Open Stack

I like this approach. We could add a free text field for them to enter add'l comments too.

-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Hellmann [mailto:doug at doughellmann.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2015 7:51 AM
To: foundation
Subject: Re: [OpenStack Foundation] [Diversity] re: Diversity Workgroup APAC 2015-08-27

Excerpts from Eoghan Glynn's message of 2015-09-02 10:39:42 -0400:
> 
> > > I've added all the categories identified in the 3 phases that were 
> > > previously agreed, and altered the questions somewhat. There are 
> > > now 10 questions. I'm not keen to try to add any supplementary questions.
> > >
> > > Where I think we need to move beyond binary or simple data 
> > > (country, age), I have stayed with free text entry.
> > >
> > > I haven't yet written any introductory blurb about privacy 
> > > protection, the optional nature of the survey all the questions.
> > >
> > > Similarly, I haven't yet addressed any issues around how the 
> > > survey should be targeted. I'm leaning towards a surveying a 
> > > subset of the population, and trying to provide an incentive to 
> > > participate (don't ask, haven't got one yet), so as to reduce 
> > > self-selection bias. Anyone with professional knowledge in this area please speak up.
> > >
> > > I'm unlikely to make the next meeting, so I'm afraid I can only 
> > > discuss via email. We're running a little behind the original 
> > > schedule, but I hope to be able to engage the Foundation to 
> > > commence the process of executing the survey by the end of next week.
> > >
> > 
> > One area I always wonder about is English as a second language, does 
> > it hamper efforts to get engaged in the community? I suspect so and 
> > would like to find solutions for further inclusion.
> > 
> > Can that be added if the goal of the survey is to identify areas 
> > where underrepresented people may be struggling?
> 
> It's an interesting question, but may be somewhat problematic to 
> include in a survey.
> 
> For one thing, there are many in the community (who I've worked with) 
> who would fall into that category of English-as-a-second-language but 
> would also have excellent proficiency in the language.
> 
> So simply measuring the number of non-native-speakers doesn't 
> necessarily tell us much in terms of hampered participation.
> 
> Also, it seems to cross the line between counting those with some 
> innate characteristic (gender, orientation, race etc.) into counting 
> those with an (assumed) lack of mastery of a skill needed to thrive in the community.
> 
> Their proficiency can and will improve over time with sustained use. 
> Also the community can make allowances and level the playing field 
> somewhat by say promoting co-presenters for design sessions or 
> mandating the use of IRC as opposed to voice comms, but I would 
> suspect that some bar in terms of baseline English fluency will remain long-term.
> 
> Cheers,
> Eoghan

Good points, Eoghan. Why not phrase the question directly?  Something like "Does the fact that the OpenStack community communicates primarily in English make it harder for you to participate?"

Doug


> 
> > Also, just to comment on the survey sampling, we got less than 30 
> > responses to our Women of OpenStack survey, so keep it in mind that 
> > we may not get meaningful data that you can act upon. We may need to 
> > dig into the Foundation data and enhance those profiles instead, if 
> > the goal is "find ways to reach underrepresented groups."
> > Thanks,
> > Anne
> > 
> > 
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > >
> > > Roland
> > >
> > >
> > > On Wed, 2 Sep 2015 at 11:42 Johnston, Tamara 
> > > <Tamara.Johnston at emc.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >> The Diversity WG is actively working on many things, including 
> > >> moving forward with our Data Diversity Plan that includes 
> > >> analyzing what, where and how we’re currently collecting this 
> > >> information, determining where to store this information, 
> > >> defining how to enable the core team to analyze and report on 
> > >> this data, so on and so forth.
> > >>
> > >> I support the stance the Foundation has taken in the past, which 
> > >> was to provide an open text field (and/or option to select 
> > >> “prefer not to say”) that enables a community member to, if they 
> > >> so choose, share their identity.  While we’re trying to better 
> > >> understand the makeup of our community we cannot limit the 
> > >> options they can choose from or ask what will likely be perceived 
> > >> as personal questions (do you identify as a gender minority).  We 
> > >> can either choose to use an open text field / prefer not to say 
> > >> approach or take the hybrid approach that Facebook has taken 
> > >> where they list 50+ identities but still have an open text field.  
> > >> I suggest we stick with what the Foundation has been doing, as 
> > >> this will enable our community members to decide if they want to 
> > >> share their sexual identity and they’re not boxed into choosing 
> > >> X, Y, or Z.
> > >>
> > >> Regards,
> > >>
> > >> *Tamara Johnston*  |  Cloud Portfolio  |  EMC Global Services  |  
> > >> (C)
> > >> 1-510-398-9114  |  (E) tamara.johnston at emc.com
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> From: Roland Chan <roland at aptira.com>
> > >> Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2015 at 5:15 PM
> > >> To: Stefano Maffulli <stefano at openstack.org>, "
> > >> foundation at lists.openstack.org" <foundation at lists.openstack.org>
> > >>
> > >> Subject: Re: [OpenStack Foundation] [Diversity] re: Diversity 
> > >> Workgroup APAC 2015-08-27
> > >>
> > >> The existing data is being handled by another sub-team on the 
> > >> Diversity WG. I'm certainly keen to see it, but getting it isn't my focus.
> > >>
> > >> Regarding the opt-out capability, my intent is that every 
> > >> question is optional. The survey itself will require a one page 
> > >> intro where we address this and other privacy related issues.
> > >>
> > >> Roland
> > >>
> > >> On Wed, 2 Sep 2015 at 02:39 Stefano Maffulli 
> > >> <stefano at openstack.org>
> > >> wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> On 09/01/2015 08:53 AM, Amy Marrich wrote:
> > >>> > I had sent this to a smaller section of the group but it deals 
> > >>> > with how the University of California asks the gender question 
> > >>> > and also includes sexual orientation.
> > >>> >
> > >>> >
> > >>> http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/07/28/university-california-offer
> > >>> s-six-choices-for-gender-identity/
> > >>> >
> > >>> > We may be able to get a hold of their survey as a possible guideline.
> > >>>
> > >>> At the beginning of 2014[1], the OpenStack Foundations started 
> > >>> asking its members to specify their gender. The intention was to 
> > >>> start measuring that aspect of diversity in order to improve it. 
> > >>> Since the gender issue is extremely new to society, there are 
> > >>> lots of acronyms and constant fluxes of differences among the 
> > >>> non-binary genders. We decided, after long debate and research, 
> > >>> to use an open text form to specify gender because that's the 
> > >>> most flexible one. Any other system we found, including the one 
> > >>> from UC above, had criticism because the debate even among scholars is not set.
> > >>>
> > >>> You may have noticed that the form to subscribe to the Summit 
> > >>> for example asks gender offering 4 options:
> > >>>
> > >>> - male
> > >>> - female
> > >>> - let me tell you
> > >>>    > open form
> > >>>
> > >>> (I noticed now it's missing the very valuable 4th option "prefer 
> > >>> not to say", which I think may be useful to have even if the 
> > >>> response is itself
> > >>> optional)
> > >>>
> > >>> Has anybody looked at the historic data about gender from the 
> > >>> members database?
> > >>>
> > >>> /stef
> > >>>
> > >>> [1] A summary of that conversation is on my blog
> > >>>
> > >>> http://maffulli.net/2014/02/05/tracking-gender-diversity-in-the-
> > >>> openstack-developer-community/
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> _______________________________________________
> > >>> Foundation mailing list
> > >>> Foundation at lists.openstack.org
> > >>> http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/foundation
> > >>>
> > >>
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Foundation mailing list
> > > Foundation at lists.openstack.org
> > > http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/foundation
> > >
> > >
> > 
> > 
> > --
> > Anne Gentle
> > Rackspace
> > Principal Engineer
> > www.justwriteclick.com
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Foundation mailing list
> > Foundation at lists.openstack.org
> > http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/foundation
> > 
> 

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