Re: Diversity scholarship: Identifying under-represented groups

No strong opinions on the approach, but a few editorial comments.

On 1/2/2019 5:03 PM, Charles 'chaals' (McCathie) Nevile wrote:
> Sorry for the delayed reply. I think we get some value from implying
> people should explain why they are a valid recipient, but I know
> (from specific anecdote) that pre-identifying groups we thought were
> valid recipients caused eventual recipients to question their 
> eligibility when applying.
>
> So I like the motivation for the proposal.
>
> Reading through some of the material Deborah offered, I wonder if 
> there is an approach we can take that tries to split the difference, 
> something along the lines of the following (but better worded - I can 
> see issues already here...):
>
> [[[
> 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

I'm not sure what an under-represented individual perspective is.  That 
seems to be something that could equally apply to someone who is not at 
all from any under-represented group.


> 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,

I would leave out the above fragment.


> 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.

This appears to leave out Americans and Europeans who are from 
under-represented minorities.  I don't feel great about that.


>
> 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
>>>
>>
>
>

Received on Thursday, 3 January 2019 00:45:46 UTC