Absolute ack! ----- Ursprüngliche Mail ----- > To the EuroPython organizers, talk reviewers, and community at large, > > For those of you who do not know me, I am a board member of the Python > Software Foundation, the founder and leader of PyLadies San Francisco, > and an engineer at Spotify. I have been a speaker at the last two > EuroPythons, with 3 talks last year, and a keynote the year before. > > I see that the list of preliminarily talks are publicly available. Side > stepping my issue with lack of communication to proposers of talks at > large, I am writing to bring light to the lack of diversity of the > current list of talks, and propose some action items. > > There is how I understand things as they are. Please correct me if I am > wrong. > > - talk selection was/is being done blindly, as in no identifying > information about the speaker is revealed > - there are very little women on that preliminary talk list slated to > speak > - there are multiple selected speakers slated to give multiple selected > talks > > If you do not find a problem with item #2 and #3, please read this > article [1] about importance of diversity in a technical field. > > Here are my suggestions to rectify this issue: > - limit speakers to only give one talk. Yes this means going back on the > original acceptance. > - reopen CfP and reach out to PyLadies globally to help get the word > out. As one of the main leaders of the global organization, I know this > did not happen originally. > - re-review the talks. Give preference or help for those who would be > first time speakers. First time speakers may need far more help writing > a proposal tailored to the EuroPython audience. As reviewers, you have > an understanding of the EP community and should help pull up new > speakers. > - related to #2, and #3, have open office hours or create general > availability during the time that the CfP is reopened to help those who > want it craft a good proposal. > - select talks for the remainder of the program with the context of the > preliminarily talks in mind. > > I understand that the blind selection process was meant in good faith to > remove bias. However, the result is troubling, and needs to be looked at > in context. If this preliminary list has any influence on the actual > program, the conference will suffer in terms of overall diversity in > attendance. I'm not writing to discuss the merit of diversity at a tech > conference, because I have faith that the reviewers and organizers > already grasp its importance. But this email is to address what I feel > needs to change. > > Thank you, > > Lynn Root > > [1] > http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/technology/technologys-man-problem.html?_r=0 > _______________________________________________ > EuroPython 2014 Berlin, 21th27th July > EuroPython mailing list > [email protected] > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/europython >
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