[OSGeo-Conf] Code of Conduct

Fri Jan 9 03:59:00 PST 2015

Hi David, 

First of all thank you for your pointing out. 

Yep. We’ve discussed CoC a little bit when we prepared for the website. However we didn’t add CoC to the website at that time. The reasons we didn’t include CoC are as follows:

1. Actually we didn’t understand what is CoC and what is the main purpose of CoC. Without understanding the real meaning of CoC, we didn’t want to add that to the website just like accessary. We knew there were CoCs at FOSS4G 2013 and 2014.(Many of LOC members attended both conferences) After reading and reviewing CoCs from FOSS4G 2013 and 2014, we thought that those CoC are sorts of morals or rules that we should follow through the life and that should be part of our life(except over sexual issue, I’ll talk this later) all the time. CoC message can be summarised just like this. No Discrimination, No Harassment, No Sexuality. I thought No Discrimination, No Harassment are the baseline morals of our general life to live together with others. We should follow those baseline whether we are in the conference or outside of the conference just like air. When I saw that CoC at past FOSS4G site, I got feeling just like this. “You should breathe the air, otherwise you will be expelled without refund.” And I was also curious that “And then am I allowed to discriminate other people outside of the conference?” I’m not trying to neglect the importance of CoC. 

In short, we were not fully convinced whether we needed to add CoC to the website and didn’t understand the real meaning of CoC at that time. However we are not reluctant to add CoC to the website if everyone is assured of the expectation of a welcoming conference!

2. Regarding over sexuality issue, I totally agree with Cameron’s view. Feeling sexuality is somewhat different culture by culture and region by region. A month ago I was somewhat shocked when I got message from U.S. that my recent presentation named "7 Reasons: Why you should come to FOSS4G 2015 Seoul” included over-sexual photo. Actually I included a photo of very popular Korea girl group there. I didn’t think that the photo is so sexual. However he felt that photo is over-sexual. I could say that if you show that picture to general Korean people and ask them whether that photo is over-sexual, 8~9 out 10 will not agree with that. However if you show a picture of a woman with low-cut neck line, many Koreans will say that that is too sexual. 

There is another issues over “Sexual” as well. Who will set up the standard of sexual? Who will decide which is sexual or not? Organiser? And then will you expel the attendee who believe that his/her image is not sexual in his culture but sexual in U.S.? If FOSS4G will take place in Middle East, should we follow their standard over sexual? Also I believe that harsh banning on sexuality could hurt the freedom of speech as well. 

3. Just like Cameron mentioned, as Chairperson of the FOSS4G this year, I have the responsibility to make the event a pleasant experience for everyone and not to feel them they are lectured or suppressed at the same time. 

All the best, 

Sanghee
---
Sanghee Shin, Chair of FOSS4G 2015 Seoul 
"Toward Diversity! FOSS4G Bigbang from Seoul!"
http://2015.foss4g.org
Twitter: @foss4g
Facebook: FOSS4G2015
email: foss4gchair at osgeo.org

> 2015. 1. 8., 오후 5:08, David William Bitner <bitner at dbspatial.com> 작성:
> 
> Great! Thanks Sanghee!
> 
> Has your team considered adding a code of conduct to your website? 
> 
> The past two FOSS4G global events have included CoC's on the website as well as asking registrants to agree to the CoC by a checkbox on the registration form.
> 
> https://2014.foss4g.org/attending/code-of-conduct/ <https://2014.foss4g.org/attending/code-of-conduct/> and https://2015.foss4g-na.org/code-conduct <https://2015.foss4g-na.org/code-conduct> are some examples that have been used.
> 
> We have received a lot of positive response from attendees since adding these to the conferences and have certainly seen an impact in gender diversity since incorporating CoC's into our websites along with other outreach and diversity initiatives. It is a very easy step towards ensuring that everyone is assured of the expectation of a welcoming conference! I am sure that other past conference chairs on this list can speak up to their experiences as well.
> 
> I hope all is going well with planning for the event!
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> David
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Jan 8, 2015 at 10:52 AM, Sanghee Shin <endofcap at gmail.com <mailto:endofcap at gmail.com>> wrote:
> Hi David, 
> 
> I’m on the list. You can talk to me directly. 
> 
> With regards, 
> 
> Sanghee
> ---
> Sanghee Shin, Chair of FOSS4G 2015 Seoul 
> "Toward Diversity! FOSS4G Bigbang from Seoul!"
> http://2015.foss4g.org <http://2015.foss4g.org/>
> Twitter: @foss4g
> Facebook: FOSS4G2015
> email: foss4gchair at osgeo.org <mailto:foss4gchair at osgeo.org>
> 
> 
> 
>> 2015. 1. 8., 오후 4:22, David William Bitner <bitner at dbspatial.com <mailto:bitner at dbspatial.com>> 작성:
>> 
>> Dear Conference Committee,
>> 
>> It has recently been brought to my attention by a member of our community that she noticed the absence of a Code of Conduct for the upcoming Seoul FOSS4G. I took this as a huge sign that the work that has been done by LOCs in recent FOSS4G, regional OSGeo events, and other technology and geography events towards encouraging diversity and a welcoming atmosphere to all is indeed being noticed. I have also been excited to see based simply on the measure of gender diversity that the numbers of female speakers has been steadily moving up over the past couple years.
>> 
>> I would like to encourage the Conference Committee (and I am volunteering to do much of the leg work) to provide guidelines for implementing a Code of Conduct at events for all FOSS4G/OSGeo related events and to include diversity initiatives as part of future calls for proposals for the international event.
>> 
>> While I believe it is too late for the conference committee to make any mandates to the Seoul team, is there anyone who knows the folks on the LOC that would be willing to help me reach out to explain the importance of these initiatives?
>> 
>> Thanks!
>> 
>> David
>> 
>> -- 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> ************************************
> David William Bitner
> dbSpatial LLC
> 612-424-9932
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