Codes exist and codes are needed. Rules are needed. We wish they weren’t; we wish everyone could be trusted to be appropriate and respectful in shared space, but we can’t. Whether or not we used to be able to do this better as societies on the whole is a different matter, as is the possible causes or reasons for this change.
So now that we have to, we will. I reviewed a couple of good models of how to do that:
1. RightsCon
2. Digital Library Federation (from here)
What I appreciate about both of these codes of conduct are this:
Specificity – it is one thing to indicate what one should do and not do in general terms and another, more useful, thing which is to describe what those behaviours are and what they look like. It’s too easy to say, ah – I didn’t do x, when x isn’t defined for those who will perpetrate. And also difficult to say, x happened to me, when harassing or abusive behaviour is not clearly defined for the person on the receiving end of the behaviour.Common understanding of appropriate and inappropriate behaviour can help make it easier for strangers to gather and be productive together.
Calling out what is not appropriate – Sexism, racism, and other negative -isms aren’t useful when building a successful community of people and aren’t appropriate human behaviour. There can be fear in the acknowledgement of inappropriate behaviours, especially if they continue to be present at the organization level.
MmePrice 