Author: Kamila Stepniowska, Project DEI coordinator at NumFOCUS
During the second weekend of September, thirty-six DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) and Open Source leaders from all over the world gathered in Amsterdam and online to create DEI-focused guidelines and educational materials to be shared within the Open Source community. Aligning with NumFOCUS core values and those of our participant-contributors, the event was a safe space to discuss important issues.
The DISC Unconference 2023 (Unconference), organized by the Diversity & Inclusion in Scientific Computing (DISC) Committee, took place in Amsterdam on September 9–10th at Novotel Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and virtually. Funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the event was part of NumFOCUS’s Contributor Diversification and Retention Program, an initiative of the Open Software for All grant led by NumFOCUS’s Developer Advocate, Arliss Collins https://www.moore.org/grant-detail?grantId=GBMF9113.
Outcomes of the Unconference included:
- Six DEI-focused projects were created during the Unconference and are available under CC BY-SA 4.0 license or other types of open licenses. The projects are public here:
- JupyterBook https://numfocus.github.io/disc-unconference-2023-projects/en/methodologies_collecting_data.html
- GitHub repository https://github.com/numfocus/disc-unconference-2023-projects
- Networking and experience exchange between the DEI and Open Source leaders from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America
- Net Promoter Score (NPS) for the Unconference reached 9.7 (out of 10).
The Unconference format implies that the participants create the event’s agenda and produce the outcomes — DEI-oriented projects completed during the event. To achieve this during the 48 hour event, the Unconference was preceded by:
- two one-hour online meetings
- communication on Slack
- collaboration on Google Drive, including a let’s meet! bio presentation and brainstorming to create a list of potential project topics
“Connecting with a community passionate about DEI in OS was a breath of fresh air! I have made invaluable connections and look forward to continuing my work on my project from this weekend in the coming months.”
-Quote from anonymous DISC Unconference 2023 Participant“The “”unconference”” format empowers an incredibly inspiring and diverse group of attendees to collaboratively move from ideation to deliverables in the DEI space. The event fosters a great sense of collaboration, ownership, and synergy.”
- Ashley Pace, Plotly
During the two-day Unconference, participant-contributors created the following projects:
DISC Unconference, Amsterdam:
A mentoring guide for open projects
- The project covered topics such as: What is mentoring?; Why is mentoring needed?; Benefits of mentorship; Who are mentors/mentees?; How to guides; Mentorship community; Resources for Mentees; Conflict Resolution.
- Contributors: @melissawm, @Chuekting, @LucyJimenez, @ElegantTolly, @OriolAbril
Project taxonomy and recommendations for Diversity Equity and Inclusion
- The goal of the project is to develop a framework as a case study for a model-inclusive project.
- Contributors: @kriehl, @munkm, @elgravel, @jennaswa, @monsauce, @prabhant, @TaniaHernandez23, @danielskatz
Methodologies For Collecting Community Data
- Have you ever wondered how satisfied the contributors and users of your project are? Open Source communities do not have a standard mechanism for collecting feedback. We invite you to gather a new perspective and collect data with the goal of measuring satisfaction trends as a measure of the health of your project.
- Contributors: anavelyz, @natmokval, @akcouli, @ruv7, @ashmpace
Organizational Guide for Supporting Volunteers and Reducing Burnout
- Volunteering is a critical form of support for many organizations. There are many benefits and opportunities available to volunteers through their work, yet volunteer burnout is too common of a phenomenon. This comprehensive guide is meant to help organizations reduce volunteer burnout in two ways: by recognizing the many barriers to and stressors of volunteering, and by providing actionable suggestions for organizations to combat these stressors and support volunteers.
- Contributors: Abigail Dogbe, Nicole Foster, Hana Frluckaj, Inessa Pawson, Leah Silen
Knowhow: everything you wanted to know about applying for grants but didn’t ask
- Collaboratively creating a curriculum and coaching program to ensure that “hidden curriculum” is less hidden so that funders and potential grantees from different income levels can engage fairly.
- Contributors: Yo Yehudi, Laura Ación, Barbara Wilk, Jesica Formoso, Jessica Greene, Kate Hertweck, Tania Allard, Mariana Meireles
DISC Unconference, Virtual Path:
Strong DEI (AKA: DEI Handbook)
- Curriculum frame for an education program providing valuable skills and knowledge to projects and community leaders in DEI, meeting a recognized need within NumFOCUS.
- Contributors: Yaa Nuamah Kusi, Anita Ihuman, Benjamin Bengfort, Pavithra Eswaramoorthy, Kamila Stepniowska
Next steps
Contribution
All projects created during the DISC Unconference have excellent potential for further development, testing, and maintenance. You can support the projects by using, testing, and shearing existing materials. Some projects might also be ready to collaborate with new contributors.
You can find additional project information on GitHub https://github.com/numfocus/disc-unconference-2023-projects
DISC Unconference 2024?
The success of the DISC Cookbook (initiated at the DISC Unconference in 2017) and the positive outcome from this year’s DISC Unconference confirmed the value of the event as an ongoing initiative. The DISC Unconference format effectively gathers global DEI and Open Source leaders to identify critical structural and organizational DEI issues in the OSS ecosystem and to work on possible solutions. We would also like to scale the concept and organize a larger, more diverse DISC Unconference.
In 2024, we plan to organize the 3rd edition of the DISC Unconference. We will consider some modifications, such as:
- Increase the outreach to additional geographical locations
- Increase the diversity of participants
- Increase the number of participants
- Organize a hybrid event
- Locate the in-person Unconference in the Global South
- Increase the event budget
To make all of that happen, we need to secure funding. We are looking for potential grants and donors. If you want to support the DISC Unconference 2024, please contact Kamila Stepniowska.
Members of the 2023 DISC Unconference Planning Committee:
- Melissa Mendonça
- Tania Allard
- Ana Ruvalcaba
- Mariana Miereles
- Arliss Collins
You can find more information on the DISC Committee here: https://numfocus.org/programs/diversity-inclusion
NumFOCUS employees supporting the organization of the Unconference:
- Arliss Collins (Developer Advocate)
- Lynn Brubaker (Project Finance Manager)
- Nicole F. (Operations Manager)
- Gayle Ollington (Community Events Manager)
- Kamila Stepniowska (Projects DEI Coordinator)
The Unconference would not have been possible without funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. We thank you for your generous contribution and support of diversity and inclusion in scientific computing.
