Safe space

While there are many definitions, at its core, a safe space is one in which personal safety and mutual respect are valued, prioritized, and expected. Some safe space definitions and policies can serve as baseline anti-discrimination statements, where the fundamental expectations of behavior can be initialized.

Safe space definition via Advocates for Youth on Wikipedia:

"A place where anyone can relax and be fully self-expressed, without fear of being made to feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, or unsafe on account of biological sex, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, cultural background, age, or physical or mental ability; a place where the rules guard each person's self-respect and dignity and strongly encourage everyone to respect others."

Read also about radical inclusivity.

Sudo Room
Sudo room references "safe space" in two locations of its Articles of Association

Section 1.0 Values

 * 1) Value safe space over ideology.

Section 2.3 Benefits
A safe space, which is defined as:

"A place where anyone can relax and be fully self-expressed, without fear of being made to feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, or unsafe on account of biological sex, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, cultural background, age, or physical or mental ability; a place where the rules guard each person's self-respect and dignity and strongly encourage everyone to respect others." — Advocates for Youth via Wikipedia.

Hacker School
From the Hacker School manual

Social rules
Another way we try to remove obstacles to learning is by having a small set of social rules. These rules are intended to be lightweight, and to make more explicit certain social norms that are normally implicit. Most of our social rules really boil down to "don't be a jerk" or "don't be annoying." Of course, almost nobody sets out to be a jerk or annoying, so telling people not to be jerks isn't a very productive strategy. That's why our social rules are designed to curtail specific behavior we've found to be destructive to a supportive, productive, and fun learning environment.

No feigning surprise
The first rule means you shouldn't act surprised when people say they don't know something. This applies to both technical things ("What?! I can't believe you don't know what the stack is!") and non-technical things ("You don't know who RMS is?!"). Feigning surprise has absolutely no social or educational benefit: When people feign surprise, it's usually to make them feel better about themselves and others feel worse. And even when that's not the intention, it's almost always the effect. As you've probably already guessed, this rule is tightly coupled to our belief in the importance of people feeling comfortable saying "I don't know" and "I don't understand."

No well-actually's
A well-actually happens when someone says something that's almost - but not entirely - correct, and you say, "well, actually…" and then give a minor correction. This is especially annoying when the correction has no bearing on the actual conversation. This doesn't mean Hacker School isn't about truth-seeking or that we don't care about being precise. Almost all well-actually's in our experience are about grandstanding, not truth-seeking. (Thanks to Miguel de Icaza for originally coining the term "well-actually.")

No back-seat driving
If you overhear people working through a problem, you shouldn't intermittently lob advice across the room. This can lead to the "too many cooks" problem, but more important, it can be rude and disruptive to half-participate in a conversation. This isn't to say you shouldn't help, offer advice, or join conversations. On the contrary, we encourage all those things. Rather, it just means that when you want to help out or work with others, you should fully engage and not just butt in sporadically.

No subtle sexism
Our last social rule bans subtle sexism, racism, homophobia, etc. This one is different from the rest, because it's often not a specific, observable phenomenon ("well-actually's" are easy to spot because they almost always start with the words, "well, actually…").

Hacker School is not a place to publicly debate whether comment X is sexist, racist, etc. If you see something that's unintentionally sexist, racist, homophobic, etc. at Hacker School you're welcome to point it out to the person who made the comment, either publicly or privately, or you can ask one of the faculty to say something to that person. Once the initial mention has been made, we ask that all further discussion move off of public channels. If you are a third party, and you don't see what could be biased about the comment that was made, feel free to talk to faculty. Please don't say, "Comment X wasn't homophobic!" Similarly, please don't pile on to someone who made a mistake.

We want Hacker School to be a space with as little bigotry as possible in it. Therefore, if you see sexism, racism, etc. outside of Hacker School, please don't bring it in. So, for example, please don't start a discussion on the mailing list of the latest offensive comment from Random Tech Person Y.

Why don't we want public discussions of sexism, racism, etc. at Hacker School? For many people, especially those who may have spent time in unpleasant environments, these conversations can be very distracting. At Hacker School, we want to remove as many distractions as possible so everyone can focus on programming. There are many places in the world to discuss and debate these issues, but there are precious few where people can avoid them. We want Hacker School to be one of those places.

Why have social rules?
The goal isn't to burden Hacker School with a bunch of annoying rules, or to give us a stick to bludgeon people with for "being bad." Rather, these rules are designed to help all of us build a pleasant, productive, and fearless community.

If someone says, "hey, you just feigned surprise," or "that's subtly sexist," don't worry. Just apologize, reflect for a second, and move on. It doesn't mean you're a "bad" person, or even a "bad" Hacker Schooler. As we said above, these rules are meant to be lightweight. We've all done these things before. In fact, we originally adopted a no well-actually policy for our company because Nick and Dave well-actually'd each other all the time.

Friendly space policy for Wikimedia Foundation technical events
The Wikimedia Foundation is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, or preferred Creative Commons license (and not limited to those aspects). We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any conference venue or talks. Conference participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference at the discretion of the conference organizers.

Harassment includes but is not limited to offensive verbal comments related to gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, political affiliation, or religion. Harassment also includes sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, unwelcome following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention. Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.

If a participant engages in harassing behavior, the conference organizers may take any action they deem appropriate, including warning the offender or expulsion from the conference. If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of conference staff immediately. Conference staff can be identified by special badges.

Conference staff will be happy to help participants contact hotel/venue security or local law enforcement, provide escorts, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the conference. We value your attendance.


 * Organizers: Sumana Harihareswara, sumanah@undefinedwikimedia.org and others (whose contact information will be publicized to event participants on a per-event basis)
 * Phone number: +1 415 839 6885 x 6762
 * Local phone numbers for hotel/venue security, local law enforcement, local sexual assault hot line, local emergency and non-emergency medical, and local taxi company to be publicized to event participants as appropriate on a per-event basis

We expect participants to follow these rules at all conference venues and conference-related social events.

Wikimedia New York City
Participates in organizing and hosting events, including WikiConference USA

Friendly Space Policy for Wikimedia Events
Wikimedia NYC is dedicated to providing a harassment-free event experience for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, or preferred Creative Commons license (and not limited to those aspects). We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. This kind of behavior is not appropriate for any Wikimedia NYC events. Event participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference at the discretion of the event organizers.

We expect participants to follow these policies at all event venues and related social events.

Definition of Harassment
Harassment includes, but shall not be limited to, offensive verbal comments related to gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, political affiliation, or religion.

Harassment also includes the non-contextual display of sexual images, deliberate intimidation, stalking, unwelcome following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.

Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.

Corrective Action
As Wikimedia New York City events are managed by volunteers, event organizers depend on all attendees for help in maintaining the Friendly Space Policy. If organizers are concerned about the conduct of an individual, or receive a complaint, they will take action appropriate to the situation. In some cases this might be a private warning to the person concerned asking them to change their behaviour. In more serious cases it may be necessary to ask someone to leave. If necessary, event organizers will involve the staff of the premises where the event is being held, or the Police.

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of event staff immediately.

Event staff will be happy to help participants contact hotel/venue security or local law enforcement, provide escorts, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the event.

Where an individual exhibits a pattern of harassing behavior, the President of Wikimedia NYC may recommend to the Board that the individual be excluded from all future Wikimedia NYC activities. Such exclusion will take effect pending a resolution of the Board.

Any concerns with the implementation of this policy should be raised with the President of Wikimedia NYC in the first instance.

Contact Information
Phone numbers for event organizers, local hotel/venue security, local law enforcement, local sexual assault hot line, local emergency and non-emergency medical, and local taxi company to be publicized to event participants as appropriate on a per-event basis

Similar policies exist for community events as well, such as the Wikimedia Foundation’s friendly space policy for tech events, Wikimedia UK's participation policy and GLAMcamp’s friendly space policy.

OSBridge
Citizen Code of Conduct