Dear Gabriel and group

There are numerous examples of codes of conduct for online and face-to-face organizational spaces as folks across disciplines have taken on the work of removing racism, harassment, bullying, discrimination, and gas lighting from their communities. 

This is a great read: https://link.medium.com/c51pwjrtc8  particularly as it points to the Geek Feminism code of conduct and the Game Developer code of conduct and lists a set of questions that we can use as a starting point towards understanding the particular culture(s) of this community. 

I’m very glad we’re having this conversation. 

M


Milena Radzikowska, MDes, PhD
Professor of Information Design
Faculty of Business and Communication Studies
Mount Royal University

She/Her

mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://www.milenaradzikowska.com 

“I guess this is what we’re doing now...”

I LIVE AND WORK on the ancestral and traditional Indigenous territories of the Blackfoot and the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuu T’ina and the Stoney Nakoda First Nations. The City of Calgary is also home to the Metis Nation of Alberta, Region III.


> On Jul 17, 2020, at 7:28 AM, Gabriele Ferri <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> hi Luke,
> 
> (by the way, I am motivated to speak up by the posts by Tiphaine and others
> before & after her. I don't presume to speak *for* her. I am open to
> contributions on this topic from her and from the many who asked us to do
> better. This is me trying to do my homework...)
> 
> Let me answer below:
> 
> If a code of conduct was somehow agreed upon, I am still not sure how it
>> might be implemented and how compliance would be enforced. My understanding
>> is that the PHD_DESIGN list is subject to JiscMail service policies and UK
>> laws. The policy only states that conduct must legal and honest.
>> https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/
> 
> 
> It is also my understanding that this list in hosted in the UK and
> therefore bound first to UK laws.
> However, it is certainly possible to imagine another set of guidelines (a
> code of conduct) that are "on top of" the existing laws.
> For example, when I point at the code of conduct of this space in Rotterdam
> https://varia.zone/en/pages/code-of-conduct.html I don't imply that Dutch
> law doesn't apply there. Dutch laws apply *AND* people attending the
> workshops at Varia *also* abide to the Code of Conduct.
> 
> 
>> I assume that legal conduct would imply that academic freedom is to be
>> preserved and enhanced. I am not familiar with the UK law on academic
>> freedom or how it applies to email discussion lists on JiscMail, but it
>> might be something similar to, for example, (2)(a) of the New Zealand
>> Education Act 1989 which states that academic freedom means "the freedom of
>> academic staff and students, within the law, to question and test received
>> wisdom, to put forward new ideas and to state controversial or unpopular
>> opinions:" and (3)(a) act in a manner consistent "the need for the
>> maintenance by institutions of the highest ethical standards and the need
>> to permit public scrutiny to ensure the maintenance of those standards;"
>> http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1989/0080/latest/DLM183665.html
> 
> 
> Academic freedom is certainly important and I don't mean to downplay it,
> but I think that what Tiphaine, Thea and others are calling for is
> different. (I welcome corrections and help if I'm missing the point).
> 
> I think it would be amazing if this list would endorse some "expected
> behavior" along the lines of
> https://varia.zone/en/pages/code-of-conduct.html or
> https://www.recurse.com/social-rules (others are possible, these are my
> favorite example but I'm open to hearing other ideas) .
> 
> I also think it would be very productive if this list had an explicit set
> of procedures for dealing with complaints. For example, see the final
> paragraph "Non-immediate intervention (a situation that requires more
> time)" of https://varia.zone/en/pages/code-of-conduct.html
> I don't know what interventions could the list admins do in case they
> receive a complaint, but I believe that having a procedure in place &
> letting everyone know about it could help making this list feel more like
> "a safe space."
> 
> 
>> On a related note, constitutional reforms usually require a least a two
>> thirds majority to pass. If we were to imagine that this convention were to
>> apply to the case of adopting a code of conduct for PHD_DESIGN list, then
>> it would mean that at least 2,000 list members would need to vote in its
>> favor. From what I've seen, most surveys posted on the list only ever
>> obtain a few hundred responses.
>> 
> 
> I'd need the list admins' opinion here.
> @David Durling: you're the admin here, right? Could you explain to me how
> decisions are taken with respect to the list's administration? Is there a
> single admin, or is there a group, or...?
> I don't think we need to follow the procedure for a constitutional reform
> here. I think this is more similar to our favorite pub changing part of the
> menu than to reforming the constitution of a nation state. It requires the
> OK of the owner of the pub, not of the Prime Minister after a referendum.
> 
> 
>> I think a code of conduct is an interesting idea, I'm not saying it can't
>> be done, but an innovative way of achieving one is needed.
>> 
> 
> I am happy that you agree that a code of conduct is an interesting idea,
> but I disagree with your opinion that we need to do something innovative
> for achieving one. Plenty of online & offline groups have elaborated codes
> of conduct by setting up a workgroup (and paying attention that it is
> inclusive), drafting a proposal, requesting comments from the community,
> iterating, and finally publishing it. See for example
> https://docs.carpentries.org/topic_folders/policies/code-of-conduct.html
> and https://www.djangoproject.com/conduct/. For further example, even CHI
> (the largest juggernaut of a conference in our field!!!) developed this in
> 2019 https://chi2019.acm.org/for-attendees/equity/ and
> https://chi2019.acm.org/2019/04/18/chi-equity/
> 
> Thanks for your time
> G:
> 
> 
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