Community Working Group Statement Regarding DrupalCamp Munich 2016

A copy of this statement is also available at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yqRznyqS1HrgQd1STh1c_a-8Hz5O43bkT4B0...

What Happened

On December 1, 2016, the Drupal Community Working Group (CWG) heard concerns from several attendees and prospective attendees of DrupalCamp Munich, a volunteer-run community event, as well as others in the Drupal community.

People were concerned about tweets suggesting the German edition of a magazine well-known for its sexualized images of women was to be included in the event’s welcome bags. Others were concerned about how few women were speaking at the event. Some also expressed concern about the way some individuals associated with the event responded on social media once those issues were raised.

The CWG does not usually involve itself directly in local camp issues unless asked to do so, but in this case, the CWG’s email address was listed as the point of contact for code of conduct issues on the Munich site, and several community members contacted us directly instead of the camp’s organizers. In general, we recommend camps designate individuals on-site to address code of conduct issues. The CWG is available as a point of escalation if additional advice is needed, and can point organizers to helpful resources on how to respond when incidents occur.

While we immediately reached out to the camp organizers via email asking for more context around this issue, we did not receive a reply. Over the next day the issue began to receive attention on social media, both from people in the Drupal community and beyond. At least one speaker publicly announced they were withdrawing from the event.

After a second e-mail inquiry on December 2 also went unanswered, we began working with a German-speaking member of the Drupal community who had reached out to us offering assistance. Later that day, the camp announced via its Twitter account that it would not include the magazine in its welcome bag. A few hours later they posted a statement in both English and German apologizing for “a decision made in poor taste”.

As promised in its statement, the camp also addressed the issue in its plenary session and held a Birds of a Feather (BoF) session on how to improve diversity at future events. Several speakers and attendees of the camp, including Jeffrey A. "jam" McGuire and Josef Dabernig have also posted their perspectives on the situation. To date, the CWG still has not received any direct response from the organizers of DrupalCamp Munich regarding the situation.

Several community members have asked the CWG if we were planning to make a statement about this issue. While the CWG is dedicated to protecting the privacy of people who report issues to us, we do reserve the right to make public statements about issues that are reported to us when necessary. We do not claim to speak for the entire Drupal community; however, we felt that a statement was warranted in this case given how much publicity the situation received, both within our community and beyond. Following discussion at our regular weekly meeting on December 6, we began drafting this statement, after we were satisfied the immediate situation had been addressed.

Creating a Welcoming Environment

One of the shared values of the Drupal community is that we treat one another with respect because we believe that everyone can make a valuable contribution to Drupal. The code of conduct adopted by many Drupal events, including DrupalCamp Munich, further elaborates that “our goal is to ensure that all participants can freely and openly share ideas in a friendly, safe, and welcoming environment that encourages and inspires mutual respect and collaboration.”

The publisher of the magazine in question also produces many other magazines on different topics for a wide variety of audiences, and not only helped provide support for the event, but has also made other significant and welcome contributions to our community. The publisher also provided other technically-oriented titles to the camp, and these were distributed to attendees in the welcome bag.

The issue in this case is not about magazines that depict nude and/or sexualized images. The issue is whether distributing those magazines at a Drupal community event is appropriate, and what messages distributing these kinds of magazines would communicate to attendees and others not just about this event, but the Drupal community in general.

We understand and appreciate that different areas of the world have different cultural norms. However, in this case the CWG heard from several German natives, including one who told us that “attending a conference where handing out [this magazine] is setting the tone, I would feel extremely alienated.” While the American version of the magazine ceased publishing nude images over a year ago, the German edition continues to do so.

Regardless of whether the magazines had depicted male and/or female nudity, however, the point is that sexually charged material simply isn’t appropriate in a welcome bag for a general audience event that many will be attending in a professional context.

We believe it is important for camp organizers to keep in mind their event may be many attendees’ first introduction to the Drupal community. Regardless of where in the world they are held, Drupal camps should be friendly, safe events that represent the values of the community-at-large.

Diversity

Several people raised concerns publicly and privately that 46 of the camp’s 47 speakers were men. In response, the camp’s official Twitter account had said that while they had actively tried to get more female speakers, they had not received enough session proposals from women. They also acknowledged that they had not tried to recruit any women to keynote the event, and suggested that “the speaker problem would settle” if we all found a way to “enthuse more women” to join the Drupal community.

In combination with the attention the event was receiving over the magazine issue, the dearth of female speakers at the camp highlighted larger issues with diversity and inclusion in technical and open source communities. It is well-documented that women and some minorities are underrepresented in technology fields in general and open source in particular. It is also well-documented that underrepresented people are leaving the industry as a result of exclusion, harassment, and other forms of abuse they have experienced.

As people who have organized Drupal camps and other events ourselves, we understand and very much appreciate the time and energy the organizers of DrupalCamp Munich put into making their event a success. We know how much work is involved in selecting sessions for the program. We know how much of challenge it is to recruit diverse speakers to present at an an unpaid community-run event. No one is perfect. We do not expect every event to achieve perfect representation.

However, we do think it is important for Drupal events to strive to showcase a diverse range of voices in their session programs. Speakers not only provide different perspectives that might not otherwise be heard, but can also help attract a more diverse audience to attend the event. There is a plethora of research showing that diversity makes teams smarter, more innovative, and more successful than they would be otherwise. As places that help on-board many new community members, camps are uniquely positioned to help encourage innovation in the Drupal project by supporting diversity. This is not just about including more women, but also people of color and others with backgrounds and perspectives often underrepresented in our community.

We encourage Drupal camp organizers to use existing knowledge and resources in our community. The CWG is happy to provide support for camps who need advice on how to improve outreach. The Drupal Diversity group has put together a list of resources and is also in the process of developing a packet for camp organizers. The organizers of MidCamp in Chicago presented a session at DrupalCon Dublin about the steps they’ve taken to help make sure their event is as welcoming as possible, and the Drupal Association is taking steps to increase diversity at DrupalCon Baltimore and beyond.

Conclusion

The code of conduct adopted by DrupalCamp Munich encourages people to “take responsibility for their words and actions and listen to constructively-presented criticism with an open mind, courtesy, and respect.”

The CWG does not believe the organizers or sponsors of DrupalCamp Munich intended to create an unwelcoming environment for its attendees. Regardless of intent, however, the camp’s decision to include this magazine in their welcome packet, and their failure to recruit diverse speakers had a very real and negative impact both on their attendees and the community-at-large.

Once that impact became clear, the camp reversed its decision to include the magazine in its welcome bags and reached out to its attendees to better understand why it was a mistake and what they could do to ensure that their event was more inclusive and diverse.

While acknowledging there is much work still to do, the CWG is encouraged by these actions. We are proud of the leadership and commitment shown by the Drupal community-at-large in raising awareness of issues relating to inclusivity and diversity. Our hope and belief is that striving to create safe and welcoming environments benefits everyone.

We have opened an issue in our issue queue to invite feedback and suggestions on this topic, and we also welcome any comments emailed to us privately at drupal-cwg@drupal.org.