[OSGeo-Conf] Code of Conduct

Fri Jan 9 08:23:10 PST 2015

Greetings Sanghee!

The example conference policy  that has been adapted/adopted  by tech
conferences around the world
<http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_anti-harassment/Adoption> is
here - http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_anti-harassment/Policy.
It is freely and openly licensed (CC-BY-SA) and can be used and changed as
you and the committee see fit.

One of the main reasons to adopt a Code of Conduct is *precisely* because
we are such a diverse, international group. Attendees are planning to come
to 2015 FOSS4G in Seoul from all around the world and I think it can be
more manageable if we establish a baseline of behaviour that is appropriate
for *our global FOSS4G community* while also being respectful to the local
culture.

Camille

Camille E. Acey

Manager, Customer Development and Partnerships| Boundless

camille at boundlessgeo.com

T: +1 917.460.7197|M: +1 347.267.2016| Skype: camilleacey

New York, NY - USA

@boundlessgeo

<https://twitter.com/boundlessgeo>

<https://twitter.com/boundlessgeo>

On Fri, Jan 9, 2015 at 6:59 AM, Sanghee Shin <endofcap at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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/ and
> 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> 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
>> Twitter: @foss4g
>> Facebook: FOSS4G2015
>> email: foss4gchair at osgeo.org
>>
>>
>>
>> 2015. 1. 8., 오후 4:22, David William Bitner <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
>>
>> --
>> ************************************
>> David William Bitner
>> dbSpatial LLC
>> 612-424-9932
>>  _______________________________________________
>> Conference_dev mailing list
>> Conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org
>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/conference_dev
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> ************************************
> David William Bitner
> dbSpatial LLC
> 612-424-9932
>  _______________________________________________
> Conference_dev mailing list
> Conference_dev at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/conference_dev
>
>
>
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