Re: + minutes of 2020-09-15 meeting - Re: Sharing the BLM statement feedback with the AC

On 9/15/2020 4:04 PM, Tobie Langel wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 15, 2020 at 20:53 Annette Greiner <amgreiner@lbl.gov 
> <mailto:amgreiner@lbl.gov>> wrote:
>
>     It occurred to me today that we should consider more impactful
>
>     ways to incentivize participation by black technologists. For
>
>     example, what if we offered free membership for any organization
>
>     that has a rep who is black?
>
> More diversity within the AC is great. Just as important would is more 
> diversity within the WGs themselves.
>
> I find it particularly disturbing that large companies sending large 
> numbers of technologist to multiple working groups aren’t doing even a 
> small effort to improve the diversity of their own cohorts.
>
> Could we consider making W3C members sign (on a voluntary basis) a 
> pledge with concrete steps to improve this situation, communicate 
> about it, and then hold them accountable?

I'm not sure how to do it, but Kim's point: "if you don't have the power 
... push it to the people with power" resonated with me.

The power to name a more diverse set of participants lies mostly with 
the Members.  I would like us as a CG to have a Call to Action to 
Members to get involved.  Right now IDCG folks are participating as 
individuals.  It would be good to have Members working with us to come 
up with a common platform of commitments we can all make.

Tobie's suggestion is certainly one good option.

Wendy, perhaps in your AC presentation, you can raise the issue of how 
we make common cause.  If you don't mind, I would like to include that 
in my CEO Overview as well.

W3C Team can also help with participation, e.g. more freely approving a 
diverse set of Invited Experts.

>
> —tobie
>
>