They did great work. Assumedly more info on how long the website will
be up and how to download materials will be forthcoming.
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Announcing the shutdown of the Ada Initiative
Date: Tue, 04 Aug 2015 08:48:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: The Ada Initiative <contact(a)adainitiative.org>
It is with mixed feelings that we announce that the Ada Initiative will
be shutting down in approximately mid-October. We are proud of what we
accomplished with the support of many thousands of volunteers, sponsors,
and donors, and we expect all of our programs to continue on in some
form without the Ada Initiative. Thank you for your incredible work and
support!
What we accomplished
80 women cheering and wearing many different colors, CC BY-SA Jenna
Saint Martin Photo
AdaCamp Portland attendees in 2014
CC BY-SA Jenna Saint Martin Photo
When the Ada Initiative was founded in 2011, the environment for women
in open technology and culture was extremely hostile. Conference
anti-harassment policies were rare outside of certain areas in fandom,
and viewed as extremist attempts to muzzle free speech. Pornography in
slides was a regular feature at many conferences in these areas, as were
physical and sexual assault. Most open tech/culture communities didn't
have an understanding of basic feminist concepts like consent, tone
policing, and intersectional oppression.
Anti-harassment policy and code of conduct work
With the support of hundreds of volunteers, the Ada Initiative led the
drive
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
to
make strong, specific, and enforced anti-harassment policies a standard
and expected part of any moderately well-run conference. Today,
/thousands/ of conferences
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
have
these policies, including many in the area of free and open source
software, fandom, Wikimedia projects, computer technology, library
technology, science writing, entomology, and many other areas we never
expected to influence. This work is now completely community-driven;
people everywhere are developing and improving codes of conducts for
online communities.
AdaCamp unconferences
We ran our first AdaCamp unconference
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
in
2012 in Melbourne, and ran six more AdaCamps in the following years, in
Washington D.C., San Francisco, Portland, Berlin, Bangalore, and
Montreal. Over 500 women had an experience many of them described as
"life-changing." AdaCamp awakened their feminist identity, helped them
improve their careers, and connected them with a community of support.
Many women realized for the first time that what they were going through
was not unique to themselves, that their negative experiences were the
result of systemic sexism, and that they could make changes in their
lives with the help of women they met through AdaCamp. We created the
AdaCamp Toolkit
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
so
that other people could run events more like AdaCamp. Among many other
things, it includes step-by-step guides on how to provide food that
matches attendees' food restrictions
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>,
create access lanes to increase accessibility
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>,
and provide childcare
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>,
all available under the Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike license.
Impostor Syndrome Training
Beginning at AdaCamp San Francisco in 2013, we taught a class for women
in open tech/culture communities at every AdaCamp on overcoming Impostor
Syndrome
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>.
Impostor Syndrome is the feeling that you are a fraud and will be found
out as unqualified, often for the work you are already performing. Many
women in open tech/culture experience Impostor Syndrome, and are excited
to learn how to counteract it. We will be teaching the Impostor Syndrome
workshop as a standalone class in August in Oakland
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
and
Sydney
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>.
Before we shut down, we will release the materials to run the class
under the Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike license.
The Ally Skills Workshop
The Ada Initiative created the Ally Skills Workshop
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
in
2011, which teaches men how to use their societal advantages to do more
of the emotional labor of pushing back against sexism and exclusionary
behavior in their communities and workplaces. Research shows that when
women speak up against sexism in the workplace, they often suffer
retaliation, but when men speak up against sexism, they seldom suffer
retaliation for it and sometimes even get rewarded. Cultural change
happens more quickly when men, who are often in positions of greater
power, are also actively working for change, especially in fields where
women make up a small percentage of people involved. Women can then use
the time and emotional energy they were spending on trying to make their
community less sexist to work on their primary projects or main job duties.
In the past four years, the Ally Skills Workshop has been taught to over
2,000 people, and we formally trained over 40 people to teach the
workshop. Already, at least five people are actively teaching the Ally
Skills Workshops in several different open tech/culture communities and
we hope more people will teach the workshop in the future. All the
workshop materials, including the slides, presentation notes, workshop
handouts, facilitator training guide, and video of a workshop, are
available under the Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike license.
Why we decided to shut down the Ada Initiative
In late 2014, after nearly four years of leading the Ada Initiative,
co-founder Valerie Aurora wanted to step down as Executive Director and
focus solely on running training programs. Our Deputy Executive Director
and co-founder Mary Gardiner did not want to succeed Valerie as the
Executive Director, and thus the board, in November 2014, launched a
search for a new ED. After a long and thorough search which attracted
more than 130 applicants, the board hired a new ED. Unfortunately, that
hire didn't work out.
That brought us to a decision point. It would have been unreasonable to
expect Valerie and Mary to continue with the Ada Initiative forever. We
considered running a second ED search, but it had become clear to the
board that the success of the Ada Initiative was very much a product of
its two founders, and was a direct result of their experiences, skills,
strengths and passions. We felt the likelihood of finding a new ED who
could effectively fit into Valerie's shoes was low. We also considered
several other options for continuing the organization, including
changing its programs, or becoming volunteer-only.
After much deliberation, the board decided to do an orderly shutdown of
the Ada Initiative, in which the organization would open source all of
our remaining knowledge and expertise in freely reusable and modifiable
form. We don't feel like non-profits need to exist forever. The Ada
Initiative did a lot of great work, and we are happy about it.
What's next
Ada Lovelace portrait
Ada Lovelace portrait by Colin Adams, CC Zero/publicdomain
The Ada Initiative will shut down in approximately mid-October after
using our remaining funds to complete our current obligations and do the
tasks necessary to shut down the organization properly. We have several
Ally Skills Workshops booked or in the process of being booked during
our remaining months of operation. (We will not be booking additional
Ally Skills Workshops through the Ada Initiative, but we will refer
clients to other people who are teaching the Ally Skills Workshop.) We
will teach Impostor Syndrome training classes in Sydney and Oakland in
August, and release the materials under the Creative Commons Attribution
Sharealike license. We will do the work to keep the Ada Initiative's web
content online and available after the Ada Initiative shuts down. We
will complete the many legally required tasks to shut down a U.S.
non-profit properly. If we have any funds left after completing these
tasks, we will donate them to an aligned non-profit.
We will cancel all recurring donations and stop accepting new donations
as of today, and issue receipts for 2015 donations in September. Please
do not pressure our donors or sponsors to contribute to the Ada
Initiative. Pressuring them to give additional money is unethical and
ungrateful to the many people and organizations who made the Ada
Initiative's work possible over the last four and a half years. We are
incredibly grateful to everyone who supported us, and we ask you to
treat them with the respect and consideration they deserve.
Continuing the work of the Ada Initiative
Everything that the Ada Initiative created with the help and support of
our volunteers and donors is continuing on in some freely available,
reusable, and modifiable form. The conference anti-harassment and
community code of conduct work is fully in the hands of the community,
with dozens of forks of various anti-harassment policies and codes of
conduct in active use and development. The AdaCamp Toolkit makes all of
the AdaCamp innovations available to anyone who wants to start a
conference or improve an existing conference. Over 40 people are trained
to lead the Ally Skills Workshop, materials for which are all available
for free use and modification. The Impostor Syndrome training materials
will soon be released under the Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike
license for anyone to use or modify for free.
Future plans and next steps for Valerie and Mary
Valerie still loves teaching the Ally Skills Workshop, and plans to
start a for-profit training business teaching it and any other trainings
she may develop. Mary will be looking for a new position based in
Sydney, Australia, working in a leadership role with the right
organization. Mary, Valerie, the board of directors, and the advisory
board will be sad to no longer be working together directly, but value
the relationships we built during our time together. We will always be
immensely proud of the success of the Ada Initiative and proud of the
work we did together.
Mary and Valerie would welcome positive comments on the work of Ada
Initiative and stories about how their work benefited you and your
community. Please do not send advice or expressions of sadness for the
end of the Ada Initiative.
Thank yous
Photograph of Mary and Valerie
Ada Initiative founders Mary Gardiner and Valerie Aurora
We want to thank everyone who made the Ada Initiative's work possible.
We could not possibly have accomplished what we did over the last four
and a half years without incredible support from thousands of people. We
thank:
* Our current and former staff
* Our many consultants
* Our current and former board members
* Our current and former advisors
* Our fundraising volunteers
* Our AdaCamp volunteers
* Our anonymous $100,000 donor
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
* Our Seed 100 donors
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
* Our many individual donors
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
* Our corporate sponsors
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
* Everyone who advocated for anti-harassment policies and codes of
conduct
* Everyone who advocated for or attended Ally Skills Workshops
* Everyone who attended AdaCamp
* Everyone who helped our mission to support women in open technology
and culture
Overall, the change in the environment for women in open technology and
culture from 2011 to 2015 has been enormous. We're proud of the crucial
part that the Ada Initiative's programs played in making this happen.
Thousands of people - donors, supporters, workshop participants,
AdaCampers - came together to improve the culture of open technology and
culture communities, showing widespread support for continued change.
Continue to support women in open technology and culture
You can still take action to support women in open technology and
culture! Here are some of the things you can do:
* Sign up for or spread the word about the upcoming Impostor Syndrome
workshops in Oakland
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
or
Sydney
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
* Sign up for or spread the word about Ally Skills Workshops, eg at
LinuxCon Chicago
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
* Advocate for a code of conduct
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
in
your community
* Advocate for an anti-harassment policy
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
at
your conference
* Use the AdaCamp Toolkit
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
to
start new events or make existing events better
* Support women and other oppressed people entering your community
byimpostor syndrome-proofing it
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>:
documenting your norms, providing mentoring for newcomers, and
encouraging a supportive style of collaboration.
* Suggest women or members of underrepresented groups to be speakers
and panelists at events you attend
* Support Outreachy
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
with
mentorship, sponsorship, or donation
* Support Black Girls Code
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
and
similar organizations
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
by
donating or volunteering
* Join or donate to feminist hackerspaces
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
* Ask your employer to support the Recurse Center
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
* Ask your employer to sponsor a feminist event for women in an open
technology and culture field
* Ask your employer to review their hiring process and their HR
practices to support employees who are women or members of other
underrepresented groups
* Ask your employer to run unconscious bias training
* Ask your employer to only sponsor events with anti-harassment policies
* Ask events you attend to adopt inclusive practices such as access
lanes, childcare and travel grants
* Push the Overton Window
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001fQBZqzZ9TuaymVUNfPnErPmauIlJ6s49XaqM2610Cw5P…>
by
advocating for "extreme" positions supporting women in open
technology and culture (remember: once, conference anti-harassment
policies were extreme)
* Start your own brand - start your own company or activist group
making change for women in open technology and culture
Thank you everyone again for your hard work in support of women in open
technology and culture. Together we can make a difference!
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I think there was at least one fashion week Wikipedia editathon in Europe a
year or two ago. I wonder if anyone would be interested in having more of
them, in Seattle or elsewhere.
Pine
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Joe Sutherland" <jsutherland(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Aug 4, 2015 10:08 AM
Subject: [Social-media] Wikipedia and the Fashion Weeks: A Look at Usage
Patterns
To: "Social media discussion list for Wikimedia projects" <
social-media(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Cc:
A cool, if a bit technical, blog post from data analyst Abraham
Mathew about Wikipedia statistics during Fashion Weeks.
The original post is on Abraham Mathew's personal blog:
http://mathewanalytics.com/2015/08/03/wikipedia-and-the-fashion-weeks-a-loo…
It was also syndicated to popular R blog Rbloggers:
http://www.r-bloggers.com/wikipedia-and-the-fashion-weeks-a-look-at-usage-p…
Advice on which to use would be appreciated :)
*Possible social (Twitter):*
• Data analyst @abmathewks looks at Wikipedia page view trends during
Fashion Week. [link]
*FB/G+: *
• Data analyst Abraham Mathew makes some interesting findings in Wikipedia
page view statistics during several Fashion Week events. [link]
--
*Joe Sutherland*
Communications Intern [remote]
m: +44 (0) 7722 916 433 | t: @jrbsu <http://twitter.com/jrbsu> | w:
JSutherland <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:JSutherland_(WMF)>
_______________________________________________
Social-media mailing list
Social-media(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/social-media
Do we have statistics on the gender breakdown of our admin corps? I'm
interested in the current breakdown and curious whether identifying as a
woman has any impact on RfAs. I'm sure I've seen threads discussing this
before, but can't remember where.
~gobonobo