Re: Diversity scholarship: Identifying under-represented groups

I like this approach very much. I'd be inclined not to ask people what meetings they intend to participate in; I think this might give some people the idea that they have to be amazing perfect stellar participants to be considered worthy, and also, might discourage newbies. But the approach of saying, "we know there are some groups who are clearly underrepresented, but we're telling you the list so you'll have a sense of why we're doing this and whether you're a good applicant" is a good one.

Deborah

> [[[
> The purpose of the scholarships are to increase diversity of perspectives 
> offered in discussion, by supporting attendance from people who otherwise 
> could not participate in the event. The selection criteria will focus on 
> bringing new or under-represented individual perspectives rather than 
> attempting to balance the presence of specific "groups" or communities.
>
> To apply, you will be asked to provide a couple of sentences explaining the 
> perspectives you bring, and the specific meetings you intend to participate 
> in.
>
> As typical for many US-headquartered technical organisations, there are many 
> under-represented communities in W3C. Communities who are obviously who are 
> under-represented include women, people from Africa, the Middle East, Central 
> and South America, Central, South and South-East Asia, refugees and people 
> providing support to refugees, and people with disabilities - especially 
> those who need support for an assistant or carer.
>
> The program is still experimental, and we encourage feedback on what works 
> well and what needs improvement to help us achieve our goals. This is welcome 
> either anonymously or as a public contribution.
> ] ] ] 
>
> cheers
>
> Chaals
>
> On Wed, 02 Jan 2019 10:24:47 +0100, Léonie Watson <tink@tink.uk> wrote:
>
>> Thanks Oana.
>> 
>> I'd like to put this proposal to a Call For Consensus (CFC), but it would 
>> be good to get a sense of other people's thoughts on this idea first.
>> 
>> Léonie.
>> 
>> 
>> On 19/12/2018 18:02, Oana Galbenu wrote:
>> > Sound good to me. And pretty elegant I would say.
>> > Best,
>> > Oana
>> >  On Wed, 19 Dec 2018, 19:50 Léonie Watson <tink@tink.uk 
>> >  <mailto:tink@tink.uk> wrote:
>> >     I was talking about this with another person recently, and they
>> >     suggested that we may not need to identify individual 
>> >     under-represented
>> >     groups, but could just make it clear that the diversity scholarship 
>> >     is
>> >     open to anyone who believes they are from an under-represented group.
>> >     It would mean that we don't have to be specific about which
>> >     under-represented groups are included (and which are not), and it
>> >     removes the risk of us excluding anyone because we accidentally left
>> >     their particular group off the list.
>> >     It would also mean that we don't need to ask people to identify which
>> >     under-represented group they belong to.
>> >     It may mean that some people try to game the system, but W3 is a 
>> >     small
>> >     enough community that I think anyone trying to do that would quickly 
>> >     be
>> >     found-out.
>> >     It may also mean that we cannot guarantee diversity within the group 
>> >     of
>> >     people selected to receive scholarships, but given the relatively 
>> >     small
>> >     number of scholarships likely to be awarded, it may be enough that
>> >     we're
>> >     helping people from any under-represented groups.
>> >      Thoughts?
>> >      Léonie.
>> >       --     @LeonieWatson tink.uk <http://tink.uk> Carpe diem
>> > 
>> 
>
>
>

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