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+1 - I totally agree on that. > -----Original Message----- > From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of > Roy Tennant > Sent: Monday, November 26, 2012 5:27 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] anti-harassment policy for code4lib? > > I'd be happy to join this effort, and would like to suggest a friendly > amendment. We need, as a community, to have an anti-harassment policy > that governs ALL of our collective interactions (e.g., the chatroom, > for example), not just for the conference. > Roy > > > On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 2:16 PM, Bess Sadler <[log in to unmask]> > wrote: > > > Dear Fellow Code4libbers, > > > > I hope I am not about to get flamed. Please take as context that I > > have been a member of this community for almost a decade. I have > > contributed software, support, and volunteer labor to this > community's > > events. I have also attended the majority of code4lib conferences, > > which have been amazing and life-changing, and have helped me do my > > job a lot better. But, and I've never really known how to talk about > > this, those conferences have also been problematic for me a couple of > > times. Nothing like what happened to Noirin Shirley at ApacheCon (see > > http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Noirin_Shirley_ApacheCon_incident > > if you're unfamiliar with the incident I mean) but enough to concern > > me that even in a wonderful community where we mostly share the same > > values, not everyone has the same definitions of acceptable behavior. > > > > I am watching the toxic fallout from the BritRuby conference > > cancellation with a heavy heart (go search for "britruby conference > > cancelled" if you want to catch up and/or get depressed). It has me > > wondering what more we could be doing to promote diversity and > > inclusiveness within code4lib. We have already had a couple of > > harassment incidents over the years, which I won't rehash here, which > > have driven away members of our community. We have also had other > > incidents that don't get talked about because sometimes one can feel > > that membership in a community is more important than one's personal > > boundaries or even safety. We should not be a community where people > have to make that choice. > > > > I would like for us to consider adopting an anti-harassment policy > for > > code4lib conferences. This is emerging as a best practice in the > > larger open source software community, and we would be joining the > > ranks of many other conferences: > > http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_anti- > harassment/Adoption. > > The Ada Initiative has a great discussion of why adopting an > > Anti-Harrassment policy is a good choice for a conference to make, as > > well as some example policy statements, here: > > http://adainitiative.org/what-we-do/conference-policies/ Here is a > > summary: > > > > > Why have an official anti-harassment policy for your conference? > > > First, > > it is necessary (unfortunately). Harassment at conferences is > > incredibly common - for example, see this timeline ( > > http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/index.php?title=Timeline_of_incidents) > > of sexist incidents in geek communities. Second, it sets expectations > > for behavior at the conference. Simply having an anti-harassment > > policy can prevent harassment all by itself. Third, it encourages > > people to attend who have had bad experiences at other conferences. > > Finally, it gives conference staff instructions on how to handle > > harassment quickly, with the minimum amount of disruption or bad > press for your conference. > > > > If the conference already has something like this in place, and I'm > > just uninformed, please educate me and let's do a better job > publicizing it. > > > > Thanks for considering this suggestion. If the answer is the usual > > code4lib answer (some variation on "Great idea! How are you going to > > make that happen?") then I hereby nominate myself as a member of the > > Anti-Harrassment Policy Adoption committee for the code4lib > conference. > > Would anyone else like to join me? > > > > Bess Sadler > > [log in to unmask] > > Manager, Application Development > > Digital Library Systems & Services > > Stanford University Library > >