Code of Conduct and Call for Volunteers for Policy Subcommittee

This post originally appeared on the Data Carpentry website

The Carpentries are proud to share a common Code of Conduct (CoC), which outlines acceptable standards of behavior for our community members and those interacting with the Carpentries at in-person events and online spaces. Historically, however, we have not had an official process for reporting potential Code of Conduct violations or for adjudication and resolution of reported incidents. Thanks to input from our community, we recognise that defining these procedures is an important step in ensuring that any such issues are dealt with transparently in order to keep our community welcoming and safe for all.

Members of the Carpentry Steering Committees and staff have been working on defining these policies, and have put together a Reporting Guide and Enforcement Manual for handling potential CoC violations. These documents are based on valuable insights gained from previous community discussions of this issue (especially here and here). While we have made every effort to represent the views voiced in these discussions, ultimately, the CoC impacts every member of our community. To ensure that these policies meet the community’s needs, we would like your input.

The Carpentries are convening a joint Policy Subcommittee. Members of this group will be responsible for serving as advocates for the CoC, moderating Carpentry listservs, adjudicating reported CoC violations and developing and enforcing related policy as needed. If you are interested in serving the Carpentry community as a Policy Subcommittee member, please use this form to tell us about yourself, your involvement with the Carpentry community, and what valuable skills and perspectives you would bring to the Policy group. Applications will be open until Monday, August 29th at 5pm Pacific (Monday midnight UTC).

Regardless of your interest in joining the Policy Subcommittee, we invite all of our community members to give us feedback on the CoC Reporting Guide and Enforcement Manual. These documents can be found here as a Google Doc. The finalized policy will take into account community comments, so please add your voice to the discussion! If, for any reason, you would be more comfortable communicating your comments privately, please feel free to email DC’s Associate Director Erin Becker (ebecker@datacarpentry.org) and I will ensure that your voice is represented in the discussion.

The upcoming Lab Meeting will include a discussion of these issues. We encourage all community members to attend and share your thoughts. The Lab Meeting will be held Tuesday, August 16th at 1pm UTC and 10pm UTC.

We greatly appreciate the diverse insights our community members have brought to this discussion so far and look forward to hearing more from you as we continue to engage on this important topic.

Update: We’ve extended the application deadline to Monday, August 29th at 5pm Pacific (Monday midnight UTC) to give the community a chance to discuss the new Code of Conduct wording after our upcoming Lab Meeting.