Re: IDCG ideas for consideration for building an action plan

On 11/06/2020 07:17, Judy Brewer wrote:
> Leonie, thanks for pulling together a meeting of the Inclusion and
> Diversity Community Group.

Thanks again for your suggestions Judy.

[...]

> community. Here are some possible ideas to brainstorm on, mostly phrased
> as questions. I'd welcome discussion on these on the IDCG list, in
> meetings, and in any other W3C fora, and also an expansion of an ideas
> list that might provide us good options to turn into an action plan.
> Some of these repeat a few things already mentioned on the list, and I
> also haven't captured them all.
> 
> 1. _*Principles and practices*_: W3C has the TAG's *Ethical Web
> Principles* [1]; does anything in that that need updating to better
> capture current issues? W3C also has a proposed new version of the *Code
> of Ethics and Professional Conduct* (CEPC) [2] currently under Advisory
> Committee review, which goes into more detail on racism than the
> previous version.
> 
> 2. _*Learning*_: There are many reading lists which have useful
> resources for learning about racism. It can also be useful to look
> specifically at the intersection of racism and technology, such as this
> list from Venture Beat [3]. Are there other reading lists on racism and
> technology that we could pull together, and perhaps curate a list that
> could serve as a resource for the web community?

This sounds like a really useful and achievable idea.

> 
> 3. _*Discussion*_: We can let W3C colleagues know about discussions
> within the Inclusion and Diversity Community Group  [4], and also
> encourage discussions in other W3C settings. For instance, do we want to
> promote this as a discussion topic for our upcoming TPAC? Other events?
> 
> 4. _*Participation*_: W3C doesn't do a lot of hiring, but occasionally
> does, and many of our member organizations do. Do hiring managers know
> where to reach out to to increase the diversity of candidate pools, and
> could that information be shared?


A lack of diversity within member organisations has been given as a
reason why nominating a more diverse set of people to participate at W3C
is hard. I like the idea that we could offer some guidance to help
address that particular argument.

> 
> 5. _*Outreach*_: What conferences and events do we all show up to, and
> with what messages? Early on a few women in standards organizations
> started showing up to conferences such as the Grace Hopper Conference on
> Women and Computing, and talking to women engineers about what's so
> compelling about working in standards organizations. They had not heard
> of these opportunities from their managers or colleagues, and it took
> some spreading the word. Maybe finding different venues and talking
> about participation in standards organizations would be relevant around
> race as well.
> 
> 6. _*Work areas*_: Are there any particular topics or issues that we're
> missing work on, such as AI bias around race? And looking at
> intersectional issues may be useful as well -- for instance, the
> intersection of racial and cultural issues with disability can doubly
> disenfranchise people from the training and mentoring opportunities that
> help bring people into the field. Are there intersections between race
> and other areas of W3C work that we could explore?
> 
> 7. _*Individuals*_, _*organizations and communities*_: People have
> already raised ideas around diversity scholarships, and/or equipment
> support, for individuals. Could we broaden this approach to encouraging
> the web community to look for coaching, mentoring, partnering and
> support opportunities with local community organizations that could help
> feed a pipeline of engagement?
> 
> 8. _*International context*_: Anti-black racism is an issue in many
> countries especially at this moment, and needs focused attention. But we
> should probably also continue to work on how this fits within braoder
> diversity issues that that W3C has worked on worldwide.

Good point. Recognising that racism is not only anti-black, but that it
affects many other groups around the world, plus diversity in its many
other forms - disability, gender identity and so on.

Judy, are there activities the W3C has already engaged in that you're
thinking of in particular?


> 
> 9. *_Action Plan?_* Some of these ideas may not be a good fit for W3C,
> and a lot of other good ideas may be missing. If we think ahead a year,
> what kind of progress would we want to be able report, and what among
> these possibilities -- or other possibilities -- might help get us
> there? Anyone interested in starting to build an action plan from these
> or similar ideas?
> 
> - Judy
> 
> _*Refs*_
> 
>  1. W3C TAG Ethical Web Principles:
>     https://www.w3.org/2001/tag/doc/ethical-web-principles-20191204
>  2. Proposed new version of Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct:
>     https://www.w3.org/2020/05/CEPC
>  3. Some essential reading and research on race and technology:
>     https://venturebeat.com/2020/06/02/some-essential-reading-and-research-on-race-and-technology/
>  4. Inclusion and Diversity Community Group (IDCG):
>     https://www.w3.org/community/idcg <https://www.w3.org/community/idcg/>
> 
> 
> -- 
> Judy Brewer
> Director, Web Accessibility Initiative
> at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
> 105 Broadway, Room 7-128, MIT/CSAIL
> Cambridge MA 02142 USA
> www.w3.org/WAI/
> 

-- 
Director @TetraLogical

Received on Thursday, 11 June 2020 14:36:42 UTC