We value respect, diversity, honesty, reflection, and growth. We strive to intentionally create an environment where people are valued for their contributions while also encouraging personal and professional development. We take building a supportive and creative community seriously. We value:
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Play and creativity around technology and problem solving (Have fun)
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Team and community members who are aware of and proactively think about social implications of technology (Ask hard questions)
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Public good over fast growth or private profit (Cooperation and mutualism)
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Being a welcoming community with low barrier to entry (Welcome others)
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Transparency, including failures (Be open & honest)
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People working to understand the perspectives of others first (understand first, react or judge second)
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Reflection on ourselves and our work, check in honestly about whether our actions/process/projects are in line with our goals/values and if they need to change/update (Keep improving)
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People making creative, fun, impactful projects with Dat.
In order to support an atmosphere where that can happen, we encourage the following behaviors:
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Keeping peers accountable about behavior that negatively impacts others, especially when the initiator is unaware of the impact.
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Actively recognizing, discussing, and preventing behavior that intimidates or harasses others (within or outside of the Dat community) including supporting each other to exclude individuals who continue to make others feel uncomfortable despite call-out.
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Asking questions without embarrassment
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Critical assessment of areas of weakness (without blaming others for our oversights or weak points)
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Being direct and critical without insulting others
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Courage, connection, compassion
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Self-care, mental health, physical health, getting outside, comfortable being off computer for extended time, personal development
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Professional development for contributors and team & teaching others in community
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Strategic, long-term thinking
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Valuing diverse skillsets (some of those things are hard to measure but the project will fail without interpersonal & communication skills)
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Supporting people to develop skills outside their comfort zone.
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Social enforcement of values (do not expect one person to be the “principal” keeping people in line)
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Recognizing and being proactive against privilege, systemic biases
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Questioning systematic assumptions (Who is in the room? Who has a seat at the table? Why?)
There are behaviors that have no place in the Dat community. In order to support an atmosphere that will support a diverse community to discuss and explore exciting ideas, we need to be clear about what behaviors, words, and actions are unacceptable, including:
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Bullying and intimidation
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Harassment of any kind
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Blame and shame
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Excusing behavior that negatively impacts others, regardless of intent
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Disrespect
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Dishonesty
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Valuing technical skills above other skills
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Imbalances of power on the core team
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Polarization
The Dat project is governed by a Core Team of people who manage community, operations, project strategy, and fundraising. The Community Transparency Team is made up of a handful of core team and community members. External community partners may be brought in to advise the Community Team at that team’s discretion. Issues that are elevated to the Community Transparency Team may be discussed internally in the Dat project communication channels or publicly. Requests for anonymity will be honored, and anonymous reports may be made [TODO]
We encourage reporting issues to the Community Transparency Team, even if the person reporting does not wish to pursue action. These reports are logged and help the team deal with future issues that may arise.
Here are ways to contact the team:
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DMs to DCR, JH, or an external community person [volunteers for this role?]
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Email Everyone (hi@datproject.org)
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Email community transparency team (community@datproject.org - goes to DCR, JH currently)
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Email individual people (DCR, JH, etc. - where to publish these?)
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Anonymous form [TODO]
This Code of Conduct applies both within spaces involving this project and in other spaces involving community members, which may include private spaces. This includes GitHub, the Twitter community, community chat rooms, private email or direct message communications in the context of the project, and any events where members of the project are participating, as well as adjacent communities and venues affecting the project’s members.
The Community Transparency Team will make decisions based on the effects of behavior on others, not based on the person’s intentions. If your words or behavior impact others, we take that seriously - even if you did not mean any harm.
Depending on the violation, the Community Transparency Team may decide that violations of this code of conduct that have happened outside of the scope of the community impact the ability of the individual to safely participate in the Dat community. Negative behavior outside the community can impact the community or exclude people from engaging. Issues that could be considered private may indicate problematic patterns that can impact the community down the road. We try to address these issues with discussion with the person as well as conversation and education in the community forum. We hold the right to publicly discuss these issues as they happen and alert the community to repercussions, or a person’s removal from community. The Community Transparency Team will take appropriate action to maintain the comfort and safety of its members.
The Community Transparency Team can not truly investigate or make a judgement on what happened or did not happen (because, sadly, we are not detectives). The team will take any issue that is raised seriously and discuss it transparently. The Community Transparency Team will first determine, to the best of their ability, whether the person in question is a danger to the community. If the person is not a danger, actions will be taken to support the person to correct their behavior when possible. All reports and outcomes are recorded so that past behavior can be referenced in future.
There are limits on the power that colleagues have to force behavioral change. We try to communicate clearly and be critical of ourselves and our communities to prioritize growth. We support colleagues in their process of personal and professional growth. However, our paramount responsibility is to meetBut any behavior that directly harms community members will be met with a response.
Though difficult, we can use these events to become better colleagues and collaborators, creating a stronger community. We believe transparency is key to community growth. We hope to create a framework that supports community members to work towards long term growth and change, while ensuring responsibility is taken for inappropriate behavior.
As a project on GitHub, this project is additionally covered by the GitHub Community Guidelines.
Enforcement of those guidelines after violations overlapping with the above are the responsibility of the entities, and moderation may happen in any or all of the services/communities.
Issues that arise in the community and are often initially moderated by members.
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Community member should feel empowered to let a person know what they did wrong and ask them to correct behavior
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If a community member feels like they need back up, they should feel free to reach out to core team and Community Transparency Team members
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The person should immediately stop behavior and edit/correct language
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If this does not happen or behavior continues, contact Community Transparency Team
Issues that are brought directly to the Community Transparency Team:
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If no previous communication about behavior from community, initiate warnings and discussions on behavior with person
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Repeat warning and communicate consequences of continued behavior
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Ask the person to step away for 1-3 days and not engage in community discussions and public community spaces
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Immediate ban and removal from public community discussion and all projects.
At the discretion of the Community Transparency Team, consequences of inappropriate behavior process for core/frequent contributors may include the above as well as:
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Temporary or permanent removal from leadership positions
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A probation period with specific accountability goals
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Public transparency of expectations for person under probation
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Monthly meetings with team to discuss progress
Personnel decisions on the core team are governed by a separate process [TODO].
The Community Transparency Team reserves full rights to skip any of these steps, at their discretion, if the violation is considered to be a serious and/or immediate threat to the health and well-being of members of the community. These include any threats, serious physical or verbal attacks, and other such behavior that would be completely unacceptable in any social setting that puts our members at risk.
Any events or situations where the Dat team has taken action are recorded [TODO] We want to make sure that the community feels supported by the core team’s actions and values. In addition to the Code of Conduct outlined above - which we encourage you to comment on and suggest changes to - we are developing a formal governance strategy for the Dat core team. This is an infinite game where rules and boundaries are expected to evolve as we grow. We cannot describe or elude to specific examples of inappropriate behavior. Community members should be able to understand how their behavior impacts others, and if not, then ask first (or if in doubt - don’t say/do it).
This Code of Conduct was generated via Mozilla Science Lab’s Working Open Workshop Code of Conduct exercise. Sections and some content is from the Ayo.js Code of Conduct and the OpenCon Code of Conduct. We thank the authors of these resources for their insight and thoughtful words.
Some quotes that were helpful to us in writing this document:
“Last, men and women need to be able to discuss where the line is. In any workplace there will also be a gray area that covers both sides of the line between acceptable and unacceptable. Men and women need to be able to openly discuss the gray area, as well.”
“The onus should not be on my female colleagues to tell me when I’ve crossed the line or even when I’m approaching it. The onus should be on me — and all men — to know what’s appropriate and what’s not. And if you’re in doubt — don’t say it.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/all-men-should-be-facing-the-mirror-on-sexual-harassment/2017/12/14/faa9dda4-e0fa-11e7-89e8-edec16379010_story.html