[diversity-talk] Greetings, thoughts, references

Wed Oct 8 17:41:36 UTC 2014

thanks for this thread! some abbreviated thoughts:

1. +1 on the plan suggested! 

2. there's been some research (will get links) that suggest targeted outreach to women builds overall diversity. at Mapzen we're supporting the gonna outreach program for women that sponsors an intern for HOT. we'll be working to get more sponsors (and in turn) more internships for next year. 

also I thought there were sponsorships for under represented groups in the last SOTM US? and possibly again for Argentina? either way, I am working for that to be a priority for next year's SOTM US. 

3. totally agree. i think the Maptime community is a great case in point and encourage others to get involved.

sorry for no links! in transit! 

best,
alyssa.

> On Oct 8, 2014, at 4:36 AM, Dan S <danstowell+osm at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Jo,
> 
> This all looks good to me! Some thoughts in response:
> 
>> 1) Code of conduct / diversity statement
> 
> I think it's interesting that both you and Kathleen (whose list of
> suggestions on the OSMF mailing list was widely supported) opened with
> this idea. So maybe it's the first thing we (meaning this mailing
> list) should get down and detailed with. I'd suggest we start a thread
> dedicated to that specific goal.
> 
> Also, I wonder how we will achieve closure with this. If we discuss
> and refine these documents here, what approach should we take to
> making it "official"? For HOT it's easier to make something official
> because there is slightly more of a hierarchy, the HOT board can adopt
> it and it's official, whereas the OSMF board doesn't seem to see
> itself in that kind of role.
> 
> I guess one approach would be: (a) develop a proposed code of conduct
> / diversity statement here on diversity-talk; (b) discuss it with the
> osm community more widely; (c) propose a resolution at the next OSMF
> AGM for "recognition" by the OSMF (ie to be voted on by attendees, so
> it's a representative decision and the board can be comfortable it's
> not acting beyond its remit)?
> 
>> 2) Outreach and sponsorship at events
> 
> Yes. Your point about focus resonates well. I remember organising a
> (non-osm) conference and proposing a bursary scheme to encourage
> women, and the women on the organising team felt that focus would just
> feel weird. So instead we provided a very low-barrier bursary scheme
> with a loosely-specified purpose, and that definitely enabled some
> people to come who would not have done otherwise. The "bursary scheme"
> was simply a free ticket into the event - very easy to administer, no
> money to mess with - so I'd recommend all SotM organisers should
> consider it.
> 
> Oh and I already mentioned on the OSMF list, this initiative to
> sponsor childcare:
> <http://www.engineering.ucl.ac.uk/blog/news/ucl-engineering-provide-childcare-uk-technology-festival/>
> I think it's such a win-win that I'm mentioning it again.
> 
>> 3) Meetups and mapping parties with different communities
> 
> Yes. Here in London, one thing that's been fantastic is that the
> humanitarian mapping events have attracted a much different crowd from
> the other OSM meetups. This recent experience suggests to me that a
> good strategy is for a local community not to try and force "OSM
> meetup format" to be a "diverse format" - e.g. don't give up on pub
> meetups, despite certain issues with that,  but instead try and
> encourage a patchwork of different types of event. I'm thinking this
> through gradually but that's my current opinion, and I hope it meshes
> with yours...
> 
> Best
> Dan
> 
> 
> 
> 2014-10-08 5:49 GMT+01:00 Jo Walsh <metazool at gmail.com>:
>> dear all @diversity-talk,
>> 
>> Good to see #osm4ada doing the rounds so quickly. Glad that's helping women
>> organising in OSM build confidence. Wondering about next steps. Here is a
>> collection of thoughts / references to related work. Sorry if i'm restating
>> the obvious here.
>> 
>> 1) Code of conduct / diversity statement
>> 
>> QGIS has a new diversity statement to go with its code of conduct. It's a
>> good gesture.
>> http://www.qgis.org/en/site/getinvolved/governance/codeofconduct/diversitystatement.html
>> 
>> OSM doesn't appear to have a code of conduct. This is a *problem* for OSM.
>> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Community_Code_of_Conduct_%28Draft%29
>> HOT OSM appears to have its own, could potentially be backported.
>> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lo7o9YuOCdH94XCFcK-HsH5Ja4fPnpVl7GioKg_4Ht8/edit
>> 
>> http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Code_of_conduct talks about effective
>> codes of conduct.
>> 
>> 2) Outreach and sponsorship at events
>> 
>> The Clojure community recognised they had serious balance problems and went
>> all out to address that and it is working. They've doubled women speakers
>> and attendees at events within a year. There's also the ClojureBridge
>> network offering workshops that are specifically limited to women and
>> genderqueer people.
>> 
>> https://thestrangeloop.com/attendees/diversity-scholarships
>> http://purelyfunctional.discoursehosting.net/t/clojure-conj-opportunity-grants/200
>> 
>> Diversity scholarships would be a good target for conference sponsorship, i
>> think FOSS4G will try this next year. It is worth doing for SoTM. I've only
>> been to one SoTM & didn't know how to talk to people & didn't find it very
>> welcoming.
>> 
>> http://www.ashedryden.com/blog/increasing-diversity-at-your-conference
>> 
>> In python world there is corporate sponsorship of women-specific events as a
>> futile gesture of expiation, looking at you GitHub.
>> 
>> http://djangogirls.org/
>> http://www.pyladies.com/
>> 
>> BUT this stuff all feels a bit retro to me though i'm doing some of it
>> anyway. But i've lived through a generation or two of failed women-in-X FOSS
>> initiatives and all i've taken away from that is that the focus on women can
>> be harmful, can make it seem like there is a problem with women. "diversity"
>> is the good keyword, yes.
>> 
>> 3) Meetups and mapping parties with different communities
>> 
>> The local organisers in Edinburgh and Glasgow have done some good stuff with
>> green groups, transition town, etc. Draws in people with a wide variety of
>> interests and maps in their heads. We're doing a thing with the Scottish
>> hackerspaces in November, because hackerspaces <3 OSM (and also have
>> diversity issues in spades)
>> 
>> Opportunities to talk more to local mappers IRL = less conflict online. More
>> opportunities to get welcoming right. Learning how to be welcoming with none
>> of the normal social protocol available = a social development experience
>> for hackers.
>> 
>> 
>> "Ms 10%"
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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