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

Dan Stowell danstowell at gmail.com
Fri Sep 26 16:10:12 UTC 2014


Hear hear! Meaning "I agree" and meaning "listen to them" ;)

Dan

2014-09-26 16:06 GMT+01:00 Ian Villeda <villeda at mapbox.com>:
> 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
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> osmf-talk mailing list
>>> osmf-talk at openstreetmap.org
>>> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk
>>
>>
>
>
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