Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
Wilhelmina Randtke rand...@gmail.com I think maybe in librarianship in general, there is some trying to turn this around and use the same sexist advertising, but marginalize men instead. I think this is a problem in society in general, not just librarianship or technologists: aiming for some improbable perfect balance of discrimination in all directions and misunderstanding that as equality. Such false friends are often uncovered when they suggest that if anyone doesn't like their Gay/Black/whatever Scholarship or Mentorship or whatever restorative scheme, those people should start or make another scheme for Non-gays/Non-blacks/Non-whatevers. So I'm disappointed but unsurprised to hear of male strippers at events. Like Karen Coyle, I'd love to know if anyone objected and what happened next. On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 8:54 AM, James Stuart james.stu...@gmail.comwrote: This list is imperfect (I know several public incidents that aren't on here (recent DEFCON years aren't listed, The Amazing Meeting/ElevatorGate and various other skeptic convention incidents aren't on (possibly by design))), but it's at least a start, and hopefully a picture that sexism is an endemic, systematic problem right now in the geek convention world. http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_incidents Quite right it's imperfect! It's correlated with time, money and maybe an increasing number of smaller conferences with new, inexperienced organisers... I don't think the number of incidents is particularly informative, either: we'd be unhappy with one, no? So it may help to pick a random sample of the incidents and consider whether the anti-harassment policy for code4lib would deal with it. Moreover, I reject that we should place too much weight on that resource for and about women. It has some interesting links, but a site with a Resources for men ghetto is not promoting equality well. Regards, -- MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op. http://koha-community.org supporter, web and library systems developer. In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html Available for hire (including development) at http://www.software.coop/
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
Erik Hetzner erik.hetz...@ucop.edu MJ Ray wrote: However, I'm saddened that I seem to be the first to object to the hand-waving (number of reports) and prejudice in the above paragraph. The above problems seem more likely to arise from being drunk or being idiots than from being men. […] Starting from this incorrect position will lead to the wrong harassment guidelines being drawn up. Obviously the goal is equal respect, but you don’t get there by pretending that the root problem is drunkenness, or that men and women treat one another with disrespect in equal amounts. It’s not hand-waving to say that sexual harassment happens, and that (with negligible exceptions) it is is men who are the perpetrators. To pretend otherwise will not produce an effective anti-harassment policy. Equally, we won't get an effective anti-harassment policy by making incorrect assumptions (like it's negligible if the perpetrators are not men) and ignoring the exceptional cases that don't fit those assumptions. I feel that no serious harassment should be neglected by a true anti-harassment policy as suggested above. It's difficult to say what the root problem is when talking in abstract like the above, but if we believe equality is ever possible, merely being men cannot be the root cause. I feel that those who suggest it is are just a different type of sexist who we must guard against. There are, of course, reasons why men perpetrate more in most communities I interact with, many of which are to do with history and where we're starting from, but things can and do change, both in general and in small subcommunities, and we should be ready. Regards, -- MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op. http://koha-community.org supporter, web and library systems developer. In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html Available for hire (including development) at http://www.software.coop/
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
it may help to pick a random sample of the incidents and consider whether the anti-harassment policy for code4lib would deal with it. This is a good idea. Often, short policies will have the short formal language up front, and then a comments section which isn't part of the policy, but explains how to apply it. The comments section will have examples and explanations, which helps go check check check and apply the policy. Also, running use cases against a policy will show if the policy does what's intended without doing unintended harm. -Wilhelmina Randtke On Sun, Dec 2, 2012 at 7:06 AM, MJ Ray m...@phonecoop.coop wrote: Wilhelmina Randtke rand...@gmail.com I think maybe in librarianship in general, there is some trying to turn this around and use the same sexist advertising, but marginalize men instead. I think this is a problem in society in general, not just librarianship or technologists: aiming for some improbable perfect balance of discrimination in all directions and misunderstanding that as equality. Such false friends are often uncovered when they suggest that if anyone doesn't like their Gay/Black/whatever Scholarship or Mentorship or whatever restorative scheme, those people should start or make another scheme for Non-gays/Non-blacks/Non-whatevers. So I'm disappointed but unsurprised to hear of male strippers at events. Like Karen Coyle, I'd love to know if anyone objected and what happened next. On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 8:54 AM, James Stuart james.stu...@gmail.com wrote: This list is imperfect (I know several public incidents that aren't on here (recent DEFCON years aren't listed, The Amazing Meeting/ElevatorGate and various other skeptic convention incidents aren't on (possibly by design))), but it's at least a start, and hopefully a picture that sexism is an endemic, systematic problem right now in the geek convention world. http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_incidents Quite right it's imperfect! It's correlated with time, money and maybe an increasing number of smaller conferences with new, inexperienced organisers... I don't think the number of incidents is particularly informative, either: we'd be unhappy with one, no? So it may help to pick a random sample of the incidents and consider whether the anti-harassment policy for code4lib would deal with it. Moreover, I reject that we should place too much weight on that resource for and about women. It has some interesting links, but a site with a Resources for men ghetto is not promoting equality well. Regards, -- MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op. http://koha-community.org supporter, web and library systems developer. In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html Available for hire (including development) at http://www.software.coop/
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
Esmé Cowles escow...@ucsd.edu Also, I've seen a number of reports over the last few years of women who were harassed at predominately-male tech conferences. Taken together, they paint a picture of men (particularly drunken men) creating an atmosphere that makes a lot of people feel excluded and worry about being harassed or worse. So I think a positive statement of values, and the general raising of consciousness of these issues, is a good thing. I'm a member of software.coop, which helps write library software, including Koha - we co-hosted KohaCon12 this summer. Like all co-ops, our core values include equality. I would like to see an anti-harassment policy for code4lib. However, I'm saddened that I seem to be the first to object to the hand-waving (number of reports) and prejudice in the above paragraph. The above problems seem more likely to arise from being drunk or being idiots than from being men. Please, let's treat all groups with equal respect and reserve our ire for particular members when they give us reason to do otherwise. The anti-harassment policy should not be developed from a we need to kick men into line standpoint. As such, I suggest https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy/blob/master/code_of_conduct.md should say Discriminatory language and imagery (including sexual) rather than leading with a special case of Sexual. I also suggest generalising religion to religious beliefs to avoid predictable attempts to insult some minorities and claim it's allowed because they're not formal, organised or state-approved religions. Regards, -- MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op. http://koha-community.org supporter, web and library systems developer. In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html Available for hire (including development) at http://www.software.coop/
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
Thanks, MJ. Done: https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy/commit/14c4e12023639200dea85de5db2a314ac305387a On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 6:34 AM, MJ Ray m...@phonecoop.coop wrote: Esmé Cowles escow...@ucsd.edu Also, I've seen a number of reports over the last few years of women who were harassed at predominately-male tech conferences. Taken together, they paint a picture of men (particularly drunken men) creating an atmosphere that makes a lot of people feel excluded and worry about being harassed or worse. So I think a positive statement of values, and the general raising of consciousness of these issues, is a good thing. I'm a member of software.coop, which helps write library software, including Koha - we co-hosted KohaCon12 this summer. Like all co-ops, our core values include equality. I would like to see an anti-harassment policy for code4lib. However, I'm saddened that I seem to be the first to object to the hand-waving (number of reports) and prejudice in the above paragraph. The above problems seem more likely to arise from being drunk or being idiots than from being men. Please, let's treat all groups with equal respect and reserve our ire for particular members when they give us reason to do otherwise. The anti-harassment policy should not be developed from a we need to kick men into line standpoint. As such, I suggest https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy/blob/master/code_of_conduct.md should say Discriminatory language and imagery (including sexual) rather than leading with a special case of Sexual. I also suggest generalising religion to religious beliefs to avoid predictable attempts to insult some minorities and claim it's allowed because they're not formal, organised or state-approved religions. Regards, -- MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op. http://koha-community.org supporter, web and library systems developer. In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html Available for hire (including development) at http://www.software.coop/
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
As a preface, I fully support both of these changes in language. That said, I think it's both important to balance the idea that sure, sometimes people are idiots, with that sexism is a prevalent problem right now at geek conventions, and that it's more than a 'bad and/or drunk apples' problem. This list is imperfect (I know several public incidents that aren't on here (recent DEFCON years aren't listed, The Amazing Meeting/ElevatorGate and various other skeptic convention incidents aren't on (possibly by design))), but it's at least a start, and hopefully a picture that sexism is an endemic, systematic problem right now in the geek convention world. http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_incidents --James PS: I don't know what they are, but I kinda made myself hungry for some drunk apples right now. On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 6:34 AM, MJ Ray m...@phonecoop.coop wrote: Esmé Cowles escow...@ucsd.edu Also, I've seen a number of reports over the last few years of women who were harassed at predominately-male tech conferences. Taken together, they paint a picture of men (particularly drunken men) creating an atmosphere that makes a lot of people feel excluded and worry about being harassed or worse. So I think a positive statement of values, and the general raising of consciousness of these issues, is a good thing. I'm a member of software.coop, which helps write library software, including Koha - we co-hosted KohaCon12 this summer. Like all co-ops, our core values include equality. I would like to see an anti-harassment policy for code4lib. However, I'm saddened that I seem to be the first to object to the hand-waving (number of reports) and prejudice in the above paragraph. The above problems seem more likely to arise from being drunk or being idiots than from being men. Please, let's treat all groups with equal respect and reserve our ire for particular members when they give us reason to do otherwise. The anti-harassment policy should not be developed from a we need to kick men into line standpoint. As such, I suggest https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy/blob/master/code_of_conduct.md should say Discriminatory language and imagery (including sexual) rather than leading with a special case of Sexual. I also suggest generalising religion to religious beliefs to avoid predictable attempts to insult some minorities and claim it's allowed because they're not formal, organised or state-approved religions. Regards, -- MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op. http://koha-community.org supporter, web and library systems developer. In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html Available for hire (including development) at http://www.software.coop/
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
I'd support removing or somehow couching language about any organizer, including any volunteer, immediately ending a talk. All the other sanctions seem to involve the likelihood of deliberation involving some time and multiple people, and some possibility of a misunderstanding being cleared up. I don't think a single volunteer—who, in theory, is granted the power to ban someone for life!—is going to ban someone or refuse to post a talk online without thinking about it for a while and involving other organizers. By their nature, however, something said in the middle of a talk doesn't admit of much in the way of deliberation between organizers, or time to deliberate, and you can't really finish a talk ended by someone if other organizers persuade the volunteer that they made a mistake. The action has to be taken quickly, by someone who hasn't talked it through with others and is largely irreversible. It's a recipe for controversy and disagreement, and potential unfairness. I propose that the right reaction to an offensive talk is for people to walk out of it while it's going on, and to deal with any sanctions required AFTER the talk is over, when there's time and space to get the decision right. Sincerely, Tim Spalding LibraryThing
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
All, Please feel free to make the changes you'd like to see and then submit a pull request. I have added instructions for how to do this in the README: https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy I say this not to shame anyone in the jerky patches welcome! sense, but as an acknowledgement that the way shiz gets done in code4lib is for each of us to take individual initiative. You're all empowered to do so. I look forward to seeing your changes in the repo. -Mike On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 10:19 AM, Tim Spalding t...@librarything.com wrote: I'd support removing or somehow couching language about any organizer, including any volunteer, immediately ending a talk. All the other sanctions seem to involve the likelihood of deliberation involving some time and multiple people, and some possibility of a misunderstanding being cleared up. I don't think a single volunteer—who, in theory, is granted the power to ban someone for life!—is going to ban someone or refuse to post a talk online without thinking about it for a while and involving other organizers. By their nature, however, something said in the middle of a talk doesn't admit of much in the way of deliberation between organizers, or time to deliberate, and you can't really finish a talk ended by someone if other organizers persuade the volunteer that they made a mistake. The action has to be taken quickly, by someone who hasn't talked it through with others and is largely irreversible. It's a recipe for controversy and disagreement, and potential unfairness. I propose that the right reaction to an offensive talk is for people to walk out of it while it's going on, and to deal with any sanctions required AFTER the talk is over, when there's time and space to get the decision right. Sincerely, Tim Spalding LibraryThing
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
This is interesting. They actually had a male entertainer on stage in velcro pants, then speedo and boots, at the WestLaw reception at the American Association of Law Libraries annual meeting this year. Apparently that's not uncommon for the WestLaw reception. At the North American Serials Interest Group meeting, the mens room in the conference area was closed and converted to a women's room for the duration of the conference. So that's three national library conferences I went to this past year, and two of them had a major anti-male sexist event. (ALA did not have strippers, and provided male restrooms. Kudos!) I think maybe in librarianship in general, there is some trying to turn this around and use the same sexist advertising, but marginalize men instead. (Of course, if the crowd being boozed with male stripper on stage makes significantly less money than the crowd accepting fliers from college girls in skimpy clothes, then this may not be a loss for men. Fake poor people culture is popular now with the hipsters, but no one wants poor people culture, if it involves actually having less money.) When you strike langauge about sexual imagery, you might should rethink that. I get enough spam male ads about male genital enlargement, that I suspect men would tend to be intimidated and feel excluded when male 6 packs are prominently displayed in areas where men are outnumbered. Whether it's young women in underwear, or athletic men in underwear, could we agree that it's inappropriate? -Wilhelmina Randtke On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 8:54 AM, James Stuart james.stu...@gmail.comwrote: As a preface, I fully support both of these changes in language. That said, I think it's both important to balance the idea that sure, sometimes people are idiots, with that sexism is a prevalent problem right now at geek conventions, and that it's more than a 'bad and/or drunk apples' problem. This list is imperfect (I know several public incidents that aren't on here (recent DEFCON years aren't listed, The Amazing Meeting/ElevatorGate and various other skeptic convention incidents aren't on (possibly by design))), but it's at least a start, and hopefully a picture that sexism is an endemic, systematic problem right now in the geek convention world. http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_incidents --James PS: I don't know what they are, but I kinda made myself hungry for some drunk apples right now. On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 6:34 AM, MJ Ray m...@phonecoop.coop wrote: Esmé Cowles escow...@ucsd.edu Also, I've seen a number of reports over the last few years of women who were harassed at predominately-male tech conferences. Taken together, they paint a picture of men (particularly drunken men) creating an atmosphere that makes a lot of people feel excluded and worry about being harassed or worse. So I think a positive statement of values, and the general raising of consciousness of these issues, is a good thing. I'm a member of software.coop, which helps write library software, including Koha - we co-hosted KohaCon12 this summer. Like all co-ops, our core values include equality. I would like to see an anti-harassment policy for code4lib. However, I'm saddened that I seem to be the first to object to the hand-waving (number of reports) and prejudice in the above paragraph. The above problems seem more likely to arise from being drunk or being idiots than from being men. Please, let's treat all groups with equal respect and reserve our ire for particular members when they give us reason to do otherwise. The anti-harassment policy should not be developed from a we need to kick men into line standpoint. As such, I suggest https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy/blob/master/code_of_conduct.md should say Discriminatory language and imagery (including sexual) rather than leading with a special case of Sexual. I also suggest generalising religion to religious beliefs to avoid predictable attempts to insult some minorities and claim it's allowed because they're not formal, organised or state-approved religions. Regards, -- MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op. http://koha-community.org supporter, web and library systems developer. In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html Available for hire (including development) at http://www.software.coop/
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
On 11/30/12 8:12 AM, Wilhelmina Randtke wrote: This is interesting. They actually had a male entertainer on stage in velcro pants, then speedo and boots, at the WestLaw reception at the American Association of Law Libraries annual meeting this year. OMG, really?! Did anyone mention to them that not only was that sexist but in notably poor taste? Who does their marketing? Sometimes, no, many times, I wonder if there is any sign of intelligence at all on this planet. kc Apparently that's not uncommon for the WestLaw reception. At the North American Serials Interest Group meeting, the mens room in the conference area was closed and converted to a women's room for the duration of the conference. So that's three national library conferences I went to this past year, and two of them had a major anti-male sexist event. (ALA did not have strippers, and provided male restrooms. Kudos!) I think maybe in librarianship in general, there is some trying to turn this around and use the same sexist advertising, but marginalize men instead. (Of course, if the crowd being boozed with male stripper on stage makes significantly less money than the crowd accepting fliers from college girls in skimpy clothes, then this may not be a loss for men. Fake poor people culture is popular now with the hipsters, but no one wants poor people culture, if it involves actually having less money.) When you strike langauge about sexual imagery, you might should rethink that. I get enough spam male ads about male genital enlargement, that I suspect men would tend to be intimidated and feel excluded when male 6 packs are prominently displayed in areas where men are outnumbered. Whether it's young women in underwear, or athletic men in underwear, could we agree that it's inappropriate? -Wilhelmina Randtke On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 8:54 AM, James Stuart james.stu...@gmail.comwrote: As a preface, I fully support both of these changes in language. That said, I think it's both important to balance the idea that sure, sometimes people are idiots, with that sexism is a prevalent problem right now at geek conventions, and that it's more than a 'bad and/or drunk apples' problem. This list is imperfect (I know several public incidents that aren't on here (recent DEFCON years aren't listed, The Amazing Meeting/ElevatorGate and various other skeptic convention incidents aren't on (possibly by design))), but it's at least a start, and hopefully a picture that sexism is an endemic, systematic problem right now in the geek convention world. http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_incidents --James PS: I don't know what they are, but I kinda made myself hungry for some drunk apples right now. On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 6:34 AM, MJ Ray m...@phonecoop.coop wrote: Esmé Cowles escow...@ucsd.edu Also, I've seen a number of reports over the last few years of women who were harassed at predominately-male tech conferences. Taken together, they paint a picture of men (particularly drunken men) creating an atmosphere that makes a lot of people feel excluded and worry about being harassed or worse. So I think a positive statement of values, and the general raising of consciousness of these issues, is a good thing. I'm a member of software.coop, which helps write library software, including Koha - we co-hosted KohaCon12 this summer. Like all co-ops, our core values include equality. I would like to see an anti-harassment policy for code4lib. However, I'm saddened that I seem to be the first to object to the hand-waving (number of reports) and prejudice in the above paragraph. The above problems seem more likely to arise from being drunk or being idiots than from being men. Please, let's treat all groups with equal respect and reserve our ire for particular members when they give us reason to do otherwise. The anti-harassment policy should not be developed from a we need to kick men into line standpoint. As such, I suggest https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy/blob/master/code_of_conduct.md should say Discriminatory language and imagery (including sexual) rather than leading with a special case of Sexual. I also suggest generalising religion to religious beliefs to avoid predictable attempts to insult some minorities and claim it's allowed because they're not formal, organised or state-approved religions. Regards, -- MJ Ray (slef), member of www.software.coop, a for-more-than-profit co-op. http://koha-community.org supporter, web and library systems developer. In My Opinion Only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html Available for hire (including development) at http://www.software.coop/ -- Karen Coyle kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net ph: 1-510-540-7596 m: 1-510-435-8234 skype: kcoylenet
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 10:19 AM, Tim Spalding t...@librarything.com wrote: I'd support removing or somehow couching language about any organizer, including any volunteer, immediately ending a talk. All the other sanctions seem to involve the likelihood of deliberation involving some time and multiple people, and some possibility of a misunderstanding being cleared up. I don't think a single volunteer—who, in theory, is granted the power to ban someone for life!—is going to ban someone or refuse to post a talk online without thinking about it for a while and involving other organizers. I disagree with this proposal. Code4lib by its nature has backchannels in which collective deliberation and decision can happen somewhat instantaneously. If a talk is deeply offensive, in, say, the first two minutes, I would want to put a stop to it. I propose that the right reaction to an offensive talk is for people to walk out of it while it's going on, and to deal with any sanctions required AFTER the talk is over, when there's time and space to get the decision right. This presumes those offended are uncomfortable enough to walk out. I find this assumption deeply problematic. Mark
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
Wow. We could not have gotten a better follow-up to our long thread about coders and non-coders. I don't git. I've used it to read code, but never contributed. I even downloaded a gui with a cute icon that is supposed to make it easy, and it still is going to take some learning. So I'm afraid that it either needs to be on a different platform for editing, OR someone (you know, the famed someone) is going to have to do updates for us non-gitters. kc On 11/30/12 7:36 AM, Michael J. Giarlo wrote: All, Please feel free to make the changes you'd like to see and then submit a pull request. I have added instructions for how to do this in the README: https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy I say this not to shame anyone in the jerky patches welcome! sense, but as an acknowledgement that the way shiz gets done in code4lib is for each of us to take individual initiative. You're all empowered to do so. I look forward to seeing your changes in the repo. -Mike On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 10:19 AM, Tim Spalding t...@librarything.com wrote: I'd support removing or somehow couching language about any organizer, including any volunteer, immediately ending a talk. All the other sanctions seem to involve the likelihood of deliberation involving some time and multiple people, and some possibility of a misunderstanding being cleared up. I don't think a single volunteer—who, in theory, is granted the power to ban someone for life!—is going to ban someone or refuse to post a talk online without thinking about it for a while and involving other organizers. By their nature, however, something said in the middle of a talk doesn't admit of much in the way of deliberation between organizers, or time to deliberate, and you can't really finish a talk ended by someone if other organizers persuade the volunteer that they made a mistake. The action has to be taken quickly, by someone who hasn't talked it through with others and is largely irreversible. It's a recipe for controversy and disagreement, and potential unfairness. I propose that the right reaction to an offensive talk is for people to walk out of it while it's going on, and to deal with any sanctions required AFTER the talk is over, when there's time and space to get the decision right. Sincerely, Tim Spalding LibraryThing -- Karen Coyle kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net ph: 1-510-540-7596 m: 1-510-435-8234 skype: kcoylenet
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 12:07 PM, Karen Coyle li...@kcoyle.net wrote: Wow. We could not have gotten a better follow-up to our long thread about coders and non-coders. I don't git. I've used it to read code, but never contributed. I even downloaded a gui with a cute icon that is supposed to make it easy, and it still is going to take some learning. So I'm afraid that it either needs to be on a different platform for editing, OR someone (you know, the famed someone) is going to have to do updates for us non-gitters. Karen, I've added instructions about how to add contributions without knowing Git to the README file: https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy/blob/master/README.md If you'd like, I'm happy to have feedback as to changes here. A small handful of people have also asked if we could move this to another platform such as the Code4lib wiki. I'd be happy to get feedback if that would be a preferable option. Mark
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
At Fri, 30 Nov 2012 11:34:41 +, MJ Ray wrote: Esmé Cowles escow...@ucsd.edu Also, I've seen a number of reports over the last few years of women who were harassed at predominately-male tech conferences. Taken together, they paint a picture of men (particularly drunken men) creating an atmosphere that makes a lot of people feel excluded and worry about being harassed or worse. So I think a positive statement of values, and the general raising of consciousness of these issues, is a good thing. I'm a member of software.coop, which helps write library software, including Koha - we co-hosted KohaCon12 this summer. Like all co-ops, our core values include equality. I would like to see an anti-harassment policy for code4lib. However, I'm saddened that I seem to be the first to object to the hand-waving (number of reports) and prejudice in the above paragraph. The above problems seem more likely to arise from being drunk or being idiots than from being men. […] Hi MJ, Starting from this incorrect position will lead to the wrong harassment guidelines being drawn up. Obviously the goal is equal respect, but you don’t get there by pretending that the root problem is drunkenness, or that men and women treat one another with disrespect in equal amounts. It’s not hand-waving to say that sexual harassment happens, and that (with negligible exceptions) it is is men who are the perpetrators. To pretend otherwise will not produce an effective anti-harassment policy. best, Erik Sent from my free software system http://fsf.org/.
[CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib!
YET AGAIN I am totally blown away by how amazing this community is. I am utterly sincere when I say that you people give me hope for the world. Because let me tell you, there are communities where that suggestion would not have been welcomed enthusiastically. And instead, in true code4lib style, we had a democratic decision making process, some proposed solutions which are emerging over time with input from many, swarmed tactical response (with version control! and resources for further study! see: github.com/code4lib), and witty commentary and signal boosting on irc and twitter. We have created a community of practice here that really works, in so many ways, and best yet has shown a willingness to get even better. I am so proud, and so happy, and so thankful to be a member of this community. Thank you, code4lib. Bess Begin forwarded message: From: lists...@listserv.nd.edu Date: November 26, 2012 2:16:24 PM PST To: Bess Sadler bess.sad...@gmail.com Subject: Your message dated Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:16:25 -0800 with subject Your message dated Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:16:25 -0800 with subject anti-harassment policy for code4lib? has been successfully distributed to the CODE4LIB list (2197 recipients).
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
On Nov 26, 2012, at 7:42 PM, Kyle Banerjee kyle.baner...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 4:15 PM, Jon Stroop jstr...@princeton.edu wrote: To that end, and as a show of (positive) force--not to mention how cool our community is--I think it might be neat if we could find a way to make whatever winds up being drafted something we can sign; i.e. attach our personal names Diversity and inclusiveness is a state of mind, and our individual and collective actions exert that force than any policy or pledge ever could. I'm hoping that things can be handled with the minimum formality necessary and that if something needs to be fixed, people can just talk about it so things can be made right. If we need a policy, I'm all for it. But it's truly a sad day if policy rather than just being motivated to do the right thing is what's keeping people playing nice. I agree that it is preferred if one can just assume, if I can restate, that some flavor of The Golden Rule [0] is in force in all interactions. Unfortunately, if reports from past Code4Lib events (mentioned by Bess in her initial note, are these collected somewhere?) and actions at peer events are any guide, it is unsafe to make that assumption. The policy/code-of-conduct, then, becomes the proactive, affirmative statement of the community. I don't think we should wait for a reactive stance to try to make things right. We can (re)set the expectation for anything now going forward. Peter [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule -- Peter Murray Assistant Director, Technology Services Development LYRASIS peter.mur...@lyrasis.org +1 678-235-2955 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 800.999.8558 Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org LYRASIS: Great Libraries. Strong Communities. Innovative Answers.
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
Also, one of the advantages for most anti-harassment policies is that they define the behavior in terms of the recipient feeling uncomfortable/threatened. You'd be surprised how many of the recent ugly con situations in the geek communities had people whose defense was: But I wasn't being an asshole! or How could I know? On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 7:47 PM, Michael J. Giarlo leftw...@alumni.rutgers.edu wrote: Hi Kyle, IMO, this is less an instrument to keep people playing nice and more an instrument to point to in the event that we have to take action against an offender. -Mike On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 7:42 PM, Kyle Banerjee kyle.baner...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 4:15 PM, Jon Stroop jstr...@princeton.edu wrote: It's sad that we have to address this formally (as formal as c4l gets anyway), but that's reality, so yes, bess++ indeed, and mjgiarlo++, anarchivist++ for the quick assist. This. To that end, and as a show of (positive) force--not to mention how cool our community is--I think it might be neat if we could find a way to make whatever winds up being drafted something we can sign; i.e. attach our personal names Diversity and inclusiveness is a state of mind, and our individual and collective actions exert that force than any policy or pledge ever could. I'm hoping that things can be handled with the minimum formality necessary and that if something needs to be fixed, people can just talk about it so things can be made right. If we need a policy, I'm all for it. But it's truly a sad day if policy rather than just being motivated to do the right thing is what's keeping people playing nice. kyle
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
Also, I've seen a number of reports over the last few years of women who were harassed at predominately-male tech conferences. Taken together, they paint a picture of men (particularly drunken men) creating an atmosphere that makes a lot of people feel excluded and worry about being harassed or worse. So I think a positive statement of values, and the general raising of consciousness of these issues, is a good thing. -Esme -- Esme Cowles escow...@ucsd.edu Men feared witches and burnt women. -- Louis Brandeis, Whitney v. California, concurring On 11/26/2012, at 7:47 PM, Michael J. Giarlo leftw...@alumni.rutgers.edu wrote: Hi Kyle, IMO, this is less an instrument to keep people playing nice and more an instrument to point to in the event that we have to take action against an offender. -Mike On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 7:42 PM, Kyle Banerjee kyle.baner...@gmail.comwrote: On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 4:15 PM, Jon Stroop jstr...@princeton.edu wrote: It's sad that we have to address this formally (as formal as c4l gets anyway), but that's reality, so yes, bess++ indeed, and mjgiarlo++, anarchivist++ for the quick assist. This. To that end, and as a show of (positive) force--not to mention how cool our community is--I think it might be neat if we could find a way to make whatever winds up being drafted something we can sign; i.e. attach our personal names Diversity and inclusiveness is a state of mind, and our individual and collective actions exert that force than any policy or pledge ever could. I'm hoping that things can be handled with the minimum formality necessary and that if something needs to be fixed, people can just talk about it so things can be made right. If we need a policy, I'm all for it. But it's truly a sad day if policy rather than just being motivated to do the right thing is what's keeping people playing nice. kyle
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
And also a policy could be support for an offendee to speak up that what happened to her/him was wrong. Sorry to call her out, but Bess DID say that conferences have also been problematic for me a couple of times ALREADY, but she didn't know how to talk about it. A policy would hopefully give someone who also didn't know how to talk about such things some courage and some words to use. And no, when there is even the perception of power imbalance as can happen when someone has a minority status (whether gender or culture or otherwise) it isn't so simple to just speak up and fix the problem. Sometimes you have to bend over backwards just to level the field a bit. (Just sayin') Christina Salazar Systems Librarian John Spoor Broome Library California State University, Channel Islands 805/437-3198 -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Michael J. Giarlo Sent: Monday, November 26, 2012 4:47 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib? Hi Kyle, IMO, this is less an instrument to keep people playing nice and more an instrument to point to in the event that we have to take action against an offender. -Mike On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 7:42 PM, Kyle Banerjee kyle.baner...@gmail.comwrote: On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 4:15 PM, Jon Stroop jstr...@princeton.edu wrote: It's sad that we have to address this formally (as formal as c4l gets anyway), but that's reality, so yes, bess++ indeed, and mjgiarlo++, anarchivist++ for the quick assist. This. To that end, and as a show of (positive) force--not to mention how cool our community is--I think it might be neat if we could find a way to make whatever winds up being drafted something we can sign; i.e. attach our personal names Diversity and inclusiveness is a state of mind, and our individual and collective actions exert that force than any policy or pledge ever could. I'm hoping that things can be handled with the minimum formality necessary and that if something needs to be fixed, people can just talk about it so things can be made right. If we need a policy, I'm all for it. But it's truly a sad day if policy rather than just being motivated to do the right thing is what's keeping people playing nice. kyle
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
On Nov 26, 2012, at 7:47 PM, Michael J. Giarlo wrote: Hi Kyle, IMO, this is less an instrument to keep people playing nice and more an instrument to point to in the event that we have to take action against an offender. That was the reasoning for the DCBPW code of conduct ... covering ourselves if we had to eject someone. And it's not just a diversity thing -- One of the concerns for the DCBPW one was that there had been a guy at some previous Perl workshop who seemed to think that the presentations were personal conversations between him and the speaker, and kept interjecting. The sad reality is, there seem to be an abnormally high number of people in the technology fields who have gotten as far as they have with little to no understanding of social etiquette. (I've been told that I can cite myself as an example ... if you don't believe me, do a `whois annoying.org`) -Joe
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
+1 to Bess for raising the topic -- I'm onboard. Jon's point is an important one. Code4Lib does not have a formal structure, owner, or convening body. Any power in the Code4Lib community is directly proportional to the collective will of the members of this community. Therefore I think it is important to have a way for community members to register an endorsement of the policy/code-of-conduct. That will be how the local meeting hosts and the IRC channel ops and the mailing list owners (all volunteers) are empowered to take action. Here are a couple of ways to do it, along with some advantages and disadvantages: * Registering names on a wiki page: + Low overhead, account infrastructure not required - Subject to vandalism and false signatures * Sign by forking the GitHub repo: + Good for version control (a particular version is signed) + Fork appearing on GitHub repo list keeps commitment in the forefront of signer's mind - Requiring signers to have a GitHub account may not be realistic * Create a lightweight signing app on Code4Lib.org + Lighter weight account registration requirement than GitHub - Requires someone to create app - Signers must sign up for a code4lib.org account; overhead for code4lib.org administrators Peter On Nov 26, 2012, at 7:15 PM, Jon Stroop jstr...@princeton.edu wrote: The responses to the list in the past couple of hours alone suggest that this is something much of the community would want to get behind. To that end, and as a show of (positive) force--not to mention how cool our community is--I think it might be neat if we could find a way to make whatever winds up being drafted something we can sign; i.e. attach our personal names. I don't know how that would work exactly...maybe via the wiki (where it seems to me a lot of good info goes to die) or the code4lib Github (slightly better since you could link to your credentials in a an environment much larger than our own, and everyone could have a copy), but something along those lines. I'm happy to help if I can. -- Peter Murray Assistant Director, Technology Services Development LYRASIS peter.mur...@lyrasis.org +1 678-235-2955 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 800.999.8558 Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org LYRASIS: Great Libraries. Strong Communities. Innovative Answers.
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
+1 - unfortunately, without a set policy, any infractions have to be treated arbitrarily by... well, by whom? Having a policy eases the burden of the organizers who don't have to be forced into making one on the spot in reaction to an incident. -Ross. On Nov 26, 2012, at 7:47 PM, Michael J. Giarlo leftw...@alumni.rutgers.edu wrote: Hi Kyle, IMO, this is less an instrument to keep people playing nice and more an instrument to point to in the event that we have to take action against an offender. -Mike On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 7:42 PM, Kyle Banerjee kyle.baner...@gmail.comwrote: On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 4:15 PM, Jon Stroop jstr...@princeton.edu wrote: It's sad that we have to address this formally (as formal as c4l gets anyway), but that's reality, so yes, bess++ indeed, and mjgiarlo++, anarchivist++ for the quick assist. This. To that end, and as a show of (positive) force--not to mention how cool our community is--I think it might be neat if we could find a way to make whatever winds up being drafted something we can sign; i.e. attach our personal names Diversity and inclusiveness is a state of mind, and our individual and collective actions exert that force than any policy or pledge ever could. I'm hoping that things can be handled with the minimum formality necessary and that if something needs to be fixed, people can just talk about it so things can be made right. If we need a policy, I'm all for it. But it's truly a sad day if policy rather than just being motivated to do the right thing is what's keeping people playing nice. kyle
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
On 11/26/12 4:37 PM, Joe Hourcle wrote: Don't be an asshole. Could that become the 11th commandment, and could we get a really really angry god to enforce it? Everywhere, all of the time? kc I think there was a second line of it, about how we had the right to remove people who refused to follow that advice and no refunds would be given. I might be wrong on the exact language. The e-mail I found referenced 'Don't be a dick', in an attempt to paraphrase the legalese of the Code of Conduct for our venue ... but the reference to gender-specific anatomy would be kinda sexist in itself. -Joe -- Karen Coyle kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net ph: 1-510-540-7596 m: 1-510-435-8234 skype: kcoylenet
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
bess++ giarlo++ matienzo++ tennant++ all who have agreed to volunteer++ I think there are plenty of volunteers, so I'll gladly defer to others. (If you do need more, you know where to find me.) I trust you guys to make it sensible, not too formal, blah blah. As for signing personal names -- I hate that we have such a litigious society, but we do. I would certainly sign my support for a motion, but I would not want any of us to be individually responsible in a legal sense for some else's behavior. So please be careful! I'm pondering if a code of conduct (the positive things we want) would be a nice counterpart to explicitly stating what we don't condone (anti-harrassment policy). It should be low barrier and low risk for individuals to tell us/someone when they feel uncomfortable. Hopefully with enough detail to allow for remediation/change. Lastly, I'd like to hang on to the sense that an individual who has been called out in a transgression has an opportunity to make amends, to avoid future incidents and to remain in the community. I commit so many social blunders that it scares me to think I could be excluded from this great community from an unintentional consequence of a poorly filtered action. - Naomi who is understanding why legal code gets so frickin' complicated! On Nov 26, 2012, at 4:47 PM, Michael J. Giarlo wrote: Hi Kyle, IMO, this is less an instrument to keep people playing nice and more an instrument to point to in the event that we have to take action against an offender. -Mike On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 7:42 PM, Kyle Banerjee kyle.baner...@gmail.comwrote: On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 4:15 PM, Jon Stroop jstr...@princeton.edu wrote: It's sad that we have to address this formally (as formal as c4l gets anyway), but that's reality, so yes, bess++ indeed, and mjgiarlo++, anarchivist++ for the quick assist. This. To that end, and as a show of (positive) force--not to mention how cool our community is--I think it might be neat if we could find a way to make whatever winds up being drafted something we can sign; i.e. attach our personal names Diversity and inclusiveness is a state of mind, and our individual and collective actions exert that force than any policy or pledge ever could. I'm hoping that things can be handled with the minimum formality necessary and that if something needs to be fixed, people can just talk about it so things can be made right. If we need a policy, I'm all for it. But it's truly a sad day if policy rather than just being motivated to do the right thing is what's keeping people playing nice. kyle
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
This is now SOP for open-source software events and organizations. I don't seem to do anything except go to open-source software events, so I can't speak to any other type of event or group. Cary On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 4:47 PM, Michael J. Giarlo leftw...@alumni.rutgers.edu wrote: Hi Kyle, IMO, this is less an instrument to keep people playing nice and more an instrument to point to in the event that we have to take action against an offender. -Mike On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 7:42 PM, Kyle Banerjee kyle.baner...@gmail.comwrote: On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 4:15 PM, Jon Stroop jstr...@princeton.edu wrote: It's sad that we have to address this formally (as formal as c4l gets anyway), but that's reality, so yes, bess++ indeed, and mjgiarlo++, anarchivist++ for the quick assist. This. To that end, and as a show of (positive) force--not to mention how cool our community is--I think it might be neat if we could find a way to make whatever winds up being drafted something we can sign; i.e. attach our personal names Diversity and inclusiveness is a state of mind, and our individual and collective actions exert that force than any policy or pledge ever could. I'm hoping that things can be handled with the minimum formality necessary and that if something needs to be fixed, people can just talk about it so things can be made right. If we need a policy, I'm all for it. But it's truly a sad day if policy rather than just being motivated to do the right thing is what's keeping people playing nice. kyle -- Cary Gordon The Cherry Hill Company http://chillco.com
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
A+ would fork again On Nov 27, 2012 7:47 AM, Peter Murray peter.mur...@lyrasis.org wrote: +1 to Bess for raising the topic -- I'm onboard. Jon's point is an important one. Code4Lib does not have a formal structure, owner, or convening body. Any power in the Code4Lib community is directly proportional to the collective will of the members of this community. Therefore I think it is important to have a way for community members to register an endorsement of the policy/code-of-conduct. That will be how the local meeting hosts and the IRC channel ops and the mailing list owners (all volunteers) are empowered to take action. Here are a couple of ways to do it, along with some advantages and disadvantages: * Registering names on a wiki page: + Low overhead, account infrastructure not required - Subject to vandalism and false signatures * Sign by forking the GitHub repo: + Good for version control (a particular version is signed) + Fork appearing on GitHub repo list keeps commitment in the forefront of signer's mind - Requiring signers to have a GitHub account may not be realistic * Create a lightweight signing app on Code4Lib.org + Lighter weight account registration requirement than GitHub - Requires someone to create app - Signers must sign up for a code4lib.org account; overhead for code4lib.org administrators Peter On Nov 26, 2012, at 7:15 PM, Jon Stroop jstr...@princeton.edu wrote: The responses to the list in the past couple of hours alone suggest that this is something much of the community would want to get behind. To that end, and as a show of (positive) force--not to mention how cool our community is--I think it might be neat if we could find a way to make whatever winds up being drafted something we can sign; i.e. attach our personal names. I don't know how that would work exactly...maybe via the wiki (where it seems to me a lot of good info goes to die) or the code4lib Github (slightly better since you could link to your credentials in a an environment much larger than our own, and everyone could have a copy), but something along those lines. I'm happy to help if I can. -- Peter Murray Assistant Director, Technology Services Development LYRASIS peter.mur...@lyrasis.org +1 678-235-2955 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 800.999.8558 Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org LYRASIS: Great Libraries. Strong Communities. Innovative Answers.
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
Bess, Same for me - can't go to the conference, but definitely willing to help. What a great idea! 1+ Cheers, Sarah -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Carol Bean Sent: November-26-12 5:55 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib? Bess++ Not going to the conf this year, but very willing to pitch in on this Carol On Nov 26, 2012, at 5:46 PM, Michael J. Giarlo leftw...@alumni.rutgers.edu wrote: bess++ Let's do this. On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 5:44 PM, Timothy A. Lepczyk timlepc...@gmail.comwrote: Thanks for bringing this up, Bess. +1 * * * Timothy A. Lepczyk* Digital Humanities Pedagogy Fellow Hendrix College On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 4:38 PM, Mark A. Matienzo mark.matie...@gmail.comwrote: OK - to start, I've created a Github repo to help with drafting a policy: https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy There's just a README there now with a bunch of resources. I'll try to add more content there later this evening. Mark
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
I think a good code is Try not to be an asshole. You can but try. Never-the-less, I feel it mitigates the need for an angry god and makes the 10 commandments redundant. Anyway, thanks to Bess for raising the issue. I think all of you have made a great start. I think there are more than enough volunteers already, but I would contribute if you need me. Using Github seems like a good way to garner support and endorsement of the final policy. I've added it to my starred list to show my support. On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 7:48 PM, Karen Coyle li...@kcoyle.net wrote: On 11/26/12 4:37 PM, Joe Hourcle wrote: Don't be an asshole. Could that become the 11th commandment, and could we get a really really angry god to enforce it? Everywhere, all of the time? kc I think there was a second line of it, about how we had the right to remove people who refused to follow that advice and no refunds would be given. I might be wrong on the exact language. The e-mail I found referenced 'Don't be a dick', in an attempt to paraphrase the legalese of the Code of Conduct for our venue ... but the reference to gender-specific anatomy would be kinda sexist in itself. -Joe -- Karen Coyle kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net ph: 1-510-540-7596 m: 1-510-435-8234 skype: kcoylenet
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
The problem with Try not to be an asshole. is that it is open to interpretation. Someone might try not to be an asshole and fail miserably. Google is more definite with don't be evil, but opinion varies as to whether they are much good at not being evil. I think that it is difficult to have a non-organization, and sometimes it takes more work than having actual governance. Cary On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 9:06 AM, Tom Keays tomke...@gmail.com wrote: I think a good code is Try not to be an asshole. You can but try. Never-the-less, I feel it mitigates the need for an angry god and makes the 10 commandments redundant. Anyway, thanks to Bess for raising the issue. I think all of you have made a great start. I think there are more than enough volunteers already, but I would contribute if you need me. Using Github seems like a good way to garner support and endorsement of the final policy. I've added it to my starred list to show my support. On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 7:48 PM, Karen Coyle li...@kcoyle.net wrote: On 11/26/12 4:37 PM, Joe Hourcle wrote: Don't be an asshole. Could that become the 11th commandment, and could we get a really really angry god to enforce it? Everywhere, all of the time? kc I think there was a second line of it, about how we had the right to remove people who refused to follow that advice and no refunds would be given. I might be wrong on the exact language. The e-mail I found referenced 'Don't be a dick', in an attempt to paraphrase the legalese of the Code of Conduct for our venue ... but the reference to gender-specific anatomy would be kinda sexist in itself. -Joe -- Karen Coyle kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net ph: 1-510-540-7596 m: 1-510-435-8234 skype: kcoylenet -- Cary Gordon The Cherry Hill Company http://chillco.com
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
It should be low barrier and low risk for individuals to tell us/someone when they feel uncomfortable. Hopefully with enough detail to allow for remediation/change. Riffing from Naomi, and others, about the worry that people might be both upset and not know how to proceed: We have enough clearly lovely people in the community that I wonder if we couldn't find a couple or more that could be identified as ombudspersonesque types on a per-conference basis. A person or persons, identified several times during the conference ,and with other directory information (email) one could go to with the guarantee of anonymity who could at a minimum listen and if desired try to constructively deal with the situation. I'll say that at my first conference I was somewhat startled by the back channel chatter. It took me a while to understand, parse, and not worry so much about it...and then to take some gems from it. -t
[CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
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
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 5:16 PM, Bess Sadler bess.sad...@gmail.com wrote: 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? Absolutely. bess++ Mark A. Matienzo m...@matienzo.org Digital Archivist, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library Technical Architect, ArchivesSpace
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
+1 Thanks for putting this forward Bess! -nruest On 12-11-26 05:19 PM, Mark A. Matienzo wrote: On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 5:16 PM, Bess Sadler bess.sad...@gmail.com wrote: 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? Absolutely. bess++ Mark A. Matienzo m...@matienzo.org Digital Archivist, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library Technical Architect, ArchivesSpace
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 02:16:25PM -0800, Bess Sadler wrote: 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? I apologize that the registration noise will kill this signal! Sign me up for this nonetheless. ./fxk Bess Sadler b...@stanford.edu Manager, Application Development Digital Library Systems Services Stanford University Library -- A candidate is a person who gets money from the rich and votes from the poor to protect them from each other.
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
I'd be happy to join this effort, and would like to suggest a friendly amendment. We need, as a community, to have an anti-harassment policy that governs ALL of our collective interactions (e.g., the chatroom, for example), not just for the conference. Roy On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 2:16 PM, Bess Sadler bess.sad...@gmail.com 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
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
+1 and add my name to the list. There's a seedling of a similar policy at http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/How_to_hack_code4lib#Don.27t_be_sexist.2Fracist.2F.2Aist, but I'd be more than happy to help grow it. Thanks, Becky On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 4:22 PM, Francis Kayiwa kay...@uic.edu wrote: On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 02:16:25PM -0800, Bess Sadler wrote: 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 -- A candidate is a person who gets money from the rich and votes from the poor to protect them from each other.
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
Wholehearted support. -- jaf Jeremy Frumkin Assistant Dean / Chief Technology Strategist University of Arizona Libraries +1 520.626.7296 frumk...@u.library.arizona.edu Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. - Albert Einstein To clarify, add detail. Imagine that, to clarify, add detail. Clutter and overload are not attributes of information, they are failures of design. If the information is in chaos, don¹t start throwing out information, instead fix the design. ‹Edward Tufte On 11/26/12 3:27 PM, Roy Tennant roytenn...@gmail.com wrote: I'd be happy to join this effort, and would like to suggest a friendly amendment. We need, as a community, to have an anti-harassment policy that governs ALL of our collective interactions (e.g., the chatroom, for example), not just for the conference. Roy On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 2:16 PM, Bess Sadler bess.sad...@gmail.com 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
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
+1 and willing to volunteer as well. On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 5:28 PM, Frumkin, Jeremy frumk...@u.library.arizona.edu wrote: Wholehearted support. -- jaf Jeremy Frumkin Assistant Dean / Chief Technology Strategist University of Arizona Libraries +1 520.626.7296 frumk...@u.library.arizona.edu Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. - Albert Einstein To clarify, add detail. Imagine that, to clarify, add detail. Clutter and overload are not attributes of information, they are failures of design. If the information is in chaos, don¹t start throwing out information, instead fix the design. ‹Edward Tufte On 11/26/12 3:27 PM, Roy Tennant roytenn...@gmail.com wrote: I'd be happy to join this effort, and would like to suggest a friendly amendment. We need, as a community, to have an anti-harassment policy that governs ALL of our collective interactions (e.g., the chatroom, for example), not just for the conference. Roy On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 2:16 PM, Bess Sadler bess.sad...@gmail.com 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
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
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
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
+1 - I totally agree on that. -Original Message- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Roy Tennant Sent: Monday, November 26, 2012 5:27 PM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib? I'd be happy to join this effort, and would like to suggest a friendly amendment. We need, as a community, to have an anti-harassment policy that governs ALL of our collective interactions (e.g., the chatroom, for example), not just for the conference. Roy On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 2:16 PM, Bess Sadler bess.sad...@gmail.com 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
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
OK - to start, I've created a Github repo to help with drafting a policy: https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy There's just a README there now with a bunch of resources. I'll try to add more content there later this evening. Mark
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
Thanks for bringing this up, Bess. +1 * * * Timothy A. Lepczyk* Digital Humanities Pedagogy Fellow Hendrix College On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 4:38 PM, Mark A. Matienzo mark.matie...@gmail.comwrote: OK - to start, I've created a Github repo to help with drafting a policy: https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy There's just a README there now with a bunch of resources. I'll try to add more content there later this evening. Mark
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
Bess, I couldn't agree more. I'm a bit surprised that this has been a problem, because I think of code4lib being a very open, friendly-type environment. Apparently, I have not been paying attention! We need to ensure that code4lib is always open and friendly. Perhaps a neon sign somewhere? Thanks for bringing this to my and everyone's attention! ...adam On Nov 26, 2012, at 5:16 PM, Bess Sadler wrote: I would like for us to consider adopting an anti-harassment policy for code4lib conferences. This communication is a confidential and proprietary business communication. It is intended solely for the use of the designated recipient(s). If this communication is received in error, please contact the sender and delete this communication.
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
bess++ Let's do this. On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 5:44 PM, Timothy A. Lepczyk timlepc...@gmail.comwrote: Thanks for bringing this up, Bess. +1 * * * Timothy A. Lepczyk* Digital Humanities Pedagogy Fellow Hendrix College On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 4:38 PM, Mark A. Matienzo mark.matie...@gmail.comwrote: OK - to start, I've created a Github repo to help with drafting a policy: https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy There's just a README there now with a bunch of resources. I'll try to add more content there later this evening. Mark
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
+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
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
Bess++ Not going to the conf this year, but very willing to pitch in on this Carol On Nov 26, 2012, at 5:46 PM, Michael J. Giarlo leftw...@alumni.rutgers.edu wrote: bess++ Let's do this. On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 5:44 PM, Timothy A. Lepczyk timlepc...@gmail.comwrote: Thanks for bringing this up, Bess. +1 * * * Timothy A. Lepczyk* Digital Humanities Pedagogy Fellow Hendrix College On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 4:38 PM, Mark A. Matienzo mark.matie...@gmail.comwrote: OK - to start, I've created a Github repo to help with drafting a policy: https://github.com/code4lib/antiharassment-policy There's just a README there now with a bunch of resources. I'll try to add more content there later this evening. Mark
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
+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
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
+1, of course :) You might wish to consider some further derivatives/related pages: http://www.diglib.org/about/code-of-conduct/ http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Friendly_space_policy https://thestrangeloop.com/about/policies http://www.apache.org/foundation/policies/anti-harassment.html Rob On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Mariner, Matthew matthew.mari...@ucdenver.edu wrote: +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
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
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
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
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
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
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_incidentif 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
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
On Nov 26, 2012, at 5:16 PM, Bess Sadler wrote: 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? We had no Anti-Harassment Policy for the DC-Baltimore Perl Workshop as it was all covered under our general Code of Conduct: Don't be an asshole. I think there was a second line of it, about how we had the right to remove people who refused to follow that advice and no refunds would be given. I might be wrong on the exact language. The e-mail I found referenced 'Don't be a dick', in an attempt to paraphrase the legalese of the Code of Conduct for our venue ... but the reference to gender-specific anatomy would be kinda sexist in itself. -Joe
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 4:15 PM, Jon Stroop jstr...@princeton.edu wrote: It's sad that we have to address this formally (as formal as c4l gets anyway), but that's reality, so yes, bess++ indeed, and mjgiarlo++, anarchivist++ for the quick assist. This. To that end, and as a show of (positive) force--not to mention how cool our community is--I think it might be neat if we could find a way to make whatever winds up being drafted something we can sign; i.e. attach our personal names Diversity and inclusiveness is a state of mind, and our individual and collective actions exert that force than any policy or pledge ever could. I'm hoping that things can be handled with the minimum formality necessary and that if something needs to be fixed, people can just talk about it so things can be made right. If we need a policy, I'm all for it. But it's truly a sad day if policy rather than just being motivated to do the right thing is what's keeping people playing nice. kyle
Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib?
Hi Kyle, IMO, this is less an instrument to keep people playing nice and more an instrument to point to in the event that we have to take action against an offender. -Mike On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 7:42 PM, Kyle Banerjee kyle.baner...@gmail.comwrote: On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 4:15 PM, Jon Stroop jstr...@princeton.edu wrote: It's sad that we have to address this formally (as formal as c4l gets anyway), but that's reality, so yes, bess++ indeed, and mjgiarlo++, anarchivist++ for the quick assist. This. To that end, and as a show of (positive) force--not to mention how cool our community is--I think it might be neat if we could find a way to make whatever winds up being drafted something we can sign; i.e. attach our personal names Diversity and inclusiveness is a state of mind, and our individual and collective actions exert that force than any policy or pledge ever could. I'm hoping that things can be handled with the minimum formality necessary and that if something needs to be fixed, people can just talk about it so things can be made right. If we need a policy, I'm all for it. But it's truly a sad day if policy rather than just being motivated to do the right thing is what's keeping people playing nice. kyle
