[diversity-talk] Best practices?

[alyssa wright]

In general, I think very targeted outreach can help shift the makeup of any
event, whether that's submission or attendance[*].  It requires a slow,
ongoing process. Here are some off the top suggestions:

   - Send the event announcement to every mailing list you can think of
   that does advocacy in this space. (Maybe we can start to put a list
   together of what that list would look like for openstreetmap specifically.)
   - Send the event announcement to every leader of difference (gender,
   ethnicity, etc) and ssk them to forward it along to their networks.
   - Follow up the next month (and the next).

In terms of increasing diverse participation, I am convinced that
presentations that have a narratives that people can hook into in different
ways is key.  But I don't think there's any strict formula. Some things I
would like to see us experiment with as a community is framing problems,
humanity, and mission statements over technology.  Because in the end, this
really isn't about technology.

Good question. Thanks!
Alyssa.

[*] Now due to lack of sleep it's quite possible I answered a totally
different question than what you originally intended. If thats the case, a
big apology





On Wednesday, June 26, 2013, Richard Weait wrote:

> I've spoken at events about OpenStreetMap and advocated for
> participation in OpenStreetMap, face-to-face, to potential mappers.
> Often, the attending audience looked a lot like the existing
> OpenStreetMap community[1].  Essentially all of these events were
> public, in a public space and did not charge attendees to attend.
>
> What steps might an event organizer take before an event, so that that
> initial audience is not restricted to a reflection of the existing
> community?
>
> What steps might a speaker, presenter or host take, once the audience
> has arrived?
>
> [1] Not from survey data, just recollection.  And with the caveat,
> "except overwhelmingly English-speaking".
>
> _______________________________________________
> diversity-talk mailing list
> diversity-talk at openstreetmap.org <javascript:;>
> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/diversity-talk
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/diversity-talk/attachments/20130626/aa5fad02/attachment-0001.html>