Friendly space policy

1. Introduction

OpenRefine wants all its events, activities, platforms, and channels to be accessible, safe, and welcoming for everyone. To achieve this, the Friendly Space Policy (FSP) establishes a minimum set of guidelines for behaviour. This policy is inspired from Wikimedia Netherland’s own policy (CC BY-SA 4.0, https://nl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Friendly_Space_Policy).

2. Desirable behaviour

At OpenRefine, we are guided by the principles of friendliness, respect, courtesy, collegiality, and solidarity. Everyone is responsible for their own behaviour. This means, among other things:

  • Be friendly. Be considerate of other attendees and participants - give them a hand when they need support and stand up for them when they are treated in a way that does not meet our standards;

  • Put yourself in another person's shoes - show empathy:

    • Respect the preferences, sensitivities, traditions and needs of others, including the boundaries set by another person and the way they name and describe themselves[1];

    • Respect the right of others to hold opinions or views different from your own;

    • Respect that others have experiences different from your own.

  • Assume good faith. Give constructive feedback to others and respond favourably when others give you constructive feedback;

  • Take and accept responsibility for your own actions and their unintended consequences; apologise to those you have unintentionally hurt or harmed.

3. Unacceptable behaviour

We consider the following types of behaviour, among others, to be undesirable, both online and in person:

a. Offensive comments or behaviour, and insults;

b. Threats of any kind;

c. Obstructing constructive progress, such as continuing to return to decisions that have been made and discussion points that have been settled;

d. Doxing: disclosing private information of others without their express permission;

e. Physical violence or encouraging violence;

f. Sexually oriented language, or the sharing of sexually oriented video, audio or images when this does not directly contribute to the content of the topic being discussed;

g. Sexual harassment and unwanted sexual attention;

h. Stalking: annoying pursuit of others;

i. Trolling: deliberately disrupting conversations, presentations or other activities with the aim of escalating situations and provoking emotional reactions;

j. Taking photos, videos and audio recordings of others without permission.

OpenRefine does not condone abuse of power, privilege or influence. This applies to everyone. It applies in particular to people who are considered authoritative based on their position, experience and merit, such as board members, staff members and volunteers representing OpenRefine.

5. Enforcement

5.1 Principles

Enforcement of the Friendly Space Policy (FSP) is based on the following principles:

  1. the primary purpose of the following measures enforcing the FSP is to maintain a safe and pleasant environment, and to restore confidence and a sense of security among all parties involved after an incident.

  2. before any action is taken, the possible offender will first be addressed directly about the undesirable behaviour, with the aim of restoring a safe and pleasant environment through consultation;

  3. in case of a possible violation of the FSP, everyone - the injured party, the offender and possibly other parties involved - will be approached respectfully;

  4. when someone is allowed to participate again after a temporary exclusion, the organizers will support the offender, the injured party and possible other parties involved in order to increase mutual understanding and prevent repetition.

5.2 Reporting

Any person present on the event may report a (suspected) violation of the FSP to the organizers.

5.3 Actions

When a person fails to comply with the provisions of the FSP, the organizers may take such action(s) as it deems appropriate. This includes, but is not limited to, one or more of the following measures:

a. warnings or reprimands (both verbally and in writing);

b. exclusion of an individual from further participation in the event or activity in question.