Equality/Meeting/20120908

Agenda for meeting

• Current state of things
• Objectives for the site
• Content
• Un Paso Mas
• Next steps?

Attendance

• Rubin
• Mitch Altman
• Georgia
• gmc
• Stefanie
• Jimmmie

Minutes

The meeting Google Hangout+ was recorded and is on YouTube for your viewing pleasure.

The notes were recorded in a hackpad, then transcribed here.

State of things

• Bought some domains
• Got a mailing list
  • Really great discussions on the list about problems, how to solve them, where to go next

Objectives for the site

We discussed who we could help, which basically setup our objectives.

Our possible target demographic

• People already active 'in the field' basically the content providers (partially us)
• People working through problems of acceptance in the hacker scene
• People that cause the problems
• Organizers of the site
• And general

When creating content we're going to keep these groups in mind for who's going to read the content and how it's going to help them.

Content of site

When Rubin first setup the site, some of us brainstormed about what it should look like, and was posted on the Equality page. We reviewed that and changed it a bit, listed here is what we've got now. Turned more into a how to design thing.

Landing Page

• Mission statement
  • Hackerspaces were started to provide an alternative learning environment and gathering space, but in order to be effective, these spaces and the people in them need to understand when they are following cultural norms that sometimes exclude or discriminate against others, and how to change their behavior to overcome these tendencies... (this is Georgia)
  • Anyone who says they're a hacker should be accepted and treated with respect as an equal hacker
  • Not just limited to Queer equality topics
• About + 3 to 5 blog posts

Blog

• postings about updates to the site, including stories, static pages, links, to provide place for quick commentary
• In the start we might want to regulate how much content we post at once as to not just floor the site and have a little bit of a backlog.

Personal Stories

• General expression space for authors and readers
• Negative stories - How it went bad, and possibly got better, or what could change
• Positive stories - How it went all good and why that's good, to inspire
• Link to stories from a Gender Gap Activity The Hacktory has been doing
• Amalgamating all the wise and inspiring things we've all said on the various radio shows, panels etc already
• Story about the "rules" to point out bad behavior at Hacker School (which worked well and could be useful for us)

1. No saying "well actually" - When you engage in bike-shedding you discourage people from asking questions and learning. Are you trying to help, or just showing off? Instead, let the conversation take its course. If it’s a critical issue you can address it when you pair program with that person.
2. No feigning surprise - "You mean you don’t know who Richard Stallman is??" is not helpful :) Instead share knowledge openly. There is no shame in not knowing something, it just means you haven’t encountered it yet.
3. No backseat driving - Jumping in at the tail end of a conversation to interject your opinion is distracting and could prevent others from learning on their own. Instead ask if they would like you to join the conversation.
4. No subtle sexism, racism, or any discrimination - Being offended is a very subjective experience, if you make any person feel uncomfortable and they address it with you, apologize.

Resources

• Maybe sections for queer/feminist/other segments?
• Internal Content (things we've made / participated with)
• What is a hacker
  • A broad definition that doesn't really define anything
  • Hackers working together
  • Everyone's a hacker
• List of things we've all gotten segregated against (I like ketchup on my Chicago dog)
• Trial and Error - what has worked for some groups, what hasn't to provide equality
• Past media content, recordings
• Recommended reading
• Neighborly links
  • Hacking The Spaces
  • Queer Geeks
  • Schneier on Sexual Harassment
  • List of resources from The Hacktory's Gender Gap Presentation
  • Geek Feminism Anti-Harassment sample policy for conferences
  • Dreamwidth Diversity Statement
  • Feeling like you don't know enough to belong to a tech community is an example of "Imposter Syndrome"
  • "That’s What She Really Said" IRC Chatbot
  • Good Sexism Comebacks from Geek Feminism
  • Center for Nonviolent Communication
  • Do’s and Dont’s for the Dudely Organizer with Dan The Dude: A zine illustrating common foibles of would-be allies
  • Implicit Bias Test
  • Religious stuffs
  • Metal health issues, how to interact if you have some, how to interact with someone who does
  • Another great example of a rant against ignorance

Listing of hack spaces that are into this idea of equality?

Insert list here.

Meet Ups and Events

• Fork Calagator or something else NOT gcal, perhaps? Or maybe some clean wordpress/gcal thing that doesn't look like gcal?

Connect

• Direct email address to people who want to provide one on one help
• Our mailing list

Action items for the next month

We decided to setup some action items to try to complete this month, then have another web meeting at the beginning of October to review.

• Mission Statement
• Ask folks on mailing list for more links to resources, plus paragraph to go with them
• Ask for stories
  • Stories involving stepping over the prejudice line and how they re covered, what they learned
  • (note to gmc: ask Paul)
  • Stories from initial contributors about why they're here, what they're want to contribute, why it's important, where they're going next (sexy picture)
• Profile page for contributors
• Resources: List of questions to figure out if you're being accepting and fair to others and examining their prejudices
• Setup links section
• Revisit in a month - First week of next month

Something gmc has been working on for OHM2013

Unless otherwise agreed upon or implied all content submitted to OHM2013, including but not limited to wiki pages, lecture content, workshops and mailing list posts, is by default licensed under the Creative Commons 3.0 license CC-BY-SA.

OHM2013 is an event for every fucking weirdo* in our community; the event and related fora (such as the IRC channel, wiki and mailing lists) are open to everyone. It is not acceptable to make others feel unwelcome because they are shy, silly, weird, socially awkward, British, nerd, gay, unicorn, extra vagant, android, male, female, of ethnic minority, hipster, religious, autistic, alien from outer space, artistic, bohemian, hippie, misguided, heterosexual, badly dressed, photoshopped, American, green, soft-packing or otherwise non-average.

What may be intended as happy banter among peers might offend the accidental bystander. OHM2013 provides an atmosphere where everyone can feel welcome and included. Discrimination, sexism, harassment and dismissive, demeaning and/or offending language are unacceptable. Feel free to bring these paragraphs to the attention of those who engage in such behavior. If this does not improve matters please contact somethingsomething@ohm2013.org.

OHM2013 is based on meritocracy, in the sense that those who do naturally are in the position to make decisions.

(*) To quote Mitch Altman.