[Friends of IFTF] April Newsletter from the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation

[David Streever]

Dear friends of IFTF,
Thank you for your responses to the last newsletter, especially to the many
people who reached out to volunteer or to help.

We’re currently seeking an organizer for our Accessibility Testing Project,
a.k.a "The Testathon", a community effort to make sure that Interactive
Fiction is open and accessible to everyone. Our existing committee, formed
last October, needs an organizer to coordinate meetings, make decisions,
and resolve disagreements. Please see Andrew Plotkin’s blog post (
http://blog.iftechfoundation.org/2017-04-19-more-volunteer-
seeking-the-accessibility-project.html) if you need more information, and
reply to this email to volunteer.

In Foundation news, we announced our open books policy, one part of our
transparency goal, in a blog post by Flourish Klink. We will be providing
an accounting of incoming and outgoing funds, volunteer time, spending
rates, and an overall financial health assessment. You can read the post in
our April 7th entry (http://blog.iftechfoundation.
org/2017-04-07-openbooks.html).

We've also been working with Mark Musante (markm) to take ownership of the
IFComp.org domain, which he has maintained for many years as a contribution
to the community. We're happy to announce that the transfer has been
initiated and we will maintain the domain as part of our organizational
mission to preserve and support interactive fiction. Many thanks to Mark
for his years of stewardship.

In other IFComp news, the survey results have been tabulated and analyzed
by IFComp organizer Jason McIntosh, who reveals common threads in his blog
post (http://blog.iftechfoundation.org/2017-04-14-ifcomp-
surveying-2016-and-pondering-2017.html). Overwhelmingly, respondents wanted
more dialogue, communication, and reviews, leading Jason to announce that
2017 will be the year of the review for IFComp. The 23rd IFComp opens to
entries on July 1st this year.

In broader interactive fiction news, this year’s Whitney Biennial featured
two Twine works by Charity Heartscape Porpentine. Twine creator and IFTF
board member Chris Klimas links to an interview and provides more context
on this big moment for Interactive Fiction and one of Twine’s most
well-known authors. See our April 2nd blog entry (
http://blog.iftechfoundation.org/2017-04-02-interactive-
fiction-appears-at-the-whitney-biennial.html).

Please respond if you can volunteer for the Testathon, or have any feedback
on the IFTF or this newsletter. Thank you for your support and continued
interest in IFTF!
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