- From: Léonie Watson <lw@tetralogical.com>
- Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2019 20:01:33 +0000
- To: Wendy Seltzer <wseltzer@w3.org>, Melanie Richards <Melanie.Richards@microsoft.com>, "public-idcg@w3.org" <public-idcg@w3.org>
On 18/01/2019 19:03, Wendy Seltzer wrote: > 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. We would need to trust that all applicants were from under-represented groups, though self-identification doesn't protect against someone being untruthful. We're not likely to make a statistical difference to any group, given the number of people we're likely to be able to assist, so I'm not sure it matters whether we increase participation from one or many groups? When we tried specifying groups last time, we heard that some people felt excluded because their group wasn't mentioned, some people felt confused because their group wasn't mentioned and they didn't know if they could apply, and some people did not like the language that was used to describe certain groups because it was not a label typical in their part of the world. So if we want to be specific we're going to need to come up with a very complete list, that uses language that is acceptable everywhere in the world. I don't know how to do that. To take one example: the term "people of color" is known in the US, makes people uncomfortable in the UK, and confuses almost everyone because it isn't at all clear what "color" means (black, anything but white, other?). To take another example: some people feel the phrase "disabled person" is offensive because it implies the person has the disability (when it's the world that actually disables them), whilst other people think that "person with a disability" suggests that their disability is somehow a defining characteristic of who they are. > > I was also persuaded by the examples Deborah gave enumerating > under-represented groups to help people recognize the ways they might > qualify. Could you come up with some words we could use based on those suggestions perhaps? It might help to have a strawman to work with. Léonie. > > --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. >> >> > > -- Director TetraLogical
Received on Friday, 18 January 2019 20:02:01 UTC