Re: Diversity fund selection criteria

Here are the possible directions we could go:

1. First come, first served, as long as the person is from a group that is underrepresented both in the W3C and in global power structures.

2. First come, first served, as long as the person is from a group that is underrepresented in global power structures whether or not that person is from a group underrepresented in the W3C.

3. Do an analysis of the diversity of the WGs represented by the applicants, and rank people according to the diversity of that particular WG and its needs. (There are ways in which this would be best, but it would also be incredibly fraught; we would be outsiders trying to rank the diversity of the WGs and we would inevitably get a lot wrong, because we are not asking people in the WGs to self-identify.)

4. Prioritize relatively recent WG participants, as well as established participants who have not attended any in-person events.

5. Prioritize based on prior work done by the applicants. (This is the one thing I don't want to do, because this will specifically reward those people who are least likely to need it: established professionals, whose work is known and rewarded in the field, who are likely to be able to find alternate sources of funding.)

6. Rank amongst ourselves which underrepresented groups are most underrepresented in the W3C, and prioritize that way. (This is also of course ridiculously fraught and would probably blow up in our faces.)

There might be other ideas. Out of the ones I have suggested I personally like 4, followed by 1 or 2. We need to come up with a balance between what needs we are trying to meet, what is practical, and what is minimally likely to cause a huge political backlash.

Deborah

On Tue, 22 Jan 2019, Léonie Watson wrote:

> Everyone,
>
> The conversation about how we frame the diversity fund is closely linked to 
> the selection criteria we'll use to choose the successful candidates.
>
> I admit I'm at something of a loss as to where to start with this one. Beyond 
> being from an under-represented group (whether we ask people to self-identify 
> which one or not), I'm not sure what criteria we should use.
>
> Hoping some of you have ideas...
>
> Léonie.
>
>
>
>

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