[FOSS4G-Oceania] The Panel Session - It's Time...

Wed Oct 3 21:56:42 PDT 2018

I have some concern about reaching the audience. The cited Atlassian report
says:

*People are tired of talking about diversity and inclusion, frustrated by
> talk not turning into impactful action, and overwhelmed by the number of
> issues.*

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.

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.

Or, from a more constructive angle, how can we frame this topic so that we
can ignite interest?

On Thu, 4 Oct 2018 at 13:42, Alex Leith <alexgleith at gmail.com> wrote:

> Adam, I think you're on the money there.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
>
>
> On Thu, 4 Oct 2018 at 13:13 adam steer <adam.d.steer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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?
>>
>> 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.
>>
>> 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...
>>
>> Cheers
>> Adam
>>
>> On Thu, 4 Oct 2018 at 11:49, adam steer <adam.d.steer at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Alex
>>>
>>> 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.
>>>
>>> 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.
>>>
>>> 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?
>>>
>>> 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
>>>
>>> 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.
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>>
>>> Adam
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, 4 Oct 2018 at 10:18, Alex Leith <alexgleith at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hey Folks
>>>>
>>>> It is now time to get stuck into the details of the panel session.
>>>>
>>>> Three things need to happen:
>>>>
>>>>    1. Establish a topic
>>>>    2. Find a moderator
>>>>    3. Bring together 4-6 panelists.
>>>>
>>>> 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, pointed
>>>> out recently
>>>> <https://sssi.org.au/knowledge-hub/president-s-message/president-s-message-september-2018>
>>>> 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 'Balance and Belonging
>>>> <https://www.atlassian.com/diversity>'. And we know that some of the
>>>> stalwarts
>>>> <https://www.zdnet.com/article/linus-torvalds-takes-a-break-from-linux/>
>>>> in the open source community are recognising the need for change.
>>>>
>>>> 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).
>>>>
>>>> Ok, so, how do we feel about the suggested topic here?
>>>>
>>>> And if you have an alternative, now's the time to raise it.
>>>>
>>>> Once we have a topic, we can pick a moderator and start forming the
>>>> panel.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>>
>>>> Alex
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> Alex Leith
>>>> 0419 189 050
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> FOSS4G-Oceania mailing list
>>>> FOSS4G-Oceania at lists.osgeo.org
>>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/foss4g-oceania
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Adam Steer
>>> https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adam_Steer
>>> http://au.linkedin.com/in/adamsteer
>>> http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0046-7236
>>> +61 427 091 712 <+61%20427%20091%20712>
>>> skype: adam.d.steer
>>> tweet: @adamdsteer
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Adam Steer
>> https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Adam_Steer
>> http://au.linkedin.com/in/adamsteer
>> http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0046-7236
>> +61 427 091 712 <+61%20427%20091%20712>
>> skype: adam.d.steer
>> tweet: @adamdsteer
>>
> --
>
> Alex Leith
> 0419 189 050
> _______________________________________________
> FOSS4G-Oceania mailing list
> FOSS4G-Oceania at lists.osgeo.org
> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/foss4g-oceania
>
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