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Code of Conduct for DCC Events

Introduction

Version 1.1, Last updated: 11 January 2024

The Digital Curation Centre (DCC) is a not-for-profit organisation focused on the advancement of knowledge and scholarship. As such we work hard to create a welcoming and open atmosphere at all our events and in our collaborations. We wish to clearly signal that we value the participation of every attendee and collaborator at our events and want everyone to have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience.

To this end, and to further manifest our commitment to inclusion, equality, and diversity, we have defined this Code of Conduct to clearly signal our expectations regarding conduct at DCC (to include DMPonline) events, whether held virtually or in person. The DCC intends this Code of Conduct to be clear and explicit about what we consider to be inappropriate behaviours and what consequences will arise should these take place.

Code of Conduct

Everyone taking part in DCC or DMPonline event - whether in person or online - is expected to show respect and courtesy to others throughout their participation. In addition, we ask all attendees to adhere to the following standards regarding:

Communication

All communication should be appropriate to a professional audience consisting of people from diverse backgrounds.

Harassment will not be tolerated, this includes but is not limited to, offensive verbal or written comments related to any of the following: gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, colour, race, ethnicity, religion, or other attributes. This also includes sustained disruption of talks, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.

We recognise that disagreements may arise, but these should never result in personal attacks that may/could insult, demean or belittle others. All discussions and debates should be conducted respectfully and professionally with a focus on issues, not persons.

Presentation of appropriate content at DCC events

Event participants should:

  • Respect copyright of other persons or entities in any content they present, publish or post.
  • Refrain from publishing or posting materials that:
    • Include statements that are bigoted, hateful or racially offensive
    • Advocate illegal activity
    • Contain vulgar, obscene or indecent language or images
    • Are defamatory, abusive, or threatening
    • Contain personal information (e.g., names, address, phone number, email) of other persons.

Potential consequences for violating the code of conduct

If participants engage in any harmful or inappropriate behaviour, the DCC and its Code of Conduct Committee (see below for members) may take any action they deem appropriate. This may include, but is not limited to, issuing a verbal warning to the individual in question, terminating their event activities, removing them from the event or banning them from further participation in DCC events (either for a certain time period or indefinitely).

How to Report a Violation

Should you be made to feel unsafe or unwelcome at any DCC event, or if you witness a violation of the Code of Conduct, please report this as soon as possible by emailing or approaching one of the committee members (see below for contact details). You can also report to any DCC staff who are at the event, who will be clearly labelled as such. The DCC is committed to addressing and resolving any issues to best of our ability, and to assist those who experience harassment at our events.

Handling of Violations

The following individuals are members of the Code of Conduct Committee, who will oversee the response to any reports of violations at DCC events:

Any member listed here who is directly involved in a report, will recuse themselves from handling the relevant violation.

Review of the Code of Conduct

The code of conduct will be reviewed regularly by the DCC, based on feedback from our attendees, collaborators and in line with accepted Code of Conduct developments.

Resources

In the writing of this document, the DCC drew on the following resources:

FORCE11, Code of Conduct: https://www.force11.org/code-conduct

Mozilla, Mozilla Community Participation Guidelines, version 3.1. (2020) Available at: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/governance/policies/participation/ (Accessed on 8th December 2020)

Research Data Alliance (2019), RDA Code of Conduct and How to Report a Breach. Available at: https://www.rd-alliance.org/rda-code-conduct-and-how-report-breach (Accessed on 8th December 2020)

Valerie Aurora and Mary Gardiner (2019), How to Respond to Code of Conduct Reports. Available at: https://frameshiftconsulting.com/code-of-conduct-book/ (Accessed on 8th December 2020)

Edit History

V1.1 - Updated membership of the CoC committee