Re: Diversity scholarship: Identifying under-represented groups

Thanks for elaborating in this direction, Léonie and Melanie. It
increases my confusion, though!

I don't think we can say that group identification won't affect the
application. Since the reason for the application is to give information
that helps us to improve representation of diverse participants,
someone's self-identification is relevant for consideration, and not
merely for statistical analysis. Someone's declining to provide it might
well mean we don't have enough information on which to grant them funding.

I was also persuaded by the examples Deborah gave enumerating
under-represented groups to help people recognize the ways they might
qualify.

--Wendy

On 1/18/19 1:46 PM, Melanie Richards wrote:
> This direction is great, thanks to Leonie and all who have worked on it!
> 
> Potentially we could bring "you will not be asked to self-identify..." up to immediately after the sentence about "what perspectives you will bring". I imagine some people might think "perspectives" means justifying which group they are part of, and may not read all the way to the bottom.
> 
> Something like this:
> 
> The purpose of the W3C diversity fund is to increase participation at TPAC, by people who could otherwise not attend.
> 
> To apply to the diversity fund you should be from a group that is under-represented in the web community, and unable to attend TPAC without financial help. When you apply, you will be asked to explain (in one or two sentences) what perspectives you will bring, and which areas you would like to contribute to during TPAC. You will not be asked to self-identify as belonging to any particular group. If you are comfortable sharing that information, you are welcome to do so, but it will not influence your application either way.
> 
> The definition of "under-represented" means different things to different people, and the language used is also different depending on where you are. For this reason we've chosen not to name specific under-represented groups in this information.
> 
> If you are thinking of applying to the diversity fund, but you are not sure whether you should, please get in touch. We will answer your questions in confidence, and offer any help you need to complete the application.
> 
> Thanks,
> Melanie
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Léonie Watson <lw@tetralogical.com> 
> Sent: Friday, January 18, 2019 10:11 AM
> To: public-idcg@w3.org
> Subject: Re: Diversity scholarship: Identifying under-represented groups
> 
> I've had another attempt at some words. Before I get to that though, I have another proposal:
> 
> We should not call it a scholarship. Typically a scholarship is a grant to facilitate someone's education, and I don't think that's entirely right in this context. I've used the word "fund" instead in my suggested description, but there are probably better words we could use.
> 
> Here's the suggested description:
> 
> The purpose of the W3C diversity fund is to increase participation at TPAC, by people who could otherwise not attend.
> 
> To apply to the diversity fund you should be from a group that is under-represented in the web community, and unable to attend TPAC without financial help. When you apply, you will be asked to explain (in one or two sentences) what perspectives you will bring, and which areas you would like to contribute to during TPAC.
> 
> The definition of "under-represented" means different things to different people, and the language used is also different depending on where you are. For this reason we've chosen not to name specific under-represented groups in this information.
> 
> When you apply, you will not be asked to self-identify as belonging to any particular group. If you are comfortable sharing that information, you are welcome to do so, but it will not influence your application either way.
> 
> If you are thinking of applying to the diversity fund, but you are not sure whether you should, please get in touch. We will answer your questions in confidence, and offer any help you need to complete the application.
> 
> 
> Léonie.
> 
> 


-- 
Wendy Seltzer -- wseltzer@w3.org +1.617.715.4883 (office)
Strategy Lead and Counsel, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
https://wendy.seltzer.org/        +1.617.863.0613 (mobile)

Received on Friday, 18 January 2019 19:03:35 UTC