Wikimedia Wikimeet India 2021/Friendly space policy
This code of conduct was compiled and adapted from User:Raimund Liebert (WMAT)/Safe space policy for video conferences (Permanent link) and Wikimedia policies on friendly space and Keeping events safe (texts available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License); and the Community Anti-Harassment Policy on Geek Feminism Wiki (available under the Creative Commons Zero license) |
Objective
This Code of Conduct and Friendly Space Policy (CoCFSP) aims to ensure a friendly, safe, and non-discriminatory environment for all participants in the Wikimedia Wikimeet India 2021.
This applies to all the program and community spaces, both online and offline, including main and auxiliary events, meetings, mailing lists, trial events, and informal gatherings. Violations of the CoCFSP may invite sanctions, a temporary ban, or expulsion from community spaces.
This event maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards harassment in any form.
Diversity statement
We are committed to creating an open and inclusive forum for conversations through the event and are available to listen to any concerns that may arise during the event. Although this list cannot be exhaustive, we explicitly honour diversity in age, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status and background, culture, ethnicity, language, national/sub-national origin, political beliefs, profession, race, religion, bodily and technical abilities. We will not tolerate discrimination based on any of the protected characteristics above, including participants with disabilities.
Basic rules for all participants
- Friendliness and mutual respect – contribute to a pleasant atmosphere and a climate of friendliness and fairness. Strictly refrain from statements that are intimidating, degrading, offensive, or discriminatory (especially towards marginalized and otherwise underrepresented groups) or that could be understood as such, even if you are talking about non-participants.
- Participation and Engagement – Respect all speakers and raise questions without interrupting others and the flow of the program. Refrain from talking over another member in a group conversation or deliberately ignoring their questions, but enable everyone to participate in the discussion. Express discomfort if you find yourself in an uncomfortable environment or conversation. Contact the moderator of the session or organizers for support if you find that your efforts to participate have been ignored or disregarded during the event.
- Openness – Be open for all community members to participate. Allow for restrictions that can be made for organizational, operational, or technical reasons. Persons whose submissions have not been accepted according to the guidelines (either based on application and/or registration) of the event are not allowed to participate in the event.
- Identity – Do not impersonate another person. Do not misrepresent your affiliation with any individual or entity. Similarly, do not disclose another person’s identity or other private information without their consent.
- Privacy – Respect the self-chosen degree of anonymity of all participants. Allow participation with audio only (without video). Use the names/pronouns of the participants, which they themselves indicate in the event. If the video and/or audio recordings are planned, all participants must be informed of this, including the intended purpose, before the start of the meeting. Images (screenshots) may only be taken during the video conference with the express consent of all participants concerned.
- Unacceptable Behaviour - Threats of violence, incitement to violence, personal attacks, gratuitous or off-topic use of sexual language or imagery, inappropriate or unwanted public or private communication are unacceptable. Harming the discussion or community through sustained disruption, interruption, or blocking of community collaboration (i.e. trolling), using the COCFSP for purposes other than reporting genuine violations will invite strict action on grounds of non-compliance.
Facilitation
- Recognisability – The participant in the facilitation role is automatically identified during the video conference (e. g. with a star symbol, as "facilitator" or as "administrator", depending on the platform) The facilitator will be the person who starts or leads the video conference. If this is not possible for technical reasons or if the facilitation role has to change during a video conference, this will be pointed out to the other participants.
- Technical role – During the video conference, the facilitator has extended technical rights. This includes the ability to exercise functions such as adding people, providing polls, muting/unmuting of speakers, creating breakout rooms, and other features.
- Social role – The facilitator is expected to support compliance with these rules with their extended technical rights and to coordinate additional measures if necessary. The facilitator may take any action to enforce these rules, including excluding participants and terminating the video conference. Such decisions will be communicated to the participants of the session and to the organisers. The facilitator shall exercise their rights strictly in good faith, as conducive to respectful discussions and keeping in mind the safety and privacy of participants.
Enforcement
- Personal responsibility – All participants are responsible for compliance with these rules to the best of their ability.
- Reporting – If you believe that someone else is not following this policy, you have the following options:
- point out the terms openly,
- inform only the facilitator (for example, by using the direct chat function) and/or
- inform the organisers at: wmwm@cis-india.org
- Consequences – In case of violations, the facilitator can act immediately. The participant may be expelled or blocked from the session or the entire event. In the case of particularly serious violations, we can also pass on data to third parties to aid in addressing complaints, including and up to identification of the participant as a harasser to other participants or the general public.
Complaint Resolution
If you have a complaint against someone on the organising team, they will recuse themselves from handling the reported incident. We will respond as promptly as we can to take note of your complaint, discuss the matter, and resolve the issue in a safe and respectful manner for all parties involved. We will also accept good-faith reports of unacceptable behaviour, including harassment, and respond as promptly as possible. We will not name victims without their affirmative consent. In order to protect volunteers from abuse and burnout, we reserve the right to reject any report we believe to have been made in bad faith or to silence legitimate criticism.
Please note that this event prioritises marginalised people’s safety over privileged people’s comfort. The organisers reserve the right not to act on complaints regarding:
- 'Reverse' -isms, including 'reverse racism,' 'reverse sexism,' and 'cisphobia'
- Reasonable communication of boundaries, such as “leave me alone,” “go away,” or “I’m not discussing this with you”
- Communicating in a 'tone' you don’t find congenial
- Criticising racist, sexist, cissexist, or otherwise oppressive behaviour or assumptions