CodeOfConduct Committee

The Code Of Conduct Committee is responsible for defining internal workflows and sharing organization knowledge related to the maintenance, implementation, and continued improvement of the OSGeo Code of Conduct ( background-wiki, Official OSGeo Code of Conduct) which was approved by the OSGeo Board in 2015. (For more on the committee scope, see below.)

Membership

The inaugural co-chairs (serving for a term of one year) will be Kristin Bott and Camille Acey. The committee will be open and maintain an open mailing list but will maintain a smaller voting committee (which can be contacted on their private mailing list at coc-private@) to handle CoC incidents and violations. This smaller committee will consist of a total of 5 members also serving one year terms. The additional three members will be appointed by the co-chairs.

Mission

Our mission is to assist in making sure that OSGeo continues to be an inclusive and welcoming organization, as such the committee will continue to iterate on the CoC, its implementation, and committee membership in order to ensure that they represent, nurture, and encourage diversity in our community.

Scope

• The committee will be responsible for developing and receiving board approval for Code of Conduct implementation policy. Once approved, this policy and associated documentation will be circulated amongst the community.
• In support of the OSGeo Code of Conduct, this committee will work with all community members, with a strong focus on those who moderate OSGeo IRC channels, organize OSGeo gatherings and events (including FOSS4G), as well as those who steer existing OSGeo projects and/or incubate potential new ones.
• The committee will review and respond to incident reports from participants in OSGeo projects, gatherings, events, and IRC channels.
• The committee will maintain the list of individuals restricted from OSGeo activities and retain a copy of all incident reports.
• The committee will serve as a resource to Local Organizing Committees (LOC's) and other groups leading OSGeo activities and events.

Communication

The group maintains a public mailing list at COC-discuss@osgeo.org and a private committee-only mailing list at COC-private@osgeo.org. Confidential and sensitive information will be discussed only on the private mailing list. The CoC Committee will have a monthly private meeting (in their venue of choice). The committee is available to hold public meetings upon request (e.g. in IRC).

Documents/Resources

Code of Conduct Workflow Discussions

SOTM - OSGeo CoC Implementation BoF Session - 5 June 2015

Some notes from our discussion - Consider adding CoC to RFP for all upcoming OSGeo events

-- not sure how to deal w/ this retroactively / for ongoing projects

- Would it be possible to codify/package CoC implementation ideas/methods

- Need to make sure that we engage a variety of people in these discussions; different cultural contexts/backgrounds

- Remember that moderators (for listservs, of etc) need support and resources for dealing w/ difficult situations

- OSM/F as an example of a place where support might be needed; consider joining to support this type of work in that venue, perhaps...

- Not going to come up with the full process today but going to organize “To-Dos”, focus on OSGeo

- Different groups deal with enforcement in different ways.

- OSM has a mailing list policy buried in the wiki somewhere (so buried I couldn’t find it)

- open forum enforces the status quo

to do's - Form a code of conduct committee in OSGeo; purpose is (1) Knowledge transfer year to year (2) Deal with enforcement

- Checklists to create: (1) reporting guidelines (2) incident reports

-The code of conduct should be part of the RFP template for the FOSS4G conference process; (1) have suggestions/guidelines (2) part of the application will state how the organizers will implement the code of conduct (part of RFP scoring)

- Split up the pieces -- figure out how to trickle CoC into all aspects of the organization (Conferences, mailing lists, IRC, etc.)

- Process of projects joining OSGeo be comply with CoC

Proposed MAJOR next step:

Consider creating a formal Code of Conduct committee to formally handle creating reporting guidelines, responding to incidents, enforcing the CoC (including creating language and identifying actions for dealing with the perpetrators of incidents, tracking warned or suspended individuals over time (institutional knowledge), deciding when to allow suspended individuals back to OSGeo spaces (events, listservs, etc).

Resources

Reporting Guidelines

Source: https://www.djangoproject.com/conduct/reporting/

Source: https://www.drupal.org/governance/community-working-group/incident-report

Responding/Enforcement 'Source: https://www.djangoproject.com/conduct/enforcement-manual/

Source: http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_anti-harassment/Responding_to_reports

Source: http://docs.puppetlabs.com/community/community_guidelines.html

Source: https://github.com/python/pycon-code-of-conduct?files=1

Language/Actions for Dealing with Banned Person

Sample Language When Banned Person Attempts to Register Dear Name

Thank you for your interest in attending This Event. Unfortunately, we are not able to accommodate your attendance at this event. We apologize for the inconvenience, and have issued a full refund to your credit card.

Many thanks

Event Organizer

Keeping Track of Banned Individuals Source: https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/86 (note: value in tracking, but concerns about having history be public-facing)

When/How to Let Banned People Come Back Source: https://adainitiative.org/2014/07/guest-post-harassment-isnt-an-interpersonal-issue-its-a-health-and-safety-issue/

Source: https://adainitiative.org/2014/07/guest-post-deciding-if-or-when-a-harasser-may-return-to-an-event/