. But the reality is that even if I wanted to have more in-depth involvement with other activities here, I wouldn't even know where to begin. I don't see any other "ins" for me, other than my ability to post stories. If there are even other activities going on I wouldn't have any way to know about them, since there isn't any big central organizing area where I can find out the different events and polls going on... I had never even heard of this poll before reading this post, which I came to only because it was linked in Metafandom. I might have enjoyed voting in it, but it never came up.
So outreach is critical. And it needs to be something more than just dedicated board members like you busting your ass trying to get the word out to as many different groups as possible. That sort of approach is time consuming and tedious and probably pretty emotionally draining: you did all that work and that probably makes the un-diverse outcome seem all the more bitter. My feeling about outreach is that it needs to exist in the creation of an active and central community forum/space where people can voluntarily show up, talk about things, and participate. Pan-fandom spaces like fandomsecrets or fanficrants do tend to show a diversity of media types, but it's not because they work so hard trying to get people to join in: instead, they created inviting participatory spaces where people can contribute and discuss fannish topics in a targeted fashion, and that attracted its own audience over time since the content it provided was worth seeing.
My overarching suggestion to you and the board would be to consider the concept of social networking/community more. Do you have a Twitter or Facebook page which people can follow to find out basic news? If so, that should be prominently linked on the main page of the AO3? Is there a community forum, either at the A03, OTW, or in another space (such as LJ or Dreamwidth) where any fan can come in and talk issues? Ditto my suggestion about main page linkage. I think you need to have these kind of spaces and you need to feature them prominently on the main portal pages of your websites so people can find out about them, and thus individual fans can tailor their involvement/investment based on how much they want to contribute, while at the same time making it pan-fandom so everyone will at least feel like they have a stake in what is being discussed.
Thanks for the very interesting post. It really made me think!