I think that we'll find that there will be some recurring common themes
whatever under-represented group we want to attract.
I think the hardest thing will be knowing what questions to ask that
people will want to answer. People may not want to answer things
(anonymous or not) that they think invades their personal space.
There is a lot of information that we'd like to capture and maybe it
might be good to start with only 2 or 3 areas e.g gender, ethnicity (and
that's going to be fun to define!) and maybe age or perhaps profession.
These may not appear too invasive and it's something people generally
complete on applications and forms anyway. It would give us some
concrete information.
I think gathering responses and statistics within the ASF itself could
range from easy to difficult depending on what level we want to capture
it at and the willingness of people to participate. So possibly starting
with the easier area and using the lessons learned to help with the
harder areas could work as an approach.
If we are really going to look at a putting together some kind of
survey, then I'd suggest we keep it very short and simple.
Does anyone know if the ASF has access to any survey tools or applications?
Thanks
Sharan
On 22/05/16 23:49, Daniel Gruno wrote:
On 05/22/2016 11:35 PM, Ross Gardler wrote:
Here's a really good suggestion from one of our other lists...
"I wish we could hear from all the women who haven't come to Apache"
(pardon the waffling below...)
I am left wondering....could we perhaps extend this a bit?
We know there's definitely an issue of women being proportionately
underrepresented in most FLOSS communities - what about other groups
that may be in the same boat, but doesn't have the same visibility here?
Would it make sense to broaden our search a bit and see if we can figure
out if there are other areas that are just as bad (or maybe even worse off)?
There is plenty of data surrounding how the world is made up of
different groups of people, whether it be gender, color, orientations,
faith, mental state etc, but none that I could immediately find on FLOSS
communities - and I can't help wondering if there are other groups just
as underrepresented out there (I could think of a few that might be, but
I have no data whatsoever to support my claims!).
I'm not saying we should start 100 different outreach programs or try to
be the perfect fit for everyone from day one...but it sure would be
interesting to see which groups we actually feel welcoming to, and which
we miss by a mile.
Does any such data on FLOSS communities in general already exist?
I know this may irk some people slightly, trying to open up that big bag
of profiles, but we won't really know if we are inadvertently hostile or
unwelcoming to certain parts of the world's population until we start
asking some questions.
Maybe some sort of survey on the matter? I would naturally prefer a
completely anonymous survey if we chose that route.
With regards,
Daniel.
I'm not crediting because it came from an internal list, but I am repeating it
as I agree with this excellent suggestion. If there are people in this group
here please feel free to reach out onlist or, if you feel you want to say
things better said privately, try Sharan who started the thread (or anyone else
you feel comfortable mailing with your thoughts).
Ross
-----Original Message-----
From: Ross Gardler
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2016 8:39 AM
To: dev@community.apache.org
Subject: RE: Encouraging More Women to Participate on Apache Projects?
We do not have current strategies. We've tried many things in the past but
they've never really succeeded. I'll not speculate on why, it's a complex issue.
What I will say (with my Presidents hat firmly on), is that if folks come up
with a strategy that is in line with our charitable mission then please don't
hesitate to ask for any support you need.
Ross
-----Original Message-----
From: Sharan Foga [mailto:sharan.f...@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2016 8:18 AM
To: dev@community.apache.org
Subject: Encouraging More Women to Participate on Apache Projects?
Hi All
I'm interested in finding out how we could encourage more women to
participate on Apache projects. It's a discussion topic that came up
last week while I was at Apachecon. My understanding is that we don't
have any current strategies in place so I think it could be good to
look at gathering some ideas about how to tackle the problem and also
hear about any lessons learned from any previous or similar strategies.
What do people think?
Thanks
Sharan
