+1 for all of the below Matthew C. Mariner Head of Special Collections and Digital Initiatives Assistant Professor Auraria Library 1100 Lawrence StreetDenver, CO 80204-2041 matthew.mari...@ucdenver.edu http://library.auraria.edu :: http://archives.auraria.edu
On 11/26/12 3:51 PM, "Tom Cramer" <tcra...@stanford.edu> wrote: >+1 for Bess's motion >+1 for Roy's expansion to C4L online interactions as well as face to face >+1 for Karen's focus on general inclusivity and fair play > >> For me the hardest thing is how one monitors and resolves issues that >>arise. As a group with no formal management, I suppose the conference >>organizers become the "deciders" if such a necessity arises. If it's >>elsewhere (email, IRC) -- that's a bit trickier. The Ada project's >>detailed guides should help, but if there is a policy it seems that >>there necessarily has to be some responsible "body" -- even if ad hoc. > > >It seems to me that there would be tremendous benefit in having > >1.) an explicit statement of the community norms around harassment and >fair play in general. In the best case, this would help avoid >uncomfortable or inappropriate situations before they occur. > >2.) a defined process for handling any incidents that do arise, which in >the case of this community I would imagine would revolve around >reporting, communication, negotiation and arbitration rather than >adjudication by a standing body (which I agree is hard to see in this >crowd). I know several high schools have adopted peer arbitration >networks for conflict resolution rather than referring incidents to the >Principal's Office--perhaps therein lies a model for us for any incidents >that may not be resolved simply through dialogue. > >- Tom > > > >On Nov 26, 2012, at 2:32 PM, Karen Coyle wrote: > >> Bess and Code4libbers, >> >> I've only been to one c4l conference and it was a very positive >>experience for me, but I also feel that this is too valuable of a >>community for us to risk it getting itself into crisis mode over some >>unintended consequences or a "bad apple" incident. For that reason I >>would support the adoption of an anti-harassment policy in part for its >>consciousness-raising value. Ideally this would be not only about sexual >>harassment but would include general goals for inclusiveness and fair >>play within the community. And it would also serve as an acknowledgment >>that none of us is perfect, but we can deal with it. >> >> For me the hardest thing is how one monitors and resolves issues that >>arise. As a group with no formal management, I suppose the conference >>organizers become the "deciders" if such a necessity arises. If it's >>elsewhere (email, IRC) -- that's a bit trickier. The Ada project's >>detailed guides should help, but if there is a policy it seems that >>there necessarily has to be some responsible "body" -- even if ad hoc. >> >> kc >> >> >> On 11/26/12 2:16 PM, Bess Sadler wrote: >>> Dear Fellow Code4libbers, >>> >>> I hope I am not about to get flamed. Please take as context that I >>>have been a member of this community for almost a decade. I have >>>contributed software, support, and volunteer labor to this community's >>>events. I have also attended the majority of code4lib conferences, >>>which have been amazing and life-changing, and have helped me do my job >>>a lot better. But, and I've never really known how to talk about this, >>>those conferences have also been problematic for me a couple of times. >>>Nothing like what happened to Noirin Shirley at ApacheCon (see >>>http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Noirin_Shirley_ApacheCon_incident if >>>you're unfamiliar with the incident I mean) but enough to concern me >>>that even in a wonderful community where we mostly share the same >>>values, not everyone has the same definitions of acceptable behavior. >>> >>> I am watching the toxic fallout from the BritRuby conference >>>cancellation with a heavy heart (go search for "britruby conference >>>cancelled" if you want to catch up and/or get depressed). It has me >>>wondering what more we could be doing to promote diversity and >>>inclusiveness within code4lib. We have already had a couple of >>>harassment incidents over the years, which I won't rehash here, which >>>have driven away members of our community. We have also had other >>>incidents that don't get talked about because sometimes one can feel >>>that membership in a community is more important than one's personal >>>boundaries or even safety. We should not be a community where people >>>have to make that choice. >>> >>> I would like for us to consider adopting an anti-harassment policy for >>>code4lib conferences. This is emerging as a best practice in the larger >>>open source software community, and we would be joining the ranks of >>>many other conferences: >>>http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_anti-harassment/Adoption. >>>The Ada Initiative has a great discussion of why adopting an >>>Anti-Harrassment policy is a good choice for a conference to make, as >>>well as some example policy statements, here: >>>http://adainitiative.org/what-we-do/conference-policies/ Here is a >>>summary: >>> >>>> Why have an official anti-harassment policy for your conference? >>>>First, it is necessary (unfortunately). Harassment at conferences is >>>>incredibly common - for example, see this timeline >>>>(http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/index.php?title=Timeline_of_incidents) >>>>of sexist incidents in geek communities. Second, it sets expectations >>>>for behavior at the conference. Simply having an anti-harassment >>>>policy can prevent harassment all by itself. Third, it encourages >>>>people to attend who have had bad experiences at other conferences. >>>>Finally, it gives conference staff instructions on how to handle >>>>harassment quickly, with the minimum amount of disruption or bad press >>>>for your conference. >>> If the conference already has something like this in place, and I'm >>>just uninformed, please educate me and let's do a better job >>>publicizing it. >>> >>> Thanks for considering this suggestion. If the answer is the usual >>>code4lib answer (some variation on "Great idea! How are you going to >>>make that happen?") then I hereby nominate myself as a member of the >>>Anti-Harrassment Policy Adoption committee for the code4lib conference. >>>Would anyone else like to join me? >>> >>> Bess Sadler >>> b...@stanford.edu >>> Manager, Application Development >>> Digital Library Systems & Services >>> Stanford University Library >> >> -- >> Karen Coyle >> kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net >> ph: 1-510-540-7596 >> m: 1-510-435-8234 >> skype: kcoylenet
