Diversity & Inclusion
torgo opened this issue · 5 comments
This event needs to put diversity & inclusion as a core value. Please see our recent blog post with many suggestions on how events can do this. This event needs to make these factors a core element from the beginning, including having a code of conduct and enforcement policy and a diversity & inclusion statement (e.g. what FFconf published https://2017.ffconf.org/diversity). See also the recently produced DeltaV conference's FAQ particularly the topics around accessibility, dietary requirements and code of conduct.
We need a help on this issue. Please note: the list we have at the moment (May 15th) is purely based on individual "I'm interested" messages I've got via different channels and does reflect neither planned nor final speaker list. This file was intentionally made not in the form of issue, so everyone could send PR with adding/revoking/correcting their role.
It has helped me a lot, when organising previous events, to have a diverse org team. When wanting to foster a diverse audience and speakers, having role models on the org team really helps attendees to feel more welcomed.
This works especially well if the org team is made up of active members of the tech community.
They not only bring with them their knowledge but their wider contacts in the community making the event reach further.
I'd recommend reaching out to members of the community for fellow organisers. I'm happy to help here if I can.
@thisisjofrank your help is appreciated!
ScotlandCSS / ScotlandJS / global diversity CFP day have done some pretty stellar work around D&I efforts, as far as I can see.
For example, their CoC - https://www.globaldiversitycfpday.com/code-of-conduct - includes steps to take if you feel the CoC has been violated. Just having a code of conduct isn't enough; making sure their are processes in place and the team feel equipped to handle any situation that could arise is really important to help folks feel safe and ensure the CoC actually 'has teeth'.
Childcare is something else http://scotlandcss.com/ have gotten very right, as I understand it.
Lastly the ScotlandCSS Call for Proposals was anonymised. This is to be applauded - takes care of any unconcious biases the selection team might have themselves. http://scotlandcss.com/cfp/
ScotlandJS released the results of such an approach too: https://twitter.com/ScotlandJS/status/986566652463603713
I think as an effective first measure, we should adopt a code of conduct. I’d propose the Conference anti-harassment Policy by Geek Feminism. The code of conduct of global diversity CfP day has no obvious license, so I’d prefer not to copy it. In addition, the Geek Feminism policy seems to be more elaborate than the standard Conf code of conduct you see anywhere else and it’s CC-0. Plus, they have a whole bunch of more resources (including team instructions in case of violations and higher risk activities) here: http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_anti-harassment
I’d suggest to go with the short public version in the README and have the long public version in a separate markdown file. If this is intended to be a community conf, we could also include the internal version of the code of conduct in the repo.
What do you think, @benseven @thisisjofrank @torgo @webmaxru ? If this reaches a consensus, I could prepare a PR so we could have a detailed discussion about it. Thanks!