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<p>Alex, I put forward a presentation topic on diversity which I
assume was put to the community to vote up/down. It would be
interested to see where the community ranked it. (Don't worry
about hurting my feelings - I'm totally ok if it was ranked very
low).</p>
<p>If it was ranked low, then it is a good indication that John's
concern is right, and that people would prefer hearing OSGeo
topics than Diversity topics at our conference.</p>
<p>I think that dealing with this topic requires much deeper
discussion than can be covered in a 30 minute plenary, which by
definition limit's each person's contribution to mere minutes.</p>
<p>The "diversity" topic lead to very strong opinions, and then to
very personal accusations, and hence requires quite a bit of trust
to work well. A room of 200+ people is not the right place to test
trust.</p>
<p>Maybe select a topic which is less threatening, like</p>
<p>"What future would we like to see for OSGeo within Oceania within
the years to decade?"</p>
<p>This is broader, less threatening, can touch on diversity, but
also cover community building in other ways, and hopefully will be
something that everyone in the room could feel connected to.<br>
</p>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 4/10/18 2:56 pm, John Bryant wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAHY5hn8T_uROcN7TkhF9UicnDcW4_tWsqcBJm63+0Fzr5twz-w@mail.gmail.com">
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<div>I have some concern about reaching the audience. The cited
Atlassian report says:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<blockquote style="margin:0px 0px 0px
40px;border:none;padding:0px">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><i>People are tired of
talking about diversity and inclusion, frustrated by
talk not turning into impactful action, and overwhelmed
by the number of issues.</i></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br>
</div>
<div>We've scheduled the panel session as a plenary, so there's
no other programming at that time. If the topic isn't of
interest to a large part of our audience, they might feel let
down that a significant part of the program isn't for them.<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I'm not suggesting we should try to be all things to all
people, we'll never make everyone happy, and that's OK. But if
a large part of the audience doesn't show up to the panel
discussion, that feels like a problem.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Or, from a more constructive angle, how can we frame this
topic so that we can ignite interest?</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr">On Thu, 4 Oct 2018 at 13:42, Alex Leith <<a
href="mailto:alexgleith@gmail.com" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">alexgleith@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">Adam, I think you're on the money there.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>What I'm proposing is to have that discussion at our
event. To be a bit more exciting than just 'what the
future of tech' or 'lets look at ourselves'. It's about
talking about the community and how we can improve it.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I think we set the panel up so that it DOES have the
people on it who need to discuss it. I think we open up to
the floor and encourage the difficult questions. And I
think we can have an impact.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr">On Thu, 4 Oct 2018 at 13:13 adam steer <<a
href="mailto:adam.d.steer@gmail.com" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">adam.d.steer@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">to add another perspective - we get to do
something audacious here - and set the tone for how we
roll as a community for years to come. What can the open
community pull off that can’t be done in industry
conferences? where can we lead the discussion?
<div><br>
</div>
<div>what really strikes to our hearts about what we
want the open geo community to look like? how should
it flower/mature/fruit? this
first-event-in-a-long-time might be a once in a decade
shot at exploring some hard issues there.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Yes, we can do it again next year and the year
after and so on - but by then there is momentum and
expectation. Right *now* I see a chance to be
outrageous in our ambitions/direction
setting/discussion...</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Cheers</div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Adam</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr">On Thu, 4 Oct 2018 at 11:49, adam steer
<<a href="mailto:adam.d.steer@gmail.com"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">adam.d.steer@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">Hi Alex
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Based on a discussion in the program committee
(thanks Emma Hain) I think a panel discussion on
’strength in diversity' might not reach the
audience who *needs* to hear it. It also might not
get the people on the panel we really *need* to
discuss the topic.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>This sounds weird from someone who has pushed
really hard on diversity and inclusion topics,
right? Bear with me… and also caution - some of
these thoughts really need more developing.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I took a lot from a talk titled ‘Open
communities - we love to hate’ in Dar Es Salaam -
by Steven Feldman. It struck me that, in order to
really discuss diversity we need to look at it in
a ground up way. What are the things about our
community that make it approachable or not? Why,
where and how can the open source community lead?
What can we do better?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Again, in the program committee I proposed
‘what does community mean in the open geo-space?’;
and the more abstract ’spatial futures..’ - from
my view, they let us as a community explore
diversity and inclusion as fundamental components
of what we do. We can certainly head into
controversial territory, I would expect the
session chair to take the conversation there, and
the panelists to expect some really curly topics
:D</div>
<div> </div>
<div>What do you all think? We need to talk about
diversity and inclusion, and keep talking about it
ad nauseum, especially if we are old-ish blokes
talking to other old-ish blokes and challenging
some old ideas.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Cheers</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Adam</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr">On Thu, 4 Oct 2018 at 10:18, Alex
Leith <<a href="mailto:alexgleith@gmail.com"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">alexgleith@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">Hey Folks
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It is now time to get stuck into the
details of the panel session.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Three things need to happen:</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Establish a topic</li>
<li>Find a moderator</li>
<li>Bring together 4-6 panelists.</li>
</ol>
<div>As you may be aware, I'm very
enthusiastic about running the topic on
Diversity and Inclusion. The reason I want
to do a topic on D&I is that it's
something that everyone is talking about
now, and it's particularly important in the
spatial industry. Gaby, the past president
of SSSI, <a
href="https://sssi.org.au/knowledge-hub/president-s-message/president-s-message-september-2018"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">pointed
out recently</a> that our industry has
gone backwards, in terms of female
representation. Atlassian are doing great
things in this space, and their latest
effort has rebranded to '<a
href="https://www.atlassian.com/diversity"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Balance
and Belonging</a>'. And we know that <a
href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/linus-torvalds-takes-a-break-from-linux/"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">some
of the stalwarts</a> in the open source
community are recognising the need for
change.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Really, in brief, I think the topic
should be 'Strength in Diversity' and that
we should talk abut the human aspects of our
community. I think it will be a very
interesting discussion, and perhaps
controversial in places, and I think that
this is exactly what we need in order to
make our even stand out from others. I think
that by taking a bit of a risk, and being
open to discussing difficult issues, we can
make sure that voices are heard and that we
can have an impact (even if it's modest).</div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Ok, so, how do we feel about the suggested
topic here?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>And if you have an alternative, now's the
time to raise it.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Once we have a topic, we can pick a
moderator and start forming the panel.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Cheers,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Alex</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
-- <br>
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data-smartmail="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div><br>
</div>
Alex Leith
<div>0419 189 050</div>
</div>
</div>
_______________________________________________<br>
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<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
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class="m_-4161723493045445223m_-6796511719898098732m_4220990388104322382m_-11478157022183712m_-6409911483259203441gmail_signature"
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<div dir="ltr">
<div>Adam Steer<br>
<a
href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adam_Steer"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adam_Steer</a><br>
<a href="http://au.linkedin.com/in/adamsteer"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://au.linkedin.com/in/adamsteer</a></div>
<div><a
href="http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0046-7236"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0046-7236</a><br>
<a href="tel:+61%20427%20091%20712"
value="+61427091712" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">+61 427 091 712</a><br>
skype: adam.d.steer</div>
<div>tweet: @adamdsteer</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br clear="all">
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div dir="ltr"
class="m_-4161723493045445223m_-6796511719898098732m_4220990388104322382m_-11478157022183712gmail_signature"
data-smartmail="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Adam Steer<br>
<a
href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adam_Steer"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adam_Steer</a><br>
<a href="http://au.linkedin.com/in/adamsteer"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://au.linkedin.com/in/adamsteer</a></div>
<div><a href="http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0046-7236"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0046-7236</a><br>
<a href="tel:+61%20427%20091%20712"
value="+61427091712" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">+61 427 091 712</a><br>
skype: adam.d.steer</div>
<div>tweet: @adamdsteer</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
-- <br>
<div dir="ltr"
class="m_-4161723493045445223m_-6796511719898098732m_4220990388104322382gmail_signature"
data-smartmail="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div><br>
</div>
Alex Leith
<div>0419 189 050</div>
</div>
</div>
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<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
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</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Cameron Shorter
Technology Demystifier
Open Technologies and Geospatial Consultant
M +61 (0) 419 142 254</pre>
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