pyOpenSci Community Code of Conduct

pyOpensci is dedicated to creating a welcoming, supportive and diverse community around the open source Python tools that drive open science. We do this through a combination of community building, mentorship, peer review of software and education and outreach.

We are building the pyOpenSci community in a way that promotes fairness and justice for all, with a particular focus on supporting those from traditionally marginalized / underrepresented groups. We want every member of our community to thrive; we want to make a positive impact on our community members’ work and on the work of others.

What this code of conduct defines

Our Code of Conduct defines expected behavior and guidelines that help create such a community.

Anyone who participates in a pyOpenSci activity either online or in person is expected to show respect and courtesy to others in all interactions. These interactions may occur in a variety of locations including:

• in GitHub repositories

• in our Slack channel

• in our Discourse online forum

• during in-person events,

• when representing pyOpenSci in public,

• or in any event online or in person where pyOpenSci is leading the event.

To make sure that everyone has a common understanding of “show respect and courtesy to each other,” we have adopted the following code of conduct. The code of conduct is enforced by the pyOpenSci Executive Director and the code of conduct stewardship committee.

Unacceptable behavior

The following types of behavior are unacceptable in pyOpenSci spaces, both online and in-person, and constitute code of conduct violations.

Abusive behavior

Harassment: including offensive verbal comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion, as well as sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual or romantic attention.

Threats: threatening someone physically or verbally. For example, threatening to publicize sensitive information about someone’s personal life.

Unwelcoming behavior

Blatant acts and micro-aggressions

Blatant micro-aggressions involve making statements that assume negative characteristics in a blanket fashion because of someone’s identification with a particular group. We take micro-aggressions seriously, especially important when they target traditionally marginalized groups (e.g., explicitly racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic statements).

For example, arguing that some people are less intelligent because of their gender, race, religion.

Repeated, subtle and unintentional micro-aggressions

Subtle acts of aggression refer to small, unintentionally harmful mistakes made in conversation. These acts are not necessarily a code of conduct violation when made by mistake.

However, repeating something after it has been pointed out to you that you broke a social rule, or antagonizing or arguing with someone who has pointed out your micro-aggression is considered unwelcoming behavior, and is not allowed in the pyOpenSci community.

Maliciousness towards other community members

Maliciousness towards other community members: deliberately attempting to make others feel bad, name-calling, singling out others for derision or exclusion. For example, telling someone they’re not a real programmer or that they don’t belong at pyOpenSci. If somebody makes such a statement without malice, they may still be in violation of the Code of Conduct if their actions are deemed especially/repeatedly unpleasant (see below).

Being especially or repeatedly unpleasant: for example, if we’ve received reports from multiple pyOpenSci users, team members, or collaborators of agitating, rude, or especially distracting behavior over an extended period of time.

Scope in which the pyOpenSci code of conduct is applied

pyOpenSci community members are held to the standards outlined in this code of conduct when interacting in the pyOpenSci Slack or GitHub repositories, when interacting in-person at events where they could represent pyOpenSci (this is most professional events), in physical spaces with other pyOpenSci team members or collaborators, or in any Community Initiatives (our fiscal sponsor) space.

In addition, the pyOpenSci community and experience often extends outside those spaces—pyOpenSci community members may go on walks together to get lunch, attend meetups or conferences as a group, communicate on social media, or interact with each other in other communities.

Abusive or unwelcoming behavior between community members still has a profound impact on individuals and on the community when it happens beyond our walls. The pyOpenSci code of conduct stewards will use our discretion when deciding how to respond to reports of such behavior and how to proceed with enforcement. Enforcement may include removing someone from the pyOpenSci community. We will take into account the impact on the individual community members involved as well as the impact on the community at large.

Note

When in doubt, please report unacceptable behavior to us. If someone’s behavior make you feel unsafe within the pyOpenSci space, we want to support and help you.

Enforcement

We’ve categorized unacceptable behavior into abuse and unwelcoming behavior in the section above.

Enforcement related to abusive behavior

We do not tolerate abusive behavior at pyOpenSci. If we witness or receive a report of abusive behavior, we will contact the perpetrator to have a conversation with them and verify what has transpired.

We will follow this response protocol:

If we verify abusive behavior:

• They will be removed from the pyOpenSci community

• If applicable, their employment with pyOpenSci will be terminated.

• Their Slack account will be deactivated, and

• Permissions will be removed from any pyOpenSci-related repositories and/or accounts.

The person will not be welcome in any physical or digital spaces covered by the pyOpenSci Code of Conduct.

Enforcement related to unwelcome behavior

If we verify unwelcome, but non-abusive behavior, we will have a conversation with the person about their behavior. The goal of the conversation will be to ensure that they understand the expectation that they not repeat the behavior or other behaviors that would violate the Code of Conduct a second time.

Response protocol steps

The pyOpenSci Executive Director and the Executive Council will use the steps below to respond to reports of code of conduct violations.

1. The report will be read carefully

2. We will followup with the person who reported the violation

3. We will followup with the community member whose behavior was reported as violating the code of conduct

Based upon the above steps, we will to determine whether there has been a code of conduct violation

Reporting code of conduct violations

If you see a violation of our code of conduct, please report it to our pyOpenSci Code of Conduct Stewards using this form. This is a short Google Form that will be sent to any Executive Council member acting as a Code of Conduct Steward (see below for details). Alternatively, if you wish to report to one of the Code of Conduct stewards specifically, email them directly.

Current COC stewards:

You can email the entire COC steward committee at:

coc at pyopensci.org

Or you can directly contact one of us below:

• Leah Wasser, pyOpenSci Executive Director (EMAIL: leah at pyopensci.org)

• Ivan Ogasawara, pyOpenSci Advisory Council Member (ivan.ogasawara at gmail.com)

Why should I report code of conduct violations?

• You are a part of the pyOpenSci community. Everyone in this community has a shared responsibility for making pyOpenSci a safe and comfortable space. The pyOpenSci Team and Executive Council members are active in the community, but given our communities size and the number of online spaces that we manage, it is easy to miss an incident that violates of code of conduct. We thus need your help to enforce the code of conduct.

• The consequences to our community, of not reporting bad behavior outweigh the consequences for one person of reporting it. We sometimes hear “I don’t want X person to face consequences because I told someone about their bad behavior.” You were likely not the only one impacted by this even. Consider the potential impact on others if this behavior continues! We thank you in advance for reporting it to us.

• pyOpenSci is an open, participatory, community-driven community. Our community depends upon shared trust between community members. Reporting code of conduct violations helps us identify when this trust is broken. Your report helps us prevent the behavior from happening again.

Code of conduct related notes

When to seek help immediately

Instead of filling out a code of conduct violation report, please contact law enforcement directly to report criminal activity (e.g. physical assault, sexual assault, theft), or to report a dangerous physical situation (e.g. fire, serious injury, fear that someone will hurt themselves or someone else).

How we developed our code of conduct

We arrived at these policies by a combination of:

• Listening to feedback and suggestions we’ve heard from open source communities over many years

• Reading the codes of conduct of other organizations we find to be thoughtful (see some examples below)

• Considering our experiences in other communities and projects in the past

License

The pyOpenSci code of conduct is available under the terms of the CC0 license.

Significant parts of this code of conduct are adapted from the 2i2c Code of Conduct which is under the CCO license.