[HacktionLab] Is HacktionLab a 'safe space'?

[m]

On 20/05/2013 12:34, Andy S wrote:
>
>
> Not sure about HacktionLab, but I'd like to think that Barncamp is 'a
> safe space', as safe as any working farm can be where there may be cider
> involved! No, but seriously, I don't know what 'policies', if any, we do
> or don't maintain for the Barncamp event, or how appropriate it is to
> compare a place that
> definitely requires one, such as a direct action protest camp in the
> middle of a city full of potentially random unknown people,
> as BC is a small 'private' event where everyone is 'known', so perhaps
> at lower risk of antisocial/problem types of behaviour and people. That
> said, there is no reason not to agree on a basic principal of what
> is/isn't acceptable behaviour, and that all present are aware of this,
> *and agree to 'police' this policy*. I'd like to think that we shouldn't
> really need this due to the small nature of the event
> ,
> and that any issues that may arise can be dealt with by those present at
> the time, but I can't speak for anyone else so we should discuss this
> further.
>
> The matter of making BC the sort of event that appeals to 'a wider
> audience' and not just cider/beer/?tea? swilling white techie males, is
> a much wider subject I don't think is specific to just this event..
>
> A
>
> --

If people want to work out some kind of safer spaces thing, that's 
great, but tbh, I don't see any need for that. It's not the kind of 
public event that has a lot of random flow of people or something, and I 
guess it could just be summarised by "We're all nice people and treat 
each other respectfully" But then again, I guess it would be aimed at 
folks you haven't been, so maybe there's a point there.

Anyway, BarnCamp has always been a great space and everyone has been 
ace, and I seriously can't think of a situation where I felt someone was 
acting inappropriate or something.

To bring it back to the original point about gender balance: If people 
want to get more women presenting, just ask some ladies to do workshops. 
There's enough social links, and people probably a) know women who have 
been around in the past and b) know women involved with interesting 
projects that would be a good fit for BarnCamp, so maybe just shoot them 
an email and go: "Hey, would you like to do a session about x"

That would seem like a much more straight forward approach to attacking 
that particular issue.

I also resent the implication that my lady bits make me less proficient 
at beer swilling.


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