Code of Conduct

Community Code

This Community Code of Conduct covers our behavior as members of the Islandora Community, in any forum, mailing list, wiki, web site, IRC channel, public meeting, conference, or private correspondence. This set of principles articulates the values of the Islandora Foundation and lays out the ways that we want to treat each other. This evolving document not only expresses expectations for our interactions, systems of accountability, and means of care; it is also a space for us to aspire to make our part of the digital preservation world more equitable, just, and inclusive. Here is how we agree to operate:

• We are considerate. We are all in this together. Our work on the Islandora project affects users, developers, project managers, and many others with a stake in Islandora as both a piece of software and an open source project. We will keep those other stakeholders in mind when making decisions.
  
• We are inclusive. We explicitly value the contributions of our members who belong to groups who have been historically oppressed, and acknowledge that they face barriers to access our community. We aim to center them, lift up their voices, and provide additional assistance and resources when necessary.
  
• We are respectful. Everyone can make a valuable contribution to Islandora, regardless of age; appearance or body size; employment or military status; ethnicity; family status; gender identity or expression; immigration status; marital status; national origin; physical or cognitive ability; political affiliation; sexual orientation; race; or religion, and all contributions are welcome. This list will grow as our community grows and as language evolves.
  
• When we disagree, we do this in a polite and professional manner. We may not always agree. When frustrated, we back away and look for good intentions, not reasons to be more frustrated. When we see a flaw in a contribution, we offer guidance on how to fix it.
  
• We are collaborative. Collaboration is vital to the Islandora project and related open source communities. We work with our own institutional teams, with other teams in the Islandora community, and with collaborators outside of our community on related projects. We collaborate to reduce redundancy, to share knowledge, to improve our product, and to improve our processes. We strive to do our work as transparently as possible and we welcome new collaborators with enthusiasm. We also follow community guidelines for how to collaborate, including workflows and documented practices for contributing to the project.
  
• When we disagree about how the community or the Islandora platform should work, we consult others. It is important that we resolve disagreements and differing views constructively and with the help of the community and community processes. We have Interest Groups, the Committers’ group, the Technical Advisory Group, the Coordinating Committee, and a Board of Directors who can all be consulted on the proper direction to resolve a given conflict.
  
• We say thank you and let people know when they have done good work. It is a small thing, but it means a lot. When someone makes a contribution, helps us with a problem, or otherwise goes out of their way to make our work easier, we thank them.
  
• When we are unsure, we ask for help. Nobody knows everything, and nobody is expected to be perfect in the Islandora community. Everyone here was new once. Questions are highly encouraged on our listserv and add to the community’s base of knowledge. Questions will always be treated respectfully.
  
• We are respectful of each other’s time. Much of the work done in this community is by volunteers. The depth of experience in the community is a great resource, but not an infinite one. When we get help, we try to give back as well.
  
• We try not to leave holes when we depart. Members of every project come and go. We document our work throughout the process so that if we leave, continuity is possible. When somebody leaves or disengages from the project, in whole or in part, we ask that they do so in a way that minimizes disruption to the project.
  
  We are a community of professionals, and we conduct ourselves professionally. Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other participants or other communities and projects. Harassment and other exclusionary behavior aren't acceptable. This includes, but is not limited to:
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• • Violent threats or language directed against another person.
  • Discriminatory jokes and language, such as but not limited to ableist, ageist, elitist, fatphobic, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, transphobic, or homophobic behavior or language.
  • Not using an individual’s stated pronouns and/or preferred name.
  • Posting sexually explicit or violent material.
  • Posting (or threatening to post) other people's personally identifying information ("doxxing").
  • Personal insults, especially those using racist or sexist terms.
  • Unwelcome sexual attention, physical contact, deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following.
  • Sustained disruption of talks, events, or other community work.
  • Repeated harassment of others.
  • Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior.
  • In general, if someone asks you to stop your behavior or actions, you should respect this request and stop.

As this document outlines, participants in the Islandora community seek to foster a generally positive and supportive environment. To protect the community, we will not tolerate ad hominem attacks on community members or disparagement of the project by individuals with an agenda inimical to the project. We pride ourselves on building a productive, happy, and flexible community that can welcome new ideas in a complex field, and foster collaboration between groups with, ultimately, the same needs, interests and goals. The Islandora Coordinating Committee commits to iterating on this code of conduct as we grow, revisiting and revising on an ongoing basis. The Islandora Foundation will also review these principles yearly to reaffirm any additions, changes, or deletions at the Annual General Meeting.

We are all (everyone in Islandora Foundation, working with Islandora Foundation, or attending one of our events) responsible for upholding the Code of Conduct and interrupting abuse, microaggressions, harassment, and other violations of the Code. In many cases we can shift behaviors in this way, and you can always directly ask for informal support from anyone in the Islandora Foundation, Committers groups, Technical Advisory Group, Coordinating Committee, or Board of Directors to help shift the behaviors of colleagues and interrupt harassment. Members of these groups are listed here.

Community members who violate these guidelines will be notified and asked to change their behavior. Violations may result in loss of membership in project groups, revocation of special access to project resources, and/or loss of access to project communication channels (listserv, irc, github, and others).

Offenders may be asked to stop participating in the project or directed to filter their participation through another member of their institution (if applicable).
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Code of Conduct Committee

The Islandora Code of Conduct Committee is a body of no fewer than three volunteers who are responsible for responding to violations of the Code of Conduct. Members are drawn from throughout the Islandora community, ideally including members of the Islandora Coordinating Committee, the Technical Advisory Group, and the various interest groups. If the committee itself or the ICC feels there are not a sufficient number of volunteers for the committee to function, additional committee members will be drawn from the ICC. The duties of this committee are as follows:

• Monitoring the codeofconduct@islandora.ca email address and being available to receive reports of Code of Conduct violations
• Investigating such incidents as they arise
• Meeting as a committee to discuss such violations and to determine appropriate and prompt responses
• Reporting any such incidents to the community
• Reviewing of the Code of Conduct as needed in order to ensure its effectiveness in protecting the health of the Islandora community
• Determining training needs around Code of Conduct issues for Islandora committees and events
• There will be an annual check-in to confirm that CoC members will continue on the committee and/or to solicit new members

In order to ensure that this committee has the trust of the community, the ICC will present the proposed membership to the community and there will be a commenting period before they are seated.
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Reporting Guidelines

If you believe someone is violating the code of conduct we ask that you report it to the Islandora Foundation by emailing codeofconduct@islandora.ca or filling this form. Responses are monitored by the Code of Conduct Committee. All reports will be kept confidential, unless there is a legal obligation to disclose. Please note  that members of the Code of Conduct Committee may be mandatory reporters. In some cases we may determine that a public statement will need to be made. If that's the case, the identities of all victims and reporters will remain confidential unless those individuals instruct us otherwise.

In your report please include:
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• Your contact info (so we can get in touch with you if we need to follow up)
• Names (real, nicknames, or pseudonyms) of any individuals involved. If there were other witnesses besides you, please try to include them as well.
• When and where the incident occurred. Please be as specific as possible.
• Your account of what occurred. If there is a publicly available record (e.g. a mailing list archive or a public IRC logger) please include a link.
• Any extra context you believe existed for the incident.
• Any witnesses willing to give statements or witness accounts of the incident
• If you believe this incident is ongoing.
• Any other information you believe we should have.

Report Review and Determination Process

You will receive an email from the Code of Conduct Committee acknowledging receipt. The Code of Conduct Committee will meet to review the incident and determine:

• Whether this is an ongoing situation, or if there is a threat to anyone's physical safety.
• What happened.
• Whether this event constitutes a code of conduct violation.
• Who violated the code of conduct.

In the event that a member of the Code of Conduct Committee is involved in the incident:

• That member agrees to recuse themselves of any involvement in the Committee’s review, and
• The Code of Conduct Committee will communicate about the reported issue outside of channels that include that member.

If this is determined to be an ongoing incident or a threat to physical safety, the Code of Conduct Committee’s immediate priority will be to protect everyone involved. This means we may delay an "official" response until we believe that the situation has ended and that everyone is physically safe.

Once the Code of Conduct Committee has a complete account of the events they will make a decision as to how to respond.

Responses may include:

• Nothing (if they determine no violation occurred or the incident did not rise to the level of additional action).
• A private reprimand from the working group to the individual(s) involved.
• A public reprimand.
• An imposed vacation (i.e. asking someone to "take a week off" from Slack or other communication channels).
• A permanent or temporary ban from some or all Islandora spaces.
• A request for a public or private apology.

The CoC Committee will respond within two weeks to the person who filed the report with either a resolution or an explanation of why the situation is not yet resolved.

Once the CoC Committee has determined their final action, they will contact the original reporter to let them know what action (if any) they will be taking.

Finally, the CoC Committee will make a report on the situation to the Islandora Foundation Board of Directors. The board may choose to make a public report of the incident. If so, the identities of all victims and reporters will remain confidential in the final report unless those individuals instruct us otherwise.
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Appeal Process

Only permanent resolutions (such as bans) may be appealed. To appeal a decision of the Coordinating Committee, contact any member of the Islandora Foundation Board of Directors with your appeal and the Islandora Foundation board will review the case. If there is a potential conflict of interest, parties will be asked to recuse themselves.

Ideas and text modeled on the Codes of Conduct of Django Software Foundation  and OpenStack.

‍The Islandora Community Code of Conduct is released under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

‍Revised January 27, 2023.