Dear Foundation Members,
GNOME has never had a standard code of conduct for events. This has historically placed a burden on GUADEC organizers in particular, as they have had to draft and take responsibility for a code of conduct every year.
This GUADEC, a group of us formed a working group to try and resolve this, by proposing to draw up a standard code of conduct for GNOME events. This effort has been endorsed by the Foundation Board of Directors and we are now in the process of researching codes of conduct to inform the one we will propose.
I'm writing to see if anyone else is interested in joining the Code of Conduct working group and to give Foundation members information about how they can participate in the process.
We will be meeting regularly (every other week) to push this project forward so that we prepare it in time for the 2017 GUADEC committee to consider, and in time to make it available during the 2018 GUADEC bid process. The Code of Conduct for events will be a phase one project for the working group, and we plan to work on the Code of Conduct for the GNOME community as a phase two project.
The committee will be doing the legwork of researching and proposing the Code of Conduct, but Foundation members will have opportunities to give feedback, and ultimately the Board will vote on the proposal. Below, you can find more information on the proposal process itself. We've tried to make it an analytical process since it can otherwise be an emotionally charged subject.
At this time, we encourage you to email coc-working-group-list gnome org, or any of the committee members privately, with any of the following you'd like us to consider: - Code of Conduct resources
- Details of incidents you have observed or been involved in, and which are relevant
- Other specific feedback regarding codes of conduct
coc-working-group-list gnome org is a private mailing list for members of the code of conduct working. Alternatively, you can share your feedback with any working group member(s) privately, and they will provide an anonymized summary to the working group. You can provide further instructions to them on how you want your feedback to be shared. Information shared with the working group might be shared anonymously with the Board and the community unless otherwise specified (e.g. as not to be shared, or as ok to be shared with personal identification by all affected parties).
You can also email us if you'd just like to learn more, or talk to us on IRC at #diversity.
Thank you in advance!
Sincerely,
Nuritzi
Code of Conduct for Events
Overview
Why is this important?
Having a code of conduct is an essential part of holding conferences, and is often a sponsorship requirement. It is also important for GNOME's health and longevity as it will ensure that the project is welcoming and inclusive for both current and prospective GNOME members. While GNOME is generally a friendly and welcoming place (yay!), there has been a small number of incidents over the years where a Code of Conduct has, or should have, helped the community.
Each year, organizing groups had to draft their own Code of Conduct for their event and there has often been disagreement that surrounded the adoption of a Code of Conduct for an event. Having a standard event Code of Conduct will remove work from the event organizers and uncertaintly for the community members for what to expect at the event. It will also make it easier to support event organizers, through standard processes and theestablishment of a dedicated support team for Code of Conduct issues.
We want to make sure there is a consistent standard for the GNOME community across the globe. As such, the Code of Conduct will need to highlight areas that will change across geographic locations. We also recognize that we need to better define what a "GNOME event" is and when organizers will be expected to use the standard Code of Conduct.
Our Plan
We have assembled a Code of Conduct Working Group to gather feedback among community members and propose a standard event Code of Conduct. The details for our proposal process are below. Once the standard Code of Conduct is approved, this team will also provide ongoing support to event organizers with its enforcement.
The Board has already approved us moving forward with this plan, so now, we are reaching out to Foundation members as part of the second step of the process.
Plan Details
Deadline: final vote by the Board by March 15th in order to propose it to the GUADEC 2017 organizers before CfP opens and in order to make it a requirement for the GUADEC 2018 bids
Process:
- Input from Board: Present the issue, process proposal, and solicit initial input from the Board
- Input from Foundation members: Present the issue and solicit initial input (incidents, resources, specific considerations) from the community (send an email to the Foundation List). Invite people to become core and support members
- Research: We will research code of conduct resources and Codes of Conduct by other groups, understand legal implications
- First draft and Foundation input: Draft a standard event Code of Conduct and share with the community for feedback
- Revise draft: Revise the standard event Code of Conduct and summarize feedback from the community, share with the Board
- Input from Board: Feedback from the Board
- Revise draft
- Vote by the Board
Initial Members of the Working Group
- Core: Expected to join all meetings and responsible for pushing the project forward. Regular meetings happen every other week on Mondays at 16:00 UTC (next meeting on September 26th).
- Allan Day
- Meg Ford
- Nuritzi Sanchez
- Rosanna Yuen
- Marina Zhurakhinskaya
- Support: Interested in participating and have specific ideas for how they will be involved.
- Benjamin Berg
- Cosimo Cecchi
- Federico Mena Quintero
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