Code of Conduct

A key purpose of Crafting Participatory Tech Futures initiative is to demonstrate the variety of disciplines and backgrounds that can help steer the future of technology. The necessity for diversity can result in clashes between worldviews. This code sets out: (i) expected behaviours when participating in the Crafting Participatory Tech Futures initiative, and (ii) methods for resolution.

Principles for Participation

Participating in the Crafting Participatory Tech Futures initiative means adhering to the following principles, adapted from All European Academies (2011):

• Duty of care is paramount. We are all here to learn from one another and that requires that we all feel safe and included in discussions. Kindness is key to the success and enjoyment of a Crafting Participatory Tech Futures initiative.
• Honesty in engaging with views and interpretations that differ from our own, and in providing evidence to argue for one's position.
• Humility relates to honesty insofar that we must be honest with our own limitations. Workshop participants must be open to others' perspectives and accepting that others may know more about a certain domain.
• Charitability is about treating all perspectives with the same due diligence. No perspective is automatically better than another, and adequate argumentation is necessary to overcome differences.
• Open communication entails the publication of insights from Crafting Participatory Tech Futures workshops. This is not to enforce full transparency. Unless agreed upon elsewhere, Crafting Participatory Tech Futures workshops and related conversations mandate the Chatham House Rule, whereby insights may be shared publicly but not ascribed to any individual.
• Impartiality from political, financial or ideological pressure groups. This does not mean workshop participants are expected to be "apolitical" (the initiative is about nurturing social change and, therefore, are deeply political), but contributing with some political, financial or ideological agenda can lead to biased and ineffectual insights.

Resolution

Should a participant of a workshop or contributor to a discussion or publication feel that they are witnessing unacceptable behaviours, including racist, sexist, transphobic or ableist comments, or any form of bullying or harassment, they are invited to tell a workshop facilitator or lead author.

If the unacceptable behaviour takes place during an online workshop, the witness may message a facilitator or the lead author directly, using the meeting platform's chat function. The facilitator or lead author will then assess the situation, likely coordinate with colleagues at RAIN, take the perpetrator aside, and agree with them on whether the behaviour will come to an end, or they must leave the workshop.