Code of Conduct

Digital Humanities Collaborative of North Carolina
Code of Conduct, Anti-Harassment Policy, and Policy for Reporting Violations

The following code of conduct is adapted from the Django Community, was originated by the Speak Up! Project, and inspired by the ACH 2019 conference code of conduct. This code is proposed as a guide for all Executive Board and member activities including for North Carolina Digital Humanities Institutes.

Like the digital humanities community as a whole, the Digital Humanities Collaborative of North Carolina (DHC-NC) is made up of a mixture of professionals, students, and volunteers from all over the world, working on every aspect of the mission – including mentorship, teaching, and connecting people.

Diversity is one of our huge strengths, but it can also lead to communication issues. To that end, we have a few ground rules that we ask people to adhere to. This code applies equally to founders, mentors and those seeking help and guidance.

This isn’t an exhaustive list of things that you can’t do. Rather, take it in the spirit in which it’s intended — a guide to make it easier to enrich all of us and the digital humanities community in which we participate.

This code of conduct applies to all spaces managed by the Digital Humanities Collaborative of North Carolina. This includes the mailing lists, the website, Digital Humanities Collaborative of North Carolina events (including Institutes), and any other forums the community uses for communication. In addition, violations of this code outside these spaces may affect a person’s ability to participate within them.

If you believe someone is violating the code of conduct, we ask that you report it by emailing dhcollab@gmail.com. For more details please see our Reporting Guidelines.

Be friendly and patient.
Be welcoming. We strive to be a community that welcomes and supports people of all backgrounds and identities. This includes, but is not limited to members of any race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, color, immigration status, social and economic class, educational level, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, size, family status, political belief, religion, and mental and physical ability.
Be considerate. Your work will be used by other people, and you in turn will depend on the work of others. Any decision you take will affect colleagues, and you should take those consequences into account when making decisions. Remember that we’re a diverse community, so you might not be communicating in someone else’s primary language.
Be respectful. Not all of us will agree all the time, but disagreement is no excuse for poor behavior and poor manners. We might all experience some frustration now and then, but we cannot allow that frustration to turn into a personal attack. It’s important to remember that a community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one. Members of the Digital Humanities Collaborative of North Carolina should be respectful when dealing with other members as well as with people outside the DHC-NC community.
Be careful in the words that you choose. We are a community of professionals, and we conduct ourselves professionally. Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other participants. Harassment and other exclusionary behavior aren’t acceptable. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Violent threats or language directed against another person.
- Discriminatory jokes and language.
- Posting sexually explicit or violent material.
- Posting (or threatening to post) other people’s personally identifying information (“doxing”).
- Personal insults, especially those using racist or sexist terms.
- Unwelcome sexual attention.
- Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior.
- Repeated harassment of others. In general, if someone asks you to stop, then stop.
When we disagree, try to understand why. Disagreements, both social and technical, happen all the time and the DHC-NC is no exception. It is important that we resolve disagreements and differing views constructively. Remember that we’re different. The strength of the DHC-NC comes from its varied community, people from a wide range of backgrounds. Different people have different perspectives on issues. Being unable to understand why someone holds a viewpoint doesn’t mean that they’re wrong. Don’t forget that it is human to err and blaming each other doesn’t get us anywhere. Instead, focus on helping to resolve issues and learning from mistakes.

Anti-Harassment Policy

This anti-harassment policy is based on the example policy from the Geek Feminism wiki, created by the Geek Feminism community. This policy is proposed as a guide for all Executive Board and member activities, and a related policy is proposed (and may become required) for North Carolina Digital Humanities Institutes.

The Digital Humanities Collaborative of North Carolina is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone. We do not tolerate harassment of participants in any form.

This code of conduct applies to all Digital Humanities Collaborative of North Carolina spaces, including the public mailing list, website, Twitter account, Executive Board and Behind-the-Scenes Team channels of communication, both online and off. Anyone who violates this code of conduct may be sanctioned or expelled from these spaces at the discretion of the DHC-NC Officers.

Some Digital Humanities Collaborative of North Carolina spaces may have additional rules in place, which will be made clearly available to participants. Participants are responsible for knowing and abiding by these rules.

Harassment includes:

Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, age, race, or religion.
Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment.
Deliberate misgendering or use of ‘dead’ or rejected names.
Gratuitous or off-topic sexual images or behaviour in spaces where they’re not appropriate.
Physical contact and simulated physical contact (eg, textual descriptions like “*hug*” or “*backrub*”) without consent or after a request to stop.
Threats of violence.
Incitement of violence towards any individual, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm.
Deliberate intimidation.
Stalking or following.
Harassing photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes.
Sustained disruption of discussion.
Unwelcome sexual attention.
Pattern of inappropriate social contact, such as requesting/assuming inappropriate levels of intimacy with others
Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease.
Deliberate “outing” of any aspect of a person’s identity without their consent except as necessary to protect vulnerable people from intentional abuse.
Publication of private communication.

The Digital Humanities Collaborative of North Carolina prioritizes marginalized people’s safety over privileged people’s comfort. The DHC-NC Officers reserves the right not to act on complaints regarding:

‘Reverse’ -isms, including ‘reverse racism,’ ‘reverse sexism,’ and ‘cisphobia’
Reasonable communication of boundaries, such as “leave me alone,” “go away,” or “I’m not discussing this with you.”
Communicating in a ‘tone’ you don’t find congenial
Criticizing racist, sexist, cissexist, or otherwise oppressive behavior or assumptions

Reporting Code of Conduct and/or Anti-Harassment Policy Violations

If you believe someone is violating the code of conduct we ask that you report it to the DHC-NC Officers by emailing dhcollab@gmail.com. All reports will be kept confidential. In some cases we may determine that a public statement will need to be made. If that’s the case, the identities of victims and reporters will remain confidential unless those individuals instruct us otherwise.

If you believe anyone is in physical danger, please notify appropriate law enforcement first. If you are unsure what law enforcement agency is appropriate, please include this in your report and we will attempt to notify them.

If you are unsure whether the incident is a violation, or whether the space where it happened is covered by this Code of Conduct, we encourage you to still report it. We would much rather have a few extra reports where we decide to take no action, rather than miss a report of an actual violation. We do not look negatively on you if we find the incident is not a violation. And knowing about incidents that are not violations, or happen outside our spaces, can also help us to improve the Code of Conduct or the processes surrounding it.

In your report please include:

Your contact info (so we can get in touch with you if we need to follow up)
Names (real, nicknames, or pseudonyms) of any individuals involved. If there were other witnesses besides you, please try to include them as well. If possible, obtain a witness’ permission before naming them in the report.
When and where the incident occurred. Please be as specific as possible.
Your account of what occurred. If there is a publicly available record (e.g. a mailing list, blog post, Google Doc, or other form of communication) please include a link.
Any extra context you believe existed for the incident.
If you believe this incident is ongoing.
Any other information you believe we should have.

What happens after you file a report?

You will receive an email from the DHC-NC Officers acknowledging receipt immediately. We promise to acknowledge receipt within 24 hours (and will aim for much quicker than that).

The DHC-NC Officers will immediately meet to review the incident and determine:

What happened.
Whether this event constitutes a code of conduct violation.
Who the bad actor was.
Whether this is an ongoing situation, or if there is a threat to anyone’s physical safety.

If this is determined to be an ongoing incident or a threat to physical safety, the DHC-NC Officers’ immediate priority will be to protect everyone involved. This means we may delay an “official” response until we believe that the situation has ended and that everyone is physically safe.

Once the DHC-NC Officers has a complete account of the events they will make a decision as to how to respond. Responses may include:

Nothing (if we determine no violation occurred).
A private reprimand from the DHC-NC Officers to the individual(s) involved.
A public reprimand.
An imposed vacation (i.e. asking someone to “take a week off” from a mailing list or event attendance).
A permanent or temporary ban from some or all DHC-NC spaces (mailing lists, events, etc.)
A request for a public or private apology.

We’ll respond within one week to the person who filed the report with either a resolution or an explanation of why the situation is not yet resolved.

Once we’ve determined our final action, we’ll contact the original reporter to let them know what action (if any) we’ll be taking. We’ll take into account feedback from the reporter on the appropriateness of our response, but we don’t guarantee we’ll act on it.

Finally, the DHC-NC Officers will make a report on the situation to the DHC-NC Executive Board. The board may choose to recommend a public report of the incident.

What if your report concerns a possible violation by an executive board member?

If your report concerns a current DHC-NC Officer (President, Past President, President Elect, Secretary, or other appointed position), you may not feel comfortable sending your report to the Officers, as all officers will see the report.

In that case, you can make a report directly to any or all of the current Executive Board representatives. Their email addresses are listed on the DHC-NC Executive Board page. The representatives will follow the usual enforcement process with the other members, but will exclude the member(s) that the report concerns from any discussion or decision making.

If your report concerns all current members of the Executive Board, please send your report directly to the DHC-NC President instead.

Reconsideration

Any of the parties directly involved or affected can request reconsideration of the committee’s decision. To make such a request, contact the DHC-NC Executive Board with your request and motivation and the board will review the case.