Diversity

***NOTE: This is currently a DRAFT in progress***

Diversity and the OSGeo Foundation

The Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo) supports diversity in the community: OSGeo community members can safely interact, contribute, share, learn, and be respected for who they are. OSGeo is a large, international organisation made up of members with different cultural, historical, and linguistic backgrounds. Diversity involves acceptance and respect for these differences and more, including ethnicity, race, cultural traditions, religious expressions, age, gender, socio‐economic status, mental or physical ability, and sexual orientation. OSGeo strives to foster growth and innovation in the geospatial industry, and diversity must be respected to reach this goal.

Where Diversity Applies in OSGeo

Diversity and its acceptance applies to everything that OSGeo does including mailing lists, projects, documentation, language in code comments, code sprints, and events.

Feedback and Concerns

OSGeo is a worldwide organization. People converging in the organization have different cultures and background. In some cultures, some behaviors are considered normal, whereas in other cultures might result as disrespectful and offensive. Before getting offended from other people's behavior, consider that there could be a misunderstanding in the communication. Ask yourself if you really think that the other person meant to be disrespectful towards you. Translation is also a common cause of misunderstanding.

Most people in the organization speak English as a second language, and it is possible that they do not always use the language with accuracy or in the way you would.

If you are in an unpleasant situation where one person's behaviour is causing discomfort to you or someone else, consider one or more of these options:

Raise a direct protest against the person who is causing your discomfort: talk to each other.
Ask friends or others there directly for help - you are never alone, others will always help you.
Contact event staff, members of the local organizing committee (LOC), or volunteers.
Contact anybody from the OSGeo Board of Directors either personally or by email, private and in confidence, at board-priv(at)osgeo(dot)org.
You may also contact the President of OSGeo directly at president(at)osgeo(dot)org.
If you think it is appropriate, contact event security staff or local law enforcement.

Goals for this document

Recognise that OSGeo has a DIVERSE community. (From Draft OSGeo Diversity Statement, and others)
Set expectation that people should act RESPECTFULLY toward each other. It is ok to respectfully disagree with people's technical ideas without attacking them personally. (From Draft OSGeo Diversity Statement, and others)
Make it clear that we don't condone harassment or offensive behaviour, and make it clear what that is. (From O'Reilly Code of Conduct and others)
Outline a process for IDENTIFYING, REPORTING and ADDRESSING incidents which can be referenced by those dealing with incidents. Dealing with incidents is often a hostile situation, and having a process to reference can greatly help the people doing the hard job of mediating. (Derived from Tweaking the Moral UI)
Include an escalation process for dealing with both minor and major issues. (From Draft OSGeo Conference Committee Code of Conduct)
Couch in positive, non-threatening language. (See QGIS Diversity Statement and Code of Conduct)
Recognise that not all participants will be native (English?) speakers and native speakers will adjust language chosen to make it easier for all participants to contribute. Eg: Try to avoid using slang. (From OGC Principles of Conduct)
Be concise. Concise words get read more. (See QGIS Diversity Statement)

Questions

Should this statement be called a "Diversity Statement" or a "Code of Conduct" or should we create two documents? A Diversity Statement and Code of Conduct could have different purposes. Having one document makes it easier to reference from OSGeo projects or events.

Votes

"Diversity Statement"

"Code of Conduct"

Cameron Shorter: While I like the concept of the word "Diversity", I think it is currently confusing in "Diversity Statement" as a heading. "Diversity" is broad in meaning, and can mean Diversity in software choice, food selection, processes followed, etc, etc. We should select a heading relevant to what is being described - which is an expectation of "behaviour" or "conduct". "Code of Conduct", "Principles of Conduct" better describe what should be covered. I feel it is better to have just one document (which has a brief introduction, which expands in content, as it is easier to reference one document from external projects and events.
Eli Adam: To me this is more about behavior or conduct so I vote for "Code of Conduct". Separating into two different documents with two different aims and names might be cleaner and make what to call it irrelevant.

Two documents: "Diversity Statement" as well as a "Code of Conduct"

Exemplar Sources

Draft OSGeo Board Diversity Statement

Diversity and the OSGeo Foundation

The Open Source Geospatial Foundation, OSGeo, supports diversity in the community, where diversity means that OSGeo community members can safely interact, contribute, share, learn, and be respected for who they are. Diversity involves acceptance and respect for many differences, such as ethnicity, race, cultural traditions, religious expressions, age, gender, socio‐economic status, mental or physical ability and sexual orientation. OSGeo strives to foster growth and innovation in the geospatial industry, and diversity must be respected to reach this goal.

Where Diversity Applies in OSGeo:

Diversity and its acceptance applies to anything involving the OSGeo Foundation, such as mailing lists, projects, documentation, language in code comments, code sprints and events.

Feedback and Concerns:

Please send your concerns or feedback directly to the Board of Directors of OSGeo, private and in confidence, at board-priv(at)osgeo(dot)org You can also contact the President of OSGeo directly at president(at)osgeo(dot)org

Source

http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php?title=Diversity&oldid=81445

Comments

Draft OSGeo Conference Committee Code of Conduct

Tickbox version:

I agree to act respectfully toward others in line with the OSGeo Code of Conduct.

OSGeo Code of Conduct:

This Code of Conduct collates the collective values adopted by our OSGeo community which baselines the behaviour we do and don’t support to ensure OSGeo is a safe and productive environment for all.

We invite everyone to be respectful to all, regardless of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, national origin, ethnicity, religion, or ideas. We do not tolerate harassment of others in any form. Examples of harassment include offensive comments, verbal threats or demands, sexualized images in public spaces, intimidation, stalking, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of events, and unwelcome physical contact or sexual attention.

We expect all participants to follow the Code of Conduct when involved in OSGeo activities. This includes conferences, related social events, and online forums. Participants violating this Code of Conduct will be asked to desist and/or make amends. For gross or continual violations, offenders may be expelled from the event or forum without a refund, and/or banned from future events or other forums.

Participants are encouraged to bring any concerns to the attention of event staff, the forum, forum leader, or OSGeo Board. We thank all for helping keep OSGeo welcoming, respectful, and friendly for all.

Source: http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2015-January/002851.html, 16 January 2015
Comments

QGIS Diversity Statement

The QGIS Project welcomes and encourages participation by everyone.

No matter how you identify yourself or how others perceive you: we welcome you. We welcome contributions from everyone as long as they interact constructively with our community.

While much of the work for our project is technical in nature, we value and encourage contributions from those with expertise in other areas, and welcome them into our community.

Source: http://qgis.org/en/site/getinvolved/governance/codeofconduct/diversitystatement.html
Second Source: https://qgis2015.wordpress.com/, downloaded 24 March 2015

QGIS Code of Conduct

Like the technical community as a whole, the QGIS team and community is made up of a mixture of professionals and volunteers from all over the world, working on every aspect of the mission - including mentorship, teaching, and connecting people.

Diversity is one of our huge strengths, but it can also lead to communication issues and unhappiness. To that end, we have a few ground rules that we ask people to adhere to when they’re participating within this community and project. These rules apply equally to founders, mentors and those seeking help and guidance.

This isn’t an exhaustive list of things that you can’t do. Rather, take it in the spirit in which it’s intended - a guide to make it easier to enrich all of us and the technical communities in which we participate.

This code of conduct applies to all spaces managed by the QGIS project. This includes IRC, the mailing lists, the issue tracker, DSF events, and any other forums created by the project team which the community uses for communication.

If you believe someone is violating the code of conduct, we ask that you report it by emailing psc@qgis.org.

Be welcoming, friendly, and patient

Be considerate

Your work will be used by other people, and you in turn will depend on the work of others. Any decision you take will affect users and colleagues, and you should take those consequences into account when making decisions. Remember that we’re a world-wide community, so you might not be communicating in someone else’s primary language.

Be respectful

Not all of us will agree all the time, but disagreement is no excuse for poor behavior and poor manners. We might all experience some frustration now and then, but we cannot allow that frustration to turn into a personal attack. It’s important to remember that a community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one. Members of the QGIS community should be respectful when dealing with other members as well as with people outside the QGIS community.

Be careful in the words that you choose

We are a community of professionals, and we conduct ourselves professionally. Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other participants. Harassment and other exclusionary behavior aren’t acceptable. This includes, but is not limited to:

Violent threats or language directed against another person.

Sexist, racist, or otherwise discriminatory jokes and language.

Posting sexually explicit or violent material.

Posting (or threatening to post) other people’s personally identifying information (“doxing”).

Personal insults, especially those using racist or sexist terms.

Unwelcome sexual attention.

Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior.

Repeated harassment of others. In general, if someone asks you to stop, then stop.

When we disagree, try to understand why

Disagreements, both social and technical, happen all the time and QGIS is no exception. It is important that we resolve disagreements and differing views constructively. Remember that we’re different. The strength of QGIS comes from its varied community, people from a wide range of backgrounds. Different people have different perspectives on issues. Being unable to understand why someone holds a viewpoint doesn’t mean that they’re wrong. Don’t forget that it is human to err and blaming each other doesn’t get us anywhere, rather offer to help resolving issues and to help learn from mistakes.

Original text courtesy of the Speak Up! project, and Django Code of conduct

If you have questions, feel free to contact us: psc@qgis.org

Source: http://qgis.org/en/site/getinvolved/governance/codeofconduct/codeofconduct.html

O'Reilly Code of Conduct

At O'Reilly, we assume that most people are intelligent and well-intended, and we're not inclined to tell people what to do. However, we want every O'Reilly conference to be a safe and productive environment for everyone. To that end, this code of conduct spells out the behavior we support and don't support at conferences. The core of our approach is this:

We don't condone harassment or offensive behavior, at our conference venues or anywhere. It's counter to our company values. More importantly, it's counter to our values as human beings.

We're voicing our strong, unequivocal support of appropriate behavior by all participants at technical events, including all O'Reilly conferences. We invite you to help us make each O'Reilly conference a place that is welcoming and respectful to all participants, regardless of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, national origin, ethnicity, or religion. So that everyone can focus on the conference itself, and the great networking and community richness that happens when we get together in person, we will not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form—in person or online.

Examples of harassment include offensive comments, verbal threats or demands, sexualized images in public spaces, intimidation, stalking, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of sessions or events, and unwelcome physical contact or sexual attention.

We expect all participants—attendees, speakers, sponsors, and volunteers—to follow the Code of Conduct during the conference. This includes conference-related social events at off-site locations, and in related online communities and social media. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. Conference participants violating this Code of Conduct may be expelled from the conference without a refund, and/or banned from future O'Reilly events, at the discretion of O'Reilly Media.

Please bring any concerns to the immediate attention of the event staff, or contact our VP of Conferences, Gina Blaber at gina@oreilly.com. We thank our participants for your help in keeping the event welcoming, respectful, and friendly to all participants.

Read the blog post by Tim O'Reilly that is the basis of our functional code of conduct for all O'Reilly conferences.

Thanks to the Lean Startup folks and the jsconf.us folks, whose Codes of Conduct inspired some changes to our own.

Source: http://www.oreilly.com/conferences/code-of-conduct.html, downloaded 24 March 2015
Comments

CON: This is missing a description of graduated escalation process, and how a report would be handled.
PRO: It makes good use of positive language

OGC Principles of Conduct

Source: http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/policies/conduct

FOSS4G 2015 Code of Conduct