[Board] Fwd: OSGeo CoC committee proposal

Jeff McKenna jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com
Wed Aug 12 04:59:11 PDT 2015


Hi Kristin, Camille,

I have reviewed the wiki, as well as your feedback here in this thread. 
  Thanks for driving this.  I especially think that the structure of the 
committee wiki page, describing the membership, mission, scope, and 
communication is excellent 
(http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/CodeOfConduct_Committee).

One thing that I haven't seen or heard from you (I'm not sure this 
should be put in writing on the committee page), in regards to 
membership, I'd like to make sure that you somehow have committee 
members from different cultures represented (i.e. not all USA members), 
especially for the proposed smaller voting committee.  As the past chair 
of the OSGeo Conference Committee, although it wasn't in writing, I 
would always be sure to have committee members from all over the world, 
which turned out to be essential for voting; I believe this is critical 
in this case for a committee focusing on diversity.

Maybe this goes without saying, in an OSGeo committee, but I felt that 
it is important to mention here at least.  "Conduct" can be interpreted 
so differently between different cultures.

Also, please be sure to list all of the members of the committee on that 
wiki page (including the smaller voting committee members).

Thanks again!

-jeff





On 2015-08-11 2:44 PM, Kristin Bott wrote:
> Hi Jeff + all --
>
> Thanks for your feedback on the proposed committee. Our responses to
> your comments are summarized below. (See also the CoC committee wiki
> page <http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/CodeOfConduct_Committee>[1].)
>
>
> Let us know if you have additional concerns / thoughts; we look forward
> to seeing the board move this initiative forward.
>
>
> cheers -
>
>
> Camille Acey and Kristin Bott
>
>
>
> Feedback
>
>  1.
>
>     Membership - include both voting and non-voting members to help
>     achieve the dual purposes of the committee (Goals: guide policy
>     around CoC and other initiatives to increase diversity; deal with
>     reports of violations of the CoC).
>
>      1.
>
>         Open email list, open membership. -- Discuss and help guide
>         policy around the CoC as well as other initiatives that can help
>         increase diversity in our community (COC-discuss at osgeo.org
>         <mailto:COC-discuss at osgeo.org>). No limits on the number of
>         people involved in this capacity.
>
>      2.
>
>         Private membership, limited to 5 people per committee proposal.
>         -- Receive and anonymize any reports of violations to the CoC
>         (COC-private at osgeo.org <mailto:COC-private at osgeo.org>) as well
>         as provide support as a first line of response to incident
>         reports (in cooperation with the board, LOCs and moderators)
>
>
>  2.
>
>     Chairs - need to specify
>
>      1.
>
>         Camille Acey and Kristin Bott will co-chair for the first year
>         of the committee
>
>
>  3.
>
>     CoC Reports - allow for anonymous report submission, fears of “what
>     if someone on the CoC committee is out of line”
>
>      1.
>
>         Allow for an option of anonymous submission via a webform (no
>         login, no identifying information collected). Invite reporters
>         to provide identifying information so the committee can follow
>         up re: reports, but do not require this (do not want to create
>         obstacles to reporting).
>
>      2.
>
>         Reports against CoC committee members can be made to the board
>         (and vice-versa). If a CoC committee member is personally
>         involved in a CoC report, they will be removed from the intake
>         and follow-up of that incident.
>
>
>  4.
>
>     Concerns re: blacklisting
>
>      1.
>
>         The CoC committee has no desire to blacklist individuals or
>         provide a heavy-handed police-like role. Instead, we aim to
>         serve as a resource to LOCs, moderators and the board, continue
>         to iterate towards more inclusive practice/policy, and help to
>         maintain institutional knowledge about CoC violations and the
>         decisions the LOCs, moderators, and/or board make with regard to
>         those violations. “Violations” refers to any acts by individuals
>         or groups who repeatedly act in a way that is contrary to the
>         stated priorities of OSGeo as an organization (i.e. the
>         board-approved CoC).
>
>      2.
>
>         We intend for the committee to maintain an archive/repository of
>         such incidents as well as any organizational decisions around
>         individuals’ conduct/participation (e.g. names of banned
>         individuals); the OSGeo LOCs, moderators, and/or board will
>         absolutely continue to determine whether/not individuals are
>         welcome to participate in OSGeo events / projects / forums.
>
>
>  5.
>
>     Committee name + structure (rename? Create CoC as a subcommittee?)
>
>      1.
>
>         An explicitly-named committee evidences OSGeo’s commitment to
>         the CoC. As such we wish to retain the name of “Code of Conduct
>         Committee”.
>
>
> [1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/CodeOfConduct_Committee
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 25, 2015 at 9:55 AM, Jeff McKenna
> <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com <mailto:jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>>
> wrote:
>
>     Hi Camille,
>
>     Thanks for taking all of this feedback so positively.
>
>     I believe the Board should again tackle this at the next Board
>     meeting on 13 August, so I've re-added this to the agenda[1] as a
>     priority item.  I don't see the need to withdraw or resubmit, but
>     the Board definitely needs clarification from you on the items
>     reported during the Como board meeting.  Maybe you and Kristin could
>     take those notes and respond to them inline here?  That might work.
>
>     I hope this plan works for everyone.
>
>     [1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2015-08-13
>
>
>     -jeff
>
>
>
>
>     On 2015-07-25 1:42 PM, Camille Acey wrote:
>
>         Hey everyone,
>
>         Thanks for all the constructive feedback. Kristin and I (the two
>         proposed co-chairs) are going to chat next week and will get
>         back to you
>         with our thoughts and any amendments to the proposal.
>
>         Just for clarification, is this proposal a tabled issue that will be
>         discussed/voted on at the next board meeting or does it need to be
>         withdrawn, revised, and resubmitted for the next meeting?
>
>         Camille
>




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