Clay Dockery- Archivist Q&A Thread

[awindowacrossall]

The official Q &A thread for Clay who is running for archivist for the 2016-17 term. Clay, feel free to respond to questions and introduce yourself. 

[smartpenguin78]

Hello everyone!
I'm Clay. I've been serving as Commander in the Demon's Run sector for two years now. I believe in the mission of the group and would love to see it continue to grow and to help develop our resources.

A little about me: I'm interested in the role of Archivist because I think the technical side of groups like this is very essential. I'm not really the type of person who is well served creating Costume Standards, but I love making spreadsheets and tracking data. I would be dedicated to tracking and communicating all of the financial dealings of the group in the role of Treasurer (I serve as treasurer in several other groups as well) and as Secretary I would take extensive minutes and am very committed to open communication within and without the group.
I also envision the Archivist helping to consolidate our other forms of communication, streamlining the user experience and perhaps helping to get out our informational materials.


On to Stephen's (Geeklectic's) questions:
1) What specific skill set or experience do you have that qualifies you for the role of Archivist?

As I indicated above, Secretary/Treasurer type of work is my wheelhouse. I have been involved in financial planning and budgeting for a non-profit for the past twelve years so I have extensive experience with financial spreadsheets and disclosures. I also serve as Treasurer for the board of a different non-profit and handle all the financial matters for a group that puts on Fandom convention. (The Group That Shall Not Be Named, Inc.)
I am committed to transparency and fiscal responsibility and to engaging in the fandom on a charitable basis.

2) While the Order of Gallifrey has 805 members only 26 people voted for Lord Commander in the 2015 Elections. That means you could effectively win the Presidency with as few as 9 votes or 1.06% of the member base. Why do you think that is and what would you do to increase the activity of our membership base? Additionally, does the group warrant so many elected officials when they end up out numbering the general active membership in certain areas?

I believe that getting people to engage is one of our hardest jobs in any fandom organization. It will always be a challenge, but I do believe it is important for leadership to make things as engaging and simple as possible. In particular I believe that engagement is low in OoG because our communication remains spread over too many different places, and it is hard to follow what is happening. I believe it should be a huge priority for all of our officers to seriously work to help the member base become better connected. And to reach out to the people and hopefully offer them services that will draw them back in.
I think having specicic people in specific roles can help the issues, so that the number of officers is not necessarily a problem. Different people have different skill sets. I do think perhaps the expansion into different "sectors" has diffused the group and lessened the impact of the central group, but I do think at least two people advocating for each area of the country is a good thing.


3) Availability and difficulty in searching for specific pieces of information, especially for new members, is something that I feel is an area that we should place large focus. Simply put, I think there is too much of a learning curve for new members many cases. What changes would you propose as Archivist to ensure that important information is accessible to everyone and we make the process of walking through the door and obtaining membership and knowledge of the Order less cumbersome?

I agree entirely with the notion that information is difficult to find, and new members are especially at a loss at times.
I have three essential plans for helping to end this issue:
1. I would like to add a few -very clear things to the forum. I would like to expand on the "new members go here" thread on these forums. Bold it and move it to a prominent spot AND add a very specific user guide. I would then encourage that guide to be linked to any "new member" posts on FB or the forums.
2. I would also like to reorganize the threads on the forum- as it is things are doubled or hard to find. (Including these election Q&As which are in two different places.)
Streamline and add efficiency would be my watchwords.
3. I would like to implement a regular newsletter from the national officers, I imagine this being a monthly thing to a mailing list, posted on FB and the forum and archived. In this every month we would have: A brief note from the Lady President, a financial update, links to the new member info, links to the costume standards, costumes up for endorsement, a list of new members/endorsed costumes

And one fun one for the road…

4) If you could only do one of your cosplays for the rest of your life – which would it be and why?

I'm not a one cosplay man, I'd try to stick to one, I'd definitely have to sneak some other stealth cosplay in on the side. I'll go with The Doctor though, since I would argue that all are actually one.

[smartpenguin78]

Thanks to The Valeyard for another set of great questions!
1. What have you done for the Order of Gallifrey? In what way have you promoted our group within your own local Sector? Understanding, of course, that we have real life commitments. I simply want to know what you have done on an active basis for the Order, when possible.

In my two years as Commander I have been very interested in trying to help the group grow up here in the Northeast.
There have certainly been challenges as I've been very busy and there are real needs to continue to ensure we work with and don't run afoul with some of the existing, and there is definitely a lot of room for people to come in and make the area a much more dynamic one for the group.

Here is a short list of some of the things I have done as a Commander:
At ReGeneration Who 1, one of the top five Doctor Who cons in the country, we ran a non-competitive cosplay event (The Greatest Cosplay Show in the Galaxy which was listed specifically in all materials as a program of Order of Gallifrey.)
We also had a table at ReGen 2. Also, at all of my panels and events(which were numerous) we handed out cards for the Order and discussed joining the group.

LI Who- in addition to the same panel promotion, both of my Bronze Ushers (Becca and Christine) attempted for months to get us tables or program time at this con, to no avail, communication was ongoing between the Usher's and myself about the difficulty and I attempted to communicate with the con, with no response. Despite this, Christine presented a full program of Cosplay content at both cons, and promoted the OoG during those panels.

Arisia- We have had a table share with TGTSNBN the last two years, all of our cards and photos of Order members on display, and one of our officers discussing the benefits of OoG with any interested Doctor Who cosplayers. We also had a photo meet-up, run by our Bronze Usher Christine, last year that had over 30 attendees and served as a great example of the unique role the order serves in the area. (The plan is to have this event next year as well.)

Coal Hill Convention- At Coal Hill, the con that Stephen and I co-organized in New Hampshire in May, there were Order elements intergrated into all the aspects of the convention. Including- panels, a table, and advertisements in our con-booklet.

I also have personally had shared tables that I reserved space for the Order and discussed the Order with any Doctor Who cosplayers at:
Winter Con in New York, Heroes and Villains Con in New Jersey, LI-Geek on Long Island, Granite State Comic Con and several other cons that I can't think of off hand.

Outside of conventions we have held some joint events with the pre-existing New York Whovian group that encouraged cosplay events in Central Park, Bryant Park, and at New York Comic Con.

I also have encouraged Becca and John, our previous leadership, to establish an outpost in PA so we can better serve the southern part of our sector, but that has not taken off yet- I would love to continue to work with the leadership in this area to make sure this happens.

I definitely would like to have done more, and gotten more active members to the groups and forums, but I feel like we have taken a few good first steps toward establishing Order of Gallifrey in the Northeast.


2. The Archivist role is very new - it was only implemented last year. What do you see as the role of the Archivist in the coming year? How would you like to further define the role?

I feel like the role of the archivist is important, and essential. Especially the part of the job dealing with the Treasury. As I have previously stated, I would like to ensure that all the fiscal records are clear and easily accessible and that we really make a large push to ensure the charitable side of the organization becomes a primary focus.

Otherwise, I'd like to help the incoming President to make the communications clear and accessible, to reorganize our information, and to play a role in the other technical projects- such as helping to communicate the standards and working with Gold Usher and others to make them look pretty (though as I have said, I'm not interested in writing standards, I love the ideas behind them and think they are a a great resource for the group.)

As record keeper, secretary for discussions and historian, I want to ensure our records are clear and the group's history is preserved.

I'll note, the exact way this role functions has not been too clearly tied down, I think there are a wide range of responsibilities and needs that the role can and should fill and if I am elected, I am very interested in working with others to help the role have as much clarity of purpose as possible!

Additionally, I think this aspect of the role is essential:  
3. The Archivist shall maintain a record of all tribunals and disciplinary hearings via cooperation with the Castellan. The Archivist shall have the duty to ensure that such matters remain on record, in the interest of maintaining transparency and democracy.

4. The Archivist shall protect the identity of all members involved in such activities, sharing them only with consent of the members or, in extreme cases, with the authorization of the Chancellor.


Basically, I would work tirelessly to ensure that these matters of protection and order are upheld and that the group is open, fair, and transparent.