Policies and Safe Spaces for Diversity

3 Responses to Policies and Safe Spaces for Diversity

  1. yeah it’s whack that tech conferences or academic conferences need these things, but I’ve been at a couple recently where I’ve started seeing inappropriate behavior, so yeah, there you go. On the flipside, I’m very interested in working with others to brainstorm on building in and recruiting for diversity. Where have we had successes, attended events or conferences that do it well, etc. I’ve had a lot of success in working with great organizing committees, as recruiting the right people for unconferences is huge. I think there may be some things to learn from conferences like SXSW and their VOWEL ratings of panel/panelist diversity.

  2. And by the way, thanks VERY much for proposing that we work on that harassment policy I forked; I’d love to spend some time doing that collaboratively. Must say I wish we had two days. Ah well. If we don’t get to it tomorrow, I’ve got it prioritized for later work once my crazy October is over.

    I said at the time of that Twitter convo and still think that although (as you point out) DH is one of the more tolerant and accepting communities, the very intimacy of an unconference that forms strong bonds is likely to be hugely problematic.

    I think too that your work at THATCamp Virginia in developing child-friendly spaces is also relevant here.