[diversity-talk] Best practices?

[Kate Chapman]

Hi Richard,

I'm not sure this quite applies to your question, but I've started
speaking at events that are in communities quite a bit different from
the OpenStreetMap community. It at least gets the word out a bit more.
For example over the last month I spoke at Balance Unbalance which is
a conference about the intersection of technology, art and the
environment and at the International Symposium on Electronic Art
(ISEA). The Balance Unbalance talk was a lightening talk about HOT's
work but at ISEA I was on a panel with two indigenous artists and a
digital artist. So the theory is by going into other people's
communities they will learn how they can contribute to OSM and how it
can be useful to them.

As for having a events and trying to get a different audience. I think
changing the type of venue is one start. For example sometimes having
kid friendly events or mapping parties aimed at a specific set of
features that might appeal to a different crowd. For example we've
discussed doing a women's health related mapping event. It would make
sense in that case to do outreach to organizations involved in women's
health.

Best,

-Kate

On Wed, Jun 26, 2013 at 11:21 PM, alyssa wright <alyssapwright at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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".
>>
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>
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