Re: TPAC diversity scholarship

Hi everyone,

My thoughts on this:
For a first (and unplanned) try it sounds to me that things were alright,
but with area for improvement.

1, 2, 3. Be as transparent as possible. Clearly explain why how, and who is
the target. I'd say to make it public in sort of campaign. The other issue
I see here is how to choose who receives the scholarship as I am looking at
a very long list and a limited amount of resources. I'd give it to someone
that does not necessarily has extensive experience, but eager to get
involved - we might get a nice surprise. It should be visible to everyone,
but we should define some acceptance criteria - not all who appear to be
part of an underrepresented group really is.
The invited expert on the other hand, I see as someone with extensive
experience in the area for which they were invited - hence would be in all
our best interest to have them at TPAC at least once. Again, transparency I
see as key here. I believe that not everyone understands what is the
difference between scholarship from the Invited Expert so maybe if we wrote
it down for everyone to understand, we'd have less confusion. And also have
acceptance criteria for what an IE is.

4. We should announce it at the same time we announce the date for the next
TPAC meeting

5. We should have at least one person from the CG.

On the same note, but generally speaking, I feel like the entire diversity
and inclusion theme has become more like a trend among conferences and
companies employment process and not a solution to a real problem, and I
would hate it if we (Diversity and Inclusion Group of all people) would go
with the flow instead of pausing for a short while to think things though
and find a way to actually help someone in need.


Best,
Oana

On Tue, Nov 20, 2018 at 1:08 PM Léonie Watson <tink@tink.uk> wrote:

> Everyone,
>
> This year the W3C offered a diversity scholarship, intended to give a
> financial grant to self-funded people from under-represented groups, to
> assist with the cost of attending TPAC. It was the first time such a
> thing had been tried, and as with all first attempts, some things worked
> well and some things didn't.
>
> The W3C would like to create a diversity scholarship again for TPAC
> 2019, and has asked for our help putting it together.
>
> 1. How, when, and in what form, should we try to raise the money?
>
> This year it began with an impromptu suggestion and donation from one
> member, at the AC meeting in Berlin. A handful of other members followed
> suit, and so the scholarship fund was created. A follow-up email was
> sent to the AC, which resulted in other donations, but it isn't clear
> that this is the best approach to raising funds.
>
> 2. How should we present the scholarship?
>
> The goal of the scholarship is to achieve greater diversity at TPAC, but
> W3C received criticism this year because it was felt that the
> scholarship was based on positive discrimination, instead of being open
> to any self-funded person wanting to attend TPAC.
>
> 3. How do we differentiate the scholarship from the Invited Expert (IE)
> fee waver?
>
> W3C also introduced a fee waver for all IE attending TPAC. There was
> some confusion as to whether the scholarship and IE fee waver were the
> same thing (they're not), and it would be good to avoid that confusion
> next time.
>
> 4. When should the scholarship be announced and/or opened for applications?
>
> 5. Who should be on the committee that awards the scholarships?
>
> It was handled by W3M this year because the donors felt it was the best
> approach at the time. It may be that this is still the best approach, or
> it may be that this CG could be involved in some way.
>
> Putting this out for initial discussion and thoughts.
>
>
> Léonie.
>
> --
> @LeonieWatson @tink@toot.cafe Carpe diem
>
>