[UbuntuWomen] Discuss: Code of Conduct Revision

Fri Sep 20 18:05:22 UTC 2013

Please check.

Improvements:

1. Inclusive approach.
2. Added two new points
3. Revised a few sentences

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CodeOfConductGuidelines

Launchpad Entry:
https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/coc-etiquette-guidelines

Created: 2007-05-22 by VidAyer
Revised: 2013-09-23 by A. Mani

Contributors: VidAyer, Jacinta Richardson and A. Mani

Status: New

Code Of Conduct Guidelines

Contents

Summary

Rationale

Working Plan

Etiquette Guidelines

Discussions and Comments

Credits

Summary

The Ubuntu Code of Conduct sets the standard of behaviour expected of
members of the Ubuntu community. However people joining/ entering the
community face different forms of abuse.

Rationale

This specification hopes to table inappropriate behaviour to be
avoided when working alongside women and gender diverse peoples in
Ubuntu/FOSS communities.

Working Plan

We hope to bridge this gap by providing an outline of what is commonly
considered inappropriate behaviour. This document only describes
approximately certain online social Etiquette's that should be
considered when working alongside women and gender diverse volunteers
in Ubuntu to enable smooth working relations.

The Dispute Resolution document is another document intended to
provide a tangible solution to such issues.

This document is a draft specifications and the CC has not approved it
yet. It may not consider unoccured future events and is currently a
work-in-progress.

Etiquette Guidelines

These are guidelines and much of it may not be relevant to one and all
so feel free to discuss, edit and add as you see fit.

1. Learn to recognise and respect differences in others as much as in
oneself. Women and gender diverse peoples from different parts of the
world volunteer in FOSS for different reasons. They may have similar
or contrasting views on any given subject or idea. Focus on respecting
this difference of opinion even in disagreement.

2. Agree to disagree. Difference of opinion is common even among
people who work together in real life. Agreeing to disagree is
essential for a harmonious workplace. Many FOSS projects are carried
out online by people who never meet, through mediums which tend to
remove intonation and body language. This makes it even more important
to promote harmony and understanding. Interacting with people who have
different perspectives is never an excuse to flame, badger or insult
your project team members. Agree to disagree politely, always.

3*. Use Gender Neutral/inclusive Language. Always use gender neutral
or inclusive language and do not gender others. Gendered references
are in order only when you know that the person in question is
comfortable in identifying as such. Most cultures are deficient in
their progress on these aspects. Therefore, we recommend that you see
the summary** in the FAQ on the subject and act accordingly.

4. Respect their privacy and don't ask personal questions. It is
natural to be curious about your project members. However, it is
important to respect their boundaries. Many women and gender diverse
persons choose to not discuss their personal life online or are
uncomfortable sharing it with strangers or people they have never met
before. Even though you consider yourself trust-worthy, they may be
interested only in the technical aspects of volunteering and may not
necessarily be interested in a social interaction outside of the
volunteer field.

Avoid asking personal questions such as location, religion, caste,
age, work, status, phone number, availability, etc... directly or
indirectly. Even though you may consider it friendly to share your
life history with others, this is not universal. If someone does not
reciprocate, respect their privacy. If you do learn personal facts
about another project member, keep those to yourself. Regardless of
whether you think it's harmless to share this information with others,
it is a breach of their trust and is unprofessional.

5. Keep it simple, polite and short unless you are discussing
specifications. Different project members have different amounts of
time available to spend on the project. Some will have health, family
or carer issues that physically restrict the time they can donate. If
a project member redirects you to a FAQ, relevant mailing list or IRC
channel rather than answering your question directly, don't be
offended. Accept the help gracefully, it's not a personal insult.

6. Respect their time as much as you do yours. Different project
members have different amounts of time available to spend on the
project. Remember that in most cases, project members are volunteering
to work on the project. Don't demand responses to every request. In
particular be flexible about response times, as differences in
timezones and current activities can delay members' abilities to
respond immediately. It is very rare to find project volunteers who
are able to be available on demand 24x7.

7. Respect their contributions. Some project members don't actually
contribute to the project, and this is unfortunate. On the other hand
other project members may be fantastic contributors even though their
contributions aren't easily visible. For example documentation
proof-readers, and how-to testers may not make a lot of commits, but
their work greatly enhances the overall project quality. Your personal
project contributions, no matter how significant, are not sufficient
reason to discredit another's contributions just because you don't
know what they are.

8. Anonyminity is okay. It isn't compulsory for people to reveal their
real identity to volunteer in FOSS. In fact it's very common for
people to use a nickname or other tag online. Lots of people are not
interested in revealing their real identity/gender/location, etc. for
all sorts of reasons, including personal safety. Accept this and do
not insinuate or imply that this is deterrent to contributing in FOSS.
Just so long as the work gets done, nothing else matters.

9. Last but not least avoid sexist and gender discriminatory language
and behavior.

Discussions and Comments

This draft has been prepared by members of the Ubuntu-Women community.
If you wish to discuss this on a mailing list please use the UW
mailing list. Over there you can suggest how this document can be
improved or better still feel free to make changes and add your name
in the credits section.

Credits

Ubuntu Vidya Ayer : Initial draft.

Ubuntu Jacinta Richardson is a director for Perl Training Australia as
well as the Training Coordinator. She supports Perl user groups
throughout Oceania as well as promoting women in computers as much as
possible.

Ubuntu A. Mani is a researcher in algebra, logic and rough sets in
India. She is also an active free software contributor, teacher,
activist and consultant.

Ubuntu If you have contributed to this document, please add your name here.

CategoryEthics CategoryBuildingCommunity CategorySpec

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**

Summary: Gender-nondiscriminatory and non-sexist language

Simply use no salutations (in Emails) or non-gendered ones and
avoid gendered references.

For the latter part, this boils down to getting your pronouns right.
The best practice would be to use "they", break grammar rules on
number and do not not respect gender-normative rules.

Thus "they is pretty " should be fine. The rationale is that grammar
should follow usage and "they is pretty" was grammatically correct for
many centuries and is correct again.

Do not use s/he and such as these presume a binary state of affairs
(trans people get included) and discriminate against bi-gendered,
a-gendered people and others. The other option is to avoid personal
pronouns - it is possible if you are never verbose enough.

For 'words of salutation' feel free to use: "Hey Y'all" "all y'all
(plural)" "Hi = Hello"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/File:EN-y%27all.ogg