CLAM Community Code of Conduct

The CLAM Community is dedicated to creating a welcoming, supportive and diverse community around computational Langrangian analysis and modelling science and software.

We are building the CLAM Community in a way that promotes fairness and justice for all, with a particular focus on supporting those from traditionally marginalized / under-represented groups. We want every member of our community to thrive; we want to make a positive impact on our community members' work and on the work of others.

What this code of conduct defines

Our Code of Conduct defines expected behaviour and guidelines that help create such a community.

Anyone who participates in a CLAM Community activity either online or in person is expected to show respect and courtesy to others in all interactions. These interactions may occur in a variety of locations including:

in GitHub repositories
in our Zulip community (including direct messages)
during in-person events,
when representing the CLAM Community in public,
or in any event online or in person where CLAM is leading the event.

To make sure that everyone has a common understanding of “show respect and courtesy to each other,” we have adopted the following code of conduct. The code of conduct is enforced by CLAM Moderators as well as the Steering Council.

Unacceptable behaviour

The following types of behaviour are unacceptable in CLAM spaces, both online and in-person, and constitute code of conduct violations.

Abusive behaviour

Harassment: including offensive verbal comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion, as well as sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual or romantic attention.

Threats: threatening someone physically or verbally. For example, threatening to publicize sensitive information about someone’s personal life.

Unwelcoming behaviour

Blatant acts and micro-aggressions

Blatant micro-aggressions involve making statements that assume negative characteristics in a blanket fashion because of someone's identification with a particular group. We take micro-aggressions seriously, especially important when they target traditionally marginalized groups (e.g., explicitly racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic statements).

For example, arguing that some people are less intelligent because of their gender, race, religion.

Repeated, subtle and unintentional micro-aggressions

Subtle acts of aggression refer to small, unintentionally harmful mistakes made in conversation. These acts are not necessarily a code of conduct violation when made by mistake.

However, repeating something after it has been pointed out to you that you broke a social rule, or antagonizing or arguing with someone who has pointed out your micro-aggression is considered unwelcoming behaviour, and is not allowed in the CLAM Community.

Maliciousness towards other community members

Maliciousness towards other community members: deliberately attempting to make others feel bad, name-calling, singling out others for derision or exclusion. For example, telling someone they’re not a real programmer or that they don’t belong at CLAM. If somebody makes such a statement without malice, they may still be in violation of the Code of Conduct if their actions are deemed especially/repeatedly unpleasant (see below).

Being especially or repeatedly unpleasant: for example, if we’ve received reports from multiple CLAM users, team members, or collaborators of agitating, rude, or especially distracting behaviour over an extended period of time.

Scope in which the CLAM code of conduct is applied

CLAM community members are held to the standards outlined in this code of conduct when interacting in the CLAM Zulip or GitHub repositories, when interacting in-person at events where they could represent CLAM (this is most professional events), in physical spaces or with other CLAM team members or collaborators.

In addition, the CLAM community and experience often extends outside those spaces—CLAM community members may go on walks together to get lunch, attend meetups or conferences as a group, communicate on social media, or interact with each other in other communities.

Abusive or unwelcoming behaviour between community members still has a profound impact on individuals and on the community when it happens beyond our walls. The CLAM Steering Council will use our discretion when deciding how to respond to reports of such behaviour and how to proceed with enforcement. Enforcement may include removing someone from the CLAM community. We will take into account the impact on the individual community members involved as well as the impact on the community at large.

Note

When in doubt, please report unacceptable behaviour to us. If someone's behaviour make you feel unsafe within the CLAM space, we want to support and help you.

Enforcement

We’ve categorized unacceptable behaviour into abuse and unwelcoming behaviour in the section above.

We do not tolerate abusive behaviour within the CLAM Community. If we witness or receive a report of abusive behaviour, we will contact the perpetrator to have a conversation with them and verify what has transpired.

We will follow this response protocol:

If we verify abusive behaviour:

They will be removed from the CLAM Community
Their Zulip account will be deactivated, and
Permissions will be removed from any CLAM-related repositories and/or accounts.

The person will not be welcome in any physical or digital spaces covered by the CLAM Code of Conduct.

If we verify unwelcome, but non-abusive behaviour, we will have a conversation with the person about their behaviour. The goal of the conversation will be to ensure that they understand the expectation that they not repeat the behaviour or other behaviors that would violate the Code of Conduct a second time.

Response protocol steps

The CLAM Moderators and Steering Council will use the steps below to respond to reports of code of conduct violations.

The report will be read carefully
We will followup with the person who reported the violation
We will followup with the community member whose behaviour was reported as violating the code of conduct

Based upon the above steps, we will to determine whether there has been a code of conduct violation

Reporting code of conduct violations

If you see a violation of our code of conduct, please reach out directly to a Moderator. The list of Moderators are visible on the website, and also have the Moderator role on Zulip.

Current Moderators and Steering Council members

Moderators and members of the Steering Council are visible on the home page of the CLAM website. You can contact them either via Zulip or via the contact details listed on the website.

Why should I report code of conduct violations?

You are a part of the CLAM community. Everyone in this community has a shared responsibility for making CLAM a safe and comfortable space. The CLAM Moderators and Steering Council members are active in the community, however we may still miss an incident that violates of code of conduct. We thus need your help to enforce the code of conduct.
The consequences to our community, of not reporting bad behaviour outweigh the consequences for one person of reporting it. We sometimes hear “I don’t want X person to face consequences because I told someone about their bad behaviour.” You were likely not the only one impacted by this even. Consider the potential impact on others if this behaviour continues! We thank you in advance for reporting it to us.
CLAM is an open, participatory, community-driven community. Our community depends upon shared trust between community members. Reporting code of conduct violations helps us identify when this trust is broken. Your report helps us prevent the behaviour from happening again.

When to seek help immediately

Instead of filling out a code of conduct violation report, please contact law enforcement directly to report criminal activity (e.g. physical assault, sexual assault, theft), or to report a dangerous physical situation (e.g. fire, serious injury, fear that someone will hurt themselves or someone else).

License

The CLAM code of conduct is available under the terms of the CC0 license.

Significant parts of this code of conduct are adapted from the pyOpenSci and 2i2c Codes of Conduct - which are both under the CCO license.