This code of conduct outlines our expectations for BCC 2020 participants, as well as describing how to report unacceptable behaviour. We are committed to providing a welcoming and inspiring community for all and expect our code of conduct to be honoured. Anyone who violates this code of conduct may be banned from the community.
BCC2020 is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of race, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, age or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Conference participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference without a refund at the discretion of the conference organizers.
Harassment includes, but is not limited to:
- Comments, jokes, or language that reinforce discrimination and social structures of domination related to race, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, age, or religion
- Sexual or violent images
- Deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following
- Harassing photography or recording
- Sustained disruption of talks or other events
- Inappropriate physical contact
- Unwelcome sexual attention
- Violent threats or language directed against another person
- Posting (or threatening to post) other people’s personally identifying information (“doxing”)
- Personal insults, especially those using racist or sexist terms
- Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behaviour
Enforcement
Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.
If a participant engages in harassing behaviour, event organisers retain the right to take any actions to keep the event a welcoming environment for all participants. This includes warning the offender or expulsion from the conference with no refund.
Event organisers may take action to redress anything designed to, or with the clear impact of, disrupting the event or making the environment hostile for any participants.
We require participants to follow these rules at all event venues and event-related social activities. We expect people to follow these rules outside event activities too, including but not limited to Twitter under the official #BCC2020 hashtag and in conversation with the official OBF or Galaxy accounts. Please behave professionally.
Your code of conduct duty officers are Morgan Taschuk and Helen Van De Pol and they can be contacted at any time with questions or reports. Please see below for methods of contact.
Reporting
If someone makes you or anyone else feel unsafe or unwelcome, please report it as soon as possible to any one of the conference committee members. Harassment and other code of conduct violations reduce the value of our event for everyone. We want you to be happy at our event. People like you make our event a better place.
You can make a report either personally or anonymously.
Anonymous Report
You can make an anonymous report here or fill out the form below. This form goes only to Morgan Taschuk and Helen Van De Pol
We can’t follow up an anonymous report with you directly, but we will fully investigate it and take whatever action is necessary to prevent a recurrence.
Personal Report
You can make a personal report by contacting Morgan Taschuk or Helen Van De Pol. Several methods are listed below.
- By email: send an email to bcc2020-coc@lists.galaxyproject.org . This address goes only to Morgan Taschuk and Helen Van De Pol.
- On Discord: Contact Morgan or Helen directly. Click on their usernames in the member list or in the chat window and use the field at the bottom to send a message to them.
- By filling out the form here or below. Again, the contents of this form are sent only to Morgan and Helen.
When taking a personal report, our staff will ensure you are safe and cannot be overheard. They may involve other event staff to ensure your report is managed properly. Once safe, we’ll ask you to tell us about what happened. This can be upsetting, but we’ll handle it as respectfully as possible, and you can bring someone to support you. You won’t be asked to confront anyone and we won’t tell anyone who you are.
If the person who is harassing you is part of the response team, they will recuse themselves from handling your incident. If the complaint originates from a member of the response team, it will be handled by a different member of the response team.
Our team will be happy to help you contact local law enforcement, local support services, or otherwise assist you to feel safe for the duration of the event. We value your attendance.
About this policy
This anti-harassment policy is based on the example policy from the Geek Feminism wiki, created by the Ada Initiative and other volunteers: https://geekfeminism.wikia.org/wiki/Conference_anti-harassment