On 14 Jul 2017, at 05:11, Malcolm Hutty <malcolm@linx.net> wrote:
I wanted to address this point separately, because it cuts to the core of one of the discussions we are having, and because Erik is not the only participant to have spoken against the principle of equality.
If we adopt the idea of non-discrimination, equal treatment and respect for the individual as a participant as our organising principle, this will indeed leave certain approaches to diversity based on bias and preference "dead in the water". I don't think we should be ashamed of that; we should embrace it. [snip]
I strongly disagree with this part. I feel this graphic explains my position well: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiUx_GlXEAQYIFg.jpg Not everyone is equal when they come into the community. Not everyone has had the same opportunities, has the same costs, the same health, the same freedoms. These issues are institutional and endemic in our wider society. And if inside the community we insist on treat everyone the same, it means that the outcome is still drastically unfair, and we reinforce bias, rather than countering it. Mind you, I am not in favour of e.g. a hard quota in speaker selection. However, as an example, I have often seen financial aid programs where priority is given to people from underrepresented and/or marginalised groups, which makes sense to me, as there are (on average) financial consequences of being part of such a group, limiting the ability to participate. Especially in RIPE meetings, as even speakers have to pay for a full ticket and their own travel. This biases speaker selection to people who are better off financially and who have an easier time finding work, or putting some pressure on their employer, amongst other things.
2. Survey of experiences and attitudes to existing behaviour [..]
I am not opposed to such a survey, but I would expect it to be heavily biased towards a more positive image. I’m skeptic on how many people who no longer participate would enter, especially those that left due to bad experiences. Personally in those cases, I’d rather just leave it behind and forget. In particular, I would be very reluctant to share those experiences with that same community - and I see this with friends too. As another example, I recently encountered sexist and queerphobic remarks at a conference which had a CoC, but this involved a conference organiser, so I did not report. If there were this kind of survey, I would similarly not have reported it. I warned my friends though. In general, any kind of talking about any kind of negative experience comes with risk. So the question is always: how much will I improve things by talking about this, how much do I care, and is that worth the risk?
3. Regional inclusion: venue policy [..]
This is a particularly difficult issue, as different locations come with different benefits and issues for different people. For some people Schengen visa are hard to obtain. For me, any travel to the Middle East or Russia would be most unwise. This is the same in the Django/Python community, which is a reason for having conferences in almost every region. There is no single location that works great for everyone.
- do we consider needs of wheelchair users/other disabilities? sufficiently consistently to be relied upon?
A good start may be an accessibility policy, with some suggestions here: https://twitter.com/ellenfromnowon/status/846010218404306946
- financial support?
Yes. Even a small program can help, especially for an event that requires even speakers to even pay for tickets.
- while I think English is likely to need to remain the working language, is there more that can be done to assist those who don't speak it proficiently or who lack confidence?
Live transcription is a huge benefit already. Beyond that, I have no immediate ideas.
- would some potential participants benefit from more direct support in persuading their employers to authorise their attendance? (I know the ITU offers "letters of invitation"; is that a useful idea? How about "Dear boss, Your employee has asked to attend a RIPE meeting. But what do you get out of it?”)
This doesn’t apply to me personally, but I know a lot more conferences do this, for example: https://2017.djangocon.us/why-djangocon-us/ I imagine the effort is small, and mostly one time, so this feels like it’s worth it. Erik