[Osmf-talk] Reaching out and diversity (Was: Re: AGM and board elections)

[Ian Villeda]

Absolutely.




I think Kathleen’s tweet about the silence of allies actually raises a good opportunity to create a more welcoming OSM. To reiterate John’s point, the better we are at publicly respecting women when they say they’ve experienced sexism, the more it shows that OSM is a community of people who are willing to listen to a diverse array of perspectives from a diverse array of people.




For many of the reason Kate mentions, I avoid posting on OSM mailing lists as much as possible. But to hear a diversity of opinions - much less listen in earnest - it’s up to us to create welcoming space where others feel encouraged to engage rather than have to defend their experiences. 




So: thanks, Kate and Kathleen, for sharing and for holding all of us accountable.




-ian

On Thu, Sep 25, 2014 at 3:08 AM, Kate Chapman <kate at maploser.com> wrote:

> Hi All,
> Yes, I agree what more gender, geographic, cultural and other diversities
> within the OSMF is important I think we should also think about why things
> are currently the way they are. Is it simply a matter of outreach?
> Personally I don't think so, the OSM community can be a difficult place to
> engage. If you look on our mailing lists there is plenty of sexist
> language, cultural insensitive statements and often the aggressive debate
> is off putting to a variety of people.
> I can only speak really as a woman in the OSM community, versus much of the
> other types of diversity. Most women I know within OSM have had issues with
> community members acting in ways that have made them consider their
> contributions to OSM. When we moderate mailing lists, we don't look for
> sexism it often just completely passes unnoticed. Some contributors are
> difficult to deal with in person as well. Finally it has been difficult to
> get better diversity policies with our conferences.
> So not only do we need to recruit, but we also need to think about if after
> recruiting people are going to be driven off.
> For those that wish to further educate themselves about these issues I
> recommend reading the Geek Feminism Wiki(1), Ashe Dryden's blog(2) and the
> Python Foundation's diversity page(3).  I think it is worth noting that the
> Python Foundation Board adopted a formal diversity statement in 2009.
> Best,
> -Kate
> (1) http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Geek_Feminism_Wiki
> (2) http://www.ashedryden.com/
> (3) https://www.python.org/community/diversity/
> On Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 6:23 PM, Derick Rethans <osm at derickrethans.nl>
> wrote:
>> On Thu, 18 Sep 2014, Clifford Snow wrote:
>>
>> > On Thu, Sep 18, 2014 at 3:34 PM, Oleksiy Muzalyev <
>> > oleksiy.muzalyev at bluewin.ch> wrote:
>> >
>> > > Perhaps it's time to begin to think about a rule that the board
>> > > shall include at least two women? And in future 4/3?
>> >
>> > +1 - Even if the Board doesn't think that rule is appropriate, we
>> > should reach out to encourage more gender diversity on the Board. I
>> > don't know the make up of men vs women in OSM, but I suspect we could
>> > do much more to promote more to encourage more women to be involved.
>>
>> Diversity does not stop with just gender. Certainly important, and
>> perhaps a first thing to focus on, but certainly not enough. I think in
>> general most tech projects tend to be "white men", and that does a great
>> unjustice to the amount of views we *could* have.
>>
>> I think we could benefit from:
>>
>> - Promoting OSM membership with all of our mappers. I would be totally
>>   for sending out a quarterly email, to mappers that have made say 10-25
>>   edits. This way you are not spamming everybody, but still at least
>>   know they have more than a tiny bit of interest.
>> - I think in general we suck at engaging new mappers, and I think it's
>>   really important to reach out to people that newly started. Best done
>>   by other local mappers in the area
>> - Invite people from other diversities specifically to stand for the
>>   board. I am sure we can find people from "non white male" groups that
>>   we know have done a lot for OpenStreetMap (think HOT and their
>>   participation in Africa). We *must* be proactive here if we want to
>>   change that. And if that means doing "positive discrimination", then I
>>   am certainly for.
>>
>> cheers,
>> Derick
>>
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>>
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