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PT monthly bulletin


michaeld

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In response to feedback from members, we the AVEN Project Team would like to start a monthly bulletin, saying what we have each been up to in the preceding month. We can also use this as a way of flagging which projects we would like to have your help on - there is far more to do than can be done by 5 people and I know many of you would love to help.

I should also mention that this won't always be a riveting read. Many Project Team tasks are maintenance. For example, my core role is answering media requests, so sometimes my monthly update may simply that I have answered ___ requests, finding interview subjects or speakers as appropriate.

Feedback is welcome by PM or by emailing aven.pt@gmail.com - or by making a new thread in site comments, if it is something that should be discussed in public.

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So let's start with an update on research.

Currently we are in a situation where there's permanently at least one open discussion on the Research Approval Board. There is one request that we have already approved, but it needs to be signed off within the university before I can post it. For another request we have asked for some changes, but I haven't heard back about it yet. And then there are two others where we still have an ongoing discussion.

Apart from the requests there are also some policy discussions in the loop. The rules for researchers need some updating. We'd also like to speed up the approval process. In the Project Team we've discussed how to speed up higher scrutiny requests (mainly those involving personal interviews) and student projects in particular, and I'll bring these things up with the rest of the Research Approval Board and the Admods. Another common issue is where to draw the line between research and media, which is not always straightforward. We want some permanent policy for this, so we don't have to think about it in every case again.

Finally there's also the idea of making more information about the Research Approval Board etc. publicly accessible.

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With the Wiki and Answering Team

The Wiki has seemed to be doing well under Robin's leadership (s/o)

Q&A emails are getting answered but if anyone is interested in being a part of the Answering Team, they can pm me their skype.

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For now, the census is still open. It was going to close on Nov 15th, but was extended due to AVEN's technical issues. Most of the discussions within the survey team have been about data analysis, and the next meeting will be scheduled this weekend.

 

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Aside from answering a handful of media requests and one speaker request, this month I...

  • gave a talk at Wadham College Oxford as part of their Queer Week with Ithaca.
  • re-released the open letter to researchers as part of AAW: I put up a video about this here, based on my experiences at the consultation workshop I attended in August. Some news about this: the ONS have released their official summary of the workshop here.
  • made a new call for media team volunteers. This has been very helpful for getting new members. Still on my todo list are producing resources and training that might help volunteers - so far I've simply been talking to those who ask for help individually if applicable.
  • [not necessarily PT - as much a board of director activity than PT] coordinated the fundraising effort for the new server.
  • [also not necessarily PT though it could count as it] I made an election support group. It's been very active in parts. I don't know if it's helped anyone else but it's helped me. Activity is variable - it's for as and when people find it useful, and it may become more important in future e.g. after the inauguration. People are still welcome to join.
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  • 5 weeks later...

12/31/2016

 

I have been elected as Director of Social Media two weeks ago, so not as much to update.

  • 12/18/2016: Posted on Facebook and Tumblr of a research request
  • Received training from Cosine for scheduling posts (posted on 12/24/2016), as displayed, an article was posted by them on Facebook and I posted the same article on Tumblr
  • 12/24/2016: Retweeted from David Jay on Twitter about the FDA's new standard for drugs that treat low sexual desire
  • 12/29/2016: Shared a post on Facebook
  • 12/30/2016: Shared a post on Facebook and posted an article on Tumblr
  • 12/31/2016: Shared a post on Facebook

 

I have scheduled some posts or will post once 2017 hits.

  • Scheduled a post on Facebook regarding info on WorldPride 2017 Madrid (will be posted on 1/1/2017)
  • Scheduled a post on Tumblr regarding info on WorldPride 2017 Madrid (will be posted 1/1/2017)
  • Will tweet on Tumblr regarding info on WorldPride 2017 Madrid (will be posted on 1/1/2017)
  • Scheduled an article for Facebook (will be posted 1/3/2017)

 

Notes: There have been articles that has been posted, but it wasn’t by me. The information above is things that I have done or been up to.

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The next survey team meeting will be scheduled next weekend, and the survey team is focusing on each of their assigned tasks to be done before the meeting.

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Quiet month this month. I've answered a few media requests and one speaker request. The most unusual of the media requests was a vice piece focussing on asexuals' fantasies. There was some apprehension about this piece but I got a very positive response from the media team, more of whom volunteered to take part than were needed. (Some of the volunteers come from other places too, e.g. I know Asexual Outreach were involved with finding volunteers too.) While the piece definitely isn't "perfect" (well there's no such thing really) I'm quite pleased with how it turned out and it's definitely something that hasn't been covered much in the media.

https://tonic.vice.com/en_us/article/we-asked-asexuals-what-they-fantasize-about

 

Apart from that I'm making preparations for WorldPride. Please do volunteer if you have time and want to be involved in our planning!

Other than WorldPride (Madrid), and formalising some things to do with our media protocol, I'd like to have a more UK focus in 2017, building on the recent engagement with the Office of National Stats re the census. I feel we don't do as much ace activism (in the lobbying sense as opposed to community and awareness raising) in the UK compared to US and Canada - so it would be great to get together a group of people to focus on that.

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A bit late with the update, but was away for two weeks and now catching up.

 

Since my last post we've approved two research requests (the last one posted by michaeld in my absence, thanks for that :cake:). Not unexpectedly, over the holiday period there hasn't been anything new coming in. So we have some time to work on policy. Before I left I started discussion threads for policy changes on both the Research Approval Board and the Admod forum. Main aims are making our handling of requests faster and more efficient, and to make our work more transparent for members. Hopefully we'll come to some results soon.

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 3 media requests and 3 speaker requests since last month (thanks timewarp for helping with one of the speaker requests).
  • We're finding a venue for the WorldPride conference in Madrid, with the help of Baikal and others from AVENes. Still in progress.
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Research went from awfully quiet to incredibly busy. Two requests are already posted. There are two other, rather difficult ones where we haven't yet come to a conclusion. For one of those time has run out, because it was rather last minute. And then there are two others I still need to prepare for the Research Approval Board.

 

Before requests came in I managed to revise the rules for researcher and put the draft for discussion on the Research Approval Board. I'll put them up for discussion on Admods next and will hopefully get them published soon. There are some simplifications that should ideally speed up the approval process. Also there should be some additional transparency of our work coming with the revision.

 

I'm also involved in the World Pride planning. In less than two weeks I'll be at the Spanish national meetup and I'll have plenty of opportunities to talk to the locals, some of them already involved in the planning.

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Social Media

  • 1/1/2017: Posted info on WorldPride 2017 Madrid on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter

  • 1/3/2017: Posted an article on Facebook and Twitter

  • 1/5/2017: Tweeted about AVENues on Twitter

  • 1/6/2017: Posted on Facebook and Tumblr of a research request

  • 1/8/2017: Posted on Tumblr about AVENues

  • 1/10/2017: Posted an article on Facebook and Tumblr

  • 1/12/2017: Posted an article on Facebook and Tumblr

  • 1/14/2017: Posted an article on Facebook and timewarp’s bio on tumblr

  • 1/16/2017: Posted an article on Tumblr, this article on Facebook, and retweet on Twitter

  • 1/18/2017: Posted an article on Facebook my bio on tumblr

  • 1/20/2017: Posted an article on Facebook, this article on Tumblr

  • 1/22/2017: Posted an article on Tumblr

  • 1/24/2017: Posted an article on Tumblr

  • 1/26/2017: Posted on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter of a research request

  • 1/27/2017: Posted on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter of a research request; posted an article on Facebook

  • 1/31/2017: Posted an article on Tumblr

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  • 4 weeks later...

Time for the next update.

 

The research participation requests I've posted this month are these:

http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/152053-research-participation-request-experiences-with-health-care-practitioners/

http://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/152070-research-participation-request-attachment-styles-in-aromantic-and-asexual-individuals/

 

Another request we've approved this month does not involve recruiting participants. It's a student project using the forums. Some of you might have been contacted by the researcher about their posts via pm.

 

There's a new student project just come in that we need to look at. Also I expect a previous research project to go into the next stage (survey).

 

The updated rules for researchers and students are now in the Admods forum for discussion, so we should have an easier review process soon. To make things faster, we're now using a Skype chat for the Research Approval Board in addition to the forum (thanks Mic for setting it up :cake:).

 

Apart from the research I've also been involved in our planning for World Pride. I went to the Spanish national meet-up this month and had the opportunity to meet many of the locals there already. Together we looked at a possible location for the conference and discussed how locals can help with our participation in World Pride. Thanks to the Spanish aces for the warm welcome, the good discussions and all the fun! :cake: We'll have a good time there, I'm sure of that.

 

Finally I'm also working on a new idea of engaging more members in visibility and education work, more about that soon. :)

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So as Timewarp says, we're almost there for the venue for WP17. Thanks to Timewarp, Baikal and others from AVENes and ACEs, who have helped with this! Stay tuned for the announcement of our conference venue in Madrid. :)

 

Another 4 speaker and media requests handled. Including this one with me and Ciri aka Celine. :P

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/asexuality-what-is-it-like-explained-by-asexual-people-a7582351.html

 

I've also been in contact with the Official of National Stats again - they are looking for research subjects for the gender identity question, and as gender intersects with sexuality, they'd like the input of ace participants. I (and maybe timewarp) will be talking to them over skype about this soon.

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Social Media

  • 2/14/2017: Posted an article on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter; + article on FB
  • 2/17/2017: Posted an article on Facebook and Tumblr
  • 2/21/2017: Posted an article on Facebook and Tumblr
  • 2/23/2017: Posted an article on Facebook and Tumblr
  • 2/25/2017: Reblogged a post about an asexual scholarship on Tumblr
  • 2/28/2017: Posted the AVEN Digest on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter

 

Notes: There have been more posts made, but everything above is things that I have done myself. For future updates, I’ll keep track of all of social media activities, but I will still specify the things that I have done myself.

 

It has been difficult finding a good article, as well as articles over subjects that I have yet to post about. So the postings aren’t as frequent as I would like it to be. However, I did create a thread asking for permission from the singers in AVENites Sing of their recent production to post on our social media to add more content. I will be contacting anyone I had yet to get consent from. 

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I've only been in the role for a week and a half so I haven't done much that is substantial. 

 

- Survey Team meeting is March 5th.

- I did a lot of reading over various documents to get up to date with the survey work and general PT things.

- During the election period, I did an interview alongside Mic which he has already linked.

 

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Member54880

Drafted answers to several answering team emails, coordinated with other members of the answering team for review of the drafts before being sent out.

 

Updated the current and former Project Team members list on the AVEN wiki.

 

Began updating the Former moderators list on the wiki, added in several of the current and former mods who weren't on the list, added later terms for mods who were re-elected recently. Currently in progress. What needs to be finished: Adding the profile links for the mods added to the list, add remaining mods not yet on the list to the page, fill in the missing electoral position sections.

 

After finishing updating the former moderators list, I plan on updating the former administrators article next, and the articles for each of the forums to include the current moderators.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Time for the next update. I spent quite some time on a statement about the definition discussion following the message from the Board of Directors. It seemed important to me to underline that we do not wish to censor opinions about asexuality, in particular regarding research.

 

In other news, the new revised rules for researchers and students are finally approved and posted. This will hopefully simplify the approval process and help making our work more transparent.

 

There have not been any research requests for most of March, but now all of a sudden three requests have come in, and I know of one other coming up. Also another project will continue soon as far as I know. Watch the research subforum about that.

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My update for March: I'm getting more speaker requests than media requests at the moment. I got 4 in the last month, plus a request for a feature from the Sun (I spoke to them on skype, as well as the speaker requests). One of the speaker requests has defeated me I'm afraid (Ohio based) after advertising through our media lists, through AVEN and through the social media, though we might have finally found someone (thanks Bauer for the contact!) I've also continued corresponding with the Office of National Stats over their gender identity research.

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For March, I had a meeting at the beginning of the month where I learnt the basics to do with how the Survey Team works and what is done with the data. I've been practicing a few things with that. I also have been planning the revival of Asexual Perspectives and the logistics of how that is going to work. I'm currently working on a full update for the Resources Masterpost. That's taking up quite a bit of time. 

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Member54880

Went over many articles on the AVENwiki, found several that need to be updated. Created a thread about it and listed the changes I made when the thread was created:

 

The thread is for feedback and suggestions with creating or improving articles. It's also where I'll post some ideas for drafts or changes for discussion.

 

Other updates: Added a few details to the Asexual History article, currently drafting an AVEN survey article and a Declass Team article. Drafting answers to more answering team emails for review by the rest of the answering team.

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Regarding social media, I've been gone for a few days and haven't set up and recorded my postings each week. So this update is a bit different.

 

Facebook

  • 4 articles have been shared: half of them have been posted by me, and the other half was Cosine.
  • Posted info about speakers wanted for asexuality education in Ohio
  • Shared a post from AVENues about their latest issue
  • Posted a research request
  • And AVEN Digest for the first week
  • Other than posting, I've made more contacts with people that have reached out or trying to reach them out

Tumblr + Twitter

  • AVEN Digest
  • AVENues
  • 1 article
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  • 1 month later...

Time for an update. Mostly business as usual. In the last month we've approved three requests. I've just set up the discussion for a new request. I should advertise that fairly soon.

 

I've also been looking into finding speakers for the asexuality conference in Madrid. We already have some very interesting contributions from researchers.

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For social media, I've been LoA for a few weeks. I'm back now, but thankfully Cosine (who I consider co-social media person) has definitely helped me out a lot by taking care of things while I was gone.

 

Since the last update, the following posts have been made:

 

Notes:

For future posts, on Twitter, I will post the announcement of the asexual conference about the day after tomorrow (of this date). Also, on all our social media, I'll share the latest AVENues issue very soon.

 

I've also contacted some people through Facebook with any responses or requests they may have.

 

In regards to sharing AVENites Sing Productions, I'll ask for permission to share the latest production rather than the original one I asked for. Finals is almost over, and I would have more time to contact individual people to make sure I have everyone.

 

As mentioned before, finals week is almost over and I would have more time. I have some plans for improving our social media. Once that project is done with, I'll update here.

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Sorry for the late update.

 

I spent much of April (and early May) on WorldPride; we have now advertised the confernce in a number of venues and have people on board from several different countries, which is great. Please do still sign up if you can - we'd really like as many to participate as possible and are eager to help with travel and accommodation bookings if needed. I'm also dealing with the insurance and other logistical issues for WP. This month we're going to concentrate on generating our resources (e.g. T-shirts, flyers for the march, name tags for the conference, etc), so this is where I will be calling on people's help.

 

On the media / speaker front, I am giving a talk in London next month (it's at a private company - quite unusual; I've mostly done campuses before) and been interviewed by a student researching the asexual community. I also recruited people for a UK national radio interview (don't know yet when this is out - the station is BBC 5 live) and also helped connect a speaker request with people in Philadelphia via social media (thanks Cosine for help with this).

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Member4445

I had a meeting with the Survey Team that I had to catch up on at the beginning of April. 

 

Ive spend the majority of the month working on my Resources Master Thread and now just need to add the hyperlinks in. 

 

I've arranged to help with the Census write up this month, just need to work out the details. I'm working on writing an advertisement for Survey Team help. 

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Member54880

Wrote drafts for several answering team emails, working on writing an advertisement for answering team help. Drafted wiki articles about the Declass Team, and a list of its current and former members, but am still waiting on getting wiki admin privileges to add the articles.

 

Because WorldPride is near, I'm looking for input on these two articles to expand on them, along with drafting a new article for WorldPride 2017.

 

http://wiki.asexuality.org/WorldPride_2014
http://wiki.asexuality.org/WorldPride_2012

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Time for an update. This month was pretty busy for me with my own research, so I didn't have much time (I'm afraid not enough) for my PT role. Unfortunately the times when I'm usually busy coincide with a peak in research requests, that's because student requests follow roughly an academic calendar, and my work as a postgraduate researcher is determined by that as well.

 

Long story short, Ciri and I have swapped roles, because the resources and survey team role doesn't require availability on very short notice. The time requirements are more medium/long-term, and that's more compatible with my off-AVEN life.

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Since the last update in this thread, the following posts have been made on our social media (Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter):

 

May 11th

AVENues Issue #33

 

May 16th

Week of May 8-15 AVEN Digest

 

May 18th

Shared video

Also for Twitter, mentioned International Asexuality Conference

 

May 21st

Shared article

 

May 23rd

Research request

 

April 2nd

Reminder for the International Asexuality Conference

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Member4445

I had a meeting with the Survey Team at the beginning of them month where we discussed recruiting more members. I had started planning this but ended up in hospital so not much got done.

 

I switched roles with Timewarp on Wednesday 31st May and have sent a 2 PM's to chase up 2 studies and an email. I've also had 1 study approved and am waiting for a reply from the researcher before posting. I've also tidied up the Research Approval Board forum and closed/ended some studies. 

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