[diversity-talk] Best practices?

[alyssa wright]

Totally agree with Kate on these suggestions. I wonder if there's a way to measure any success. Regardless, what is the current thinking around a women's health event? 

Best,
Alyssa. 

On Jun 27, 2013, at 2:38 AM, Kate Chapman <kate at maploser.com> wrote:

> 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".
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> diversity-talk mailing list
>>> diversity-talk at openstreetmap.org
>>> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/diversity-talk
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> diversity-talk mailing list
>> diversity-talk at openstreetmap.org
>> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/diversity-talk
>>