[IndiChix] [IndiChiz] Notes from LCIN talk at FOSSkriti

[Vid Ayer]

On 2/20/08, Ankita Garg <gargankita at gmail.com> wrote:
> can't we do anything that would encourage them to use Linux?
>
> *Solution: *A suggestion was to have *install fests* and more *intro to*
> *linux

That sounds more like a LUG thing.....partly, unless you have a
significant amount of activity from your city based LUG's (besides the
m-list discussions) its really tough to get a traction via a handful
of women. In short, it will be nicer if the local LUG's collaborate
with LCIN.
[snip'd nice ideas]

> - There were a number of people interested to find out about the
> number of women members in LCIN (no. of women members on the mailing
> list,
> no. of active women members on the mailing list) as against the men. Am
> not
> too keen on the comparison aspect, but it would be nice if the list

yup, am not too keen on the comparison issue too because of the
privacy issues. That said we can provide generic non-intrusive data if
people want. At the time of the list change (late Dec2007) the
subscriber list had around 98 members and today we stand at around
130. That said, i'd look at the actual change in attitude towards
women from the Indian Linux community, the positive influence they
have in society, than just mere numbers or size of the team.

> - Next is the issue that has been in our radar for quite sometime but
> has not received much attention, that of the 'Chix' terminology. There
> were

We had a discussion about this on the grrls-only list and since its a
closed list fpr women I cant reproduce the mails here. Suffice it to
say that there were a number of great reasonings on the 'chix'
terminology some of which I have used and it was successful. Have you
tried them and has it worked (or not)?

> - There was a question on how do we plan to encourage women to
> participate in various FOSS projects? If we agree with the fact that some
> mailing lists are not sensitive towards women, do we have a plan in place
> to
> help women manage this? Have we gathered the do's and dont's of
> participation ? Do we have the support infrastructure in place?

If we are talking about international FLOSS projects, from the Ubuntu
community viewpoint, we take the CoC very seriously and implement it
too, even at the local community levels. If you have seen any
behaviour that is contra to the CoC simply bring it to the attention
of an Ubuntu member or take it directly to the CC (community council).

> - There was some confusion regarding male participation in the group.
> If we say that men are welcome, what is expected of them? What would be
> their role on the mailing list or the group in general? Behavior wise as
> well.

The reason the main 'chix didnt have an elaborate list of do's/donts
is to avoid confusion about what action to take when there is no
precedent and 'be polite, be helpful' works well in most cases. If you
see someone going against that simply point that motto and state what
you find inappropriate and ask them to stop the harassment. If they
insist on repeating the obnoxious behaviour, ask the admins to remove
them. This is also true if you feel someone is harassing you (a woman)
off-list. Partly why we keep it 'reply-to-list' even if its not the
best option.

> - Some felt the need to not restrict the group activities to only big
> cities and not ignore the small ones. They suggested on establishing
> networks in small cities, having a contact point for it and closely
> co-ordinating the activities.

I'd suggested this earlier .... any woman in any local city has the
freedom to start a group and work on it. It should be important that
there should be women taking the initiative because we dont want a
situation where its used by men as a place to find women. That would
be detrimental and counter-productive imho.

thanks,
--
Vid
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