[Koha] Comment: Koha Community Code of Conduct

[glaws]

Galen:

My concern is that currently any passing comment like those in my
original post could be construed as harassing. I rather suspect that any
censure by a conference committee in the United States for me saying
"I'm Buddist, I want to eat at a vegetarian restaurant" or "I'm Muslim,
I will miss the Friday afternoon session because I go to the mosque
then." would be grounds for legal action based on freedom of speech
rights. (I realize this may not be the case in other countries).

Indeed, as I recall (probably not well), at the last KohaCon in Reno,
Nevada, a presenter mentioned that a broad range of individuals,
including a monk and the speaker himself, an athiest, had contributed
code to Koha. (Apologies if I didn't get that quite right). I believe
that speech was completely acceptable.

Any wording that indicates that harassing speech or behavior must be
negative in some connotation is fine with me. It certainly doesn't need
to be too lengthy.

Greg

As an aside, and not to clutter up the main point, I wonder about the
"social structures of domination" wording below. It certainly seems to
me that there could be a great deal of bias, discrimination and
harassment not relating to "social structures of domination". Maybe some
law library librarians reading this could say if that wording is in the
law lexicon.



-----------------------------------



On 09/26/2014 03:29 PM, Galen Charlton wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Looking at the current model code of conduct on the Geek Feminism wiki
> [1], I would suggest amending the sentence in question to:
>
> "Verbal, graphic or written comments that reinforce social structures
> of domination related to gender, sexual orientation, disability,
> physical appearance, body size, race or religion."
>
> The entire clause from the sample code of conduct that this draws from is:
>
> "Harassment includes verbal comments that reinforce social structures
> of domination [related to gender, gender identity and expression,
> sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race,
> age, religion, [your specific concern here]], sexual images in public
> spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing
> photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other
> events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual
> attention. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are
> expected to comply immediately."
>
> Greg: would this address your concerns?
>
> [1] http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_anti-harassment/Policy
>
> Regards,
>
> Galen
>
> On Fri, Sep 26, 2014 at 1:19 PM, Riley Childs <rchilds at cucawarriors.com> wrote:
>> In your opinion, how should it read?
>> Riley Childs
>> Senior
>> Charlotte United Christian Academy
>> Library Services Administrator
>> IT Services
>> (704) 497-2086
>> rileychilds.net
>> @rowdychildren
>> ________________________________
>> From: glaws<mailto:glawson at rhcl.org>
>> Sent: ‎9/‎26/‎2014 4:17 PM
>> To: koha at lists.katipo.co.nz<mailto:koha at lists.katipo.co.nz>
>> Subject: Re: [Koha] Comment: Koha Community Code of Conduct
>>
>> Well, yes, that's my point really. By the simple definition given in the
>> CoC every comment on the enumerated items is harassing.
>>
>> "Harassment includes...comments related to gender, gender identity,
>> sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race or
>> religion."
>>
>>
>> Greg
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 09/26/2014 03:05 PM, Riley Childs wrote:
>>> Overly broad? You can harass without knowing it, you are taking I in
>>> the literal sense that every comment is harssing.
>>>
>>> Riley Childs
>>> Senior
>>> Charlotte United Christian Academy
>>> Library Services Administrator
>>> IT Services
>>> (704) 497-2086
>>> rileychilds.net
>>> @rowdychildren
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> From: glaws <mailto:glawson at rhcl.org>
>>> Sent: ‎9/‎26/‎2014 3:50 PM
>>> To: koha at lists.katipo.co.nz <mailto:koha at lists.katipo.co.nz>
>>> Subject: [Koha] Comment: Koha Community Code of Conduct
>>>
>>> I have some concerns about the Koha Community Code of Conduct posted here:
>>>
>>> http://koha-community.org/about/policy/code-of-conduct/
>>> <http://koha-community.org/about/policy/code-of-conduct/>
>>>
>>> My specific concern is the second bullet point:
>>>
>>> Harassment includes, but is not limited to:
>>>
>>>   * ---snip---
>>>   * Verbal, graphic or written comments related to gender, gender
>>>     identity, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body
>>>     size, race or religion
>>>
>>>
>>> which seems overly broad.
>>>
>>> Examples
>>>
>>> If, during a conference breaking for lunch, I say to a group of
>>> attendees "I'm Buddhist, is there a vegetarian restaurant near here?", I
>>> would seem to have violated this point (verbal...comment...religion).
>>>
>>> Or if I'm a presenter, and I make a comment for illustrative purposes,
>>> like "Just as people come in all sizes, libraries also vary in size and
>>> Koha is great for all of them", have I violated the code?
>>>
>>> Or if I'm with a group of attendees planning on going out somewhere, and
>>> I say "I have <insert any health problem>, and I can't walk with you
>>> that far", is that a violation?
>>>
>>> I would like to suggest that the wording for this particular point
>>> include something to the effect that the references must be obviously
>>> negative in nature or perhaps intended to give offense to to an average
>>> person _based_on_some_reasonable_standard_.
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Greg Lawson
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Koha mailing list  http://koha-community.org
>>> Koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
>>> http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
>> --
>> Greg Lawson
>> Rolling Hills Consolidated Library
>> 1912 N. Belt Highway
>> St. Joseph, MO 64506
>> 816-232-5479 x2303
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
>> http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
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>> Koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
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>
>

-- 
Greg Lawson
Rolling Hills Consolidated Library
1912 N. Belt Highway
St. Joseph, MO 64506
816-232-5479 x2303