[OSGeo-Discuss] Drafting a Diversity statement for the foundation (call for input)

[Jeff McKenna]

Hi OSGeo community!

A few months ago the OSGeo Board of Directors began a short Diversity 
Statement for the foundation.

To be fully honest and open, at the time there was a long "code of 
conduct" discussion happening on the Conference Committee list, and I 
felt that the OSGeo foundation itself should have a simple statement 
saying that everyone's contributions are welcome, in a safe and 
accepting environment.  (see my initial draft version[1])

Some members of the community have edited the page, and it has now been 
expanded (see latest version [2]).

I'd again like to call for input ('input' being editing the wiki page 
directly with your ideas) from those willing to help out.  And I do mean 
everyone (some feel they must ask me directly for permission to edit the 
page, which is not needed).

My goal is to again bring this for approval to the OSGeo Board at the 
next Board meeting, and I have added this as a priority item in the 
agenda, for the meeting on 9 April [3].

So I am asking for help here, for those passionate community members who 
want to help with an open statement for the foundation.  You don't need 
permission to jump in and edit (or, if you want to change the whole page 
you can even create your own wiki page and propose that to the OSGeo 
Board, you can even attend the OSGeo Board meeting virtually and speak 
up during that agenda topic).  All options are possible.

Someone recently pointed me to the Fedora community's posting for a 
"Diversity Advisor" [4].  I also noticed the QGIS conference has a nice 
simple diversity statement (see bottom of [5]).  Very good.

Thanks for your help everyone.  If all goes well, I'd like to see a new 
/Diversity page in a few weeks on osgeo.org.



[1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php?title=Diversity&oldid=81445
[2] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Diversity
[3] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2015-04-09
[4] http://fedoramagazine.org/help-fedora-find-a-diversity-advisor/
[5] https://qgis2015.wordpress.com/

-jeff


-- 
Jeff McKenna
President, OSGeo
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Jeff_McKenna



On 2015-02-02 4:09 PM, Jeff McKenna wrote:
> Hello OSGeo Board members,
>
> Most of you will be aware of the current discussions on the Conference
> Committee mailing list in regards to creating a Code of Conduct for the
> FOSS4G conference[1].  I feel it is important now for the OSGeo
> Foundation to show that we support an open and safe environment, through
> a simple straightforward statement; I prefer to refer to this as
> Diversity, and I have made a first draft on the wiki[2]  Note that this
> statement will not affect whatever the OSGeo Conference Committee
> chooses for their Code of Conduct.
>
> I would like Board members to edit that wiki page directly over the next
> few days, and then we can discuss this at the Board meeting on Thursday.
>   My goal is to have a new "/diversity" page linked from the main
> osgeo.org site.
>
> Thanks everyone,
>
> [1] http://osgeo-org.1560.x6.nabble.com/Code-of-Conduct-td5180592.html
> [2] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Diversity
>
> -jeff
>
>
>