Meeting on October 24th

Attendees: Meg Ford, Allan Day, Nuritzi Sanchez, Benjamin Berg, Marina Zhurakhinskaya

Agenda:

Notes:

Agreed to identify aspects of different codes of conduct that we want to use, in order to construct our own:

  • First structure and sections
  • Then particular languages and clauses
  • For each one, compare instances of existing Codes of Conduct, debate the pros and cons of each

Opening Statement/Mission Statement/Welcome message:

  • This is about the opening statement - should it be a short mission statement (like the PyCon UK opening)? Some CoCs repeat a welcome to members (like DebConf and MozFest)

  • Allan - in favour the PyCon UK opening; sets a good tone with a mix of positive aspiratons/values,

  • Nuritzi - the opening is too long - could be folded into the short version
  • Meg - it is good to set positive tone
  • Ben - we could fold the "short version" into the opening. Short and long versions are too similar; you need to read the long version anyway - it's duplication
  • Nuritzi - GUADEC 2014's short version is essentially the introduction
  • Allan - we can maybe address questions of structure once we've decided on our content

  • ACTION: Use PyCon UK's intro

  • AGREEMENT: An opening/mission statement is neccessary (this might be the "short version")

Statement on cultural sensitivity

  • Nuritzi - enjoyed clauses on cultural sensitivity from Libre Graphics, GUADEC 2016, Destkop Summit. Question of compatibility with local laws.
  • Ben - local laws are mostly a factor for enforcement; the CoC could often be a guideline rather than hard rule which should be generally sufficient as long as enforcement is possible on that basis
  • Nuritzi - also questions around photo policies
  • Allan - role of code of conduct is to establish a level playing field across cultures
  • Nuritzi - cultural sensitivity is about stating our values; it's to raise awareness that your cultural norms may cause offence
  • Meg - the role of the CoC is to define acceptable/unacceptable behaviors, no matter what culture they're from
  • Marina - agrees with Meg; the interesting question - what kind of cultural sensitivity are we addressing with a cultural sensitivity statement?
  • Nuritzi - it helps to generate a sense of empathy
  • Ben - sees Marina's position as cultural imperialism; example of kissing as something that is treated across cultures
  • Allan - agrees with Meg and Marina's position; OK with including as a way to raise the issue, concerned about it creating an expectation that undesirable behaviours will be accepted. eg. bigotry
  • Marina - need to be clear that unacceptable behaviour and not to be covered by "cultural sensitivity" - a cultural sensitivy statement would have to make this clear
  • Ben - "cultural sensitivity" does not enable anyone to hide behind "their" culture in particular if it is named in the CoC

How to establish a balance between assuming people mean well and taking a harder line on enforcement?

  • Marina - would prefer not to have a statement about whether people have good intentions - CoCs need to cover cases where people don't have good intentions

  • Ben - there's a difference between intention and reception - "intention" might not be the right word

Should we include a short and long version, like PyCon UK?

  • Nuritzi likes it!
  • Some questions about whether the long version repeats the short one

Name of the document

  • Code of Conduct seems to be the standard
  • "Attendee policy"
  • Allan and Meg - "code of conduct" is the established title, easy to find
  • Nuritzi - how to differentiate it from the community code of conduct; Ben - it'll be on the conference website
  • Marina and Ben - "Event Code of Conduct" (when not directly obvious at least)
  • Ben - might need an explanation in the document about how it relates to the wider GNOME code of conduct

Action items:

Diversity/CoCWorkingGroup/Minutes/20161024 (last edited 2016-10-24 17:12:37 by MegFord)