The organizers of Advancing Open are committed to providing a welcoming, safe, and harassment-free conference experience for everyone. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Disrespectful or discriminatory actions, language, or imagery with regard to race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, family status, disability, or genetic characteristics is not appropriate for any conference venue, including talks and workshop sessions, online interactions (e.g. social media using the event hashtag, interacting on event-related platforms such as Slack), and evening social events. All participants, including speakers, facilitators, and organizers, are subject to the code of conduct.
Conference participants violating the Code of Conduct may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference at the discretion of the conference organizers.
What is Harassment?
Harassment is any unwanted physical or verbal behaviour that interferes with an individual’s ability to comfortably participate in the event or that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment. For the purpose of this Code of Conduct, harassment includes (but is not limited to):
- offensive verbal comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, age, language spoken, race, or religion,
- sexual images in public spaces,
- deliberate intimidation, stalking, following,
- harassing photography or recording,
- sustained disruption of talks or other events,
- inappropriate physical contact, and
- unwelcome sexual attention.
How to Report Issues
If you witness or experience unacceptable behaviour, or have any other concerns, you are encouraged to come forward immediately, either by approaching or contacting a member of the Advancing Open Code of Conduct Committee (see contact info below) or by filling out this anonymous form. (If a member of the organizing team or Code of Conduct Committee is reported for inappropriate behaviour, that person will not be allowed to review your incident.)
Our Process
Each report of unacceptable conduct will be taken seriously and treated confidentially. The Code of Conduct Committee will meet promptly, may gather additional information to the extent possible, and will then determine an appropriate course of action. The Committee may take any action they deem appropriate, including warning the offender or expulsion from the conference. Participants asked to stop any harassing behaviour are expected to comply immediately. Hotel/venue security will be contacted if necessary. If needed, conference hosts will provide information for participants to contact local law enforcement.
We value your attendance and are grateful for your contributions toward making this a successful event.
Advancing Open Code of Conduct Committee:
Lise Brin, ABRC (chair) lise.brin(at)carl-abrc.ca 902-318-4485 (cell)
Nick Shockey, SPARC nick(at)sparcopen.org, 615-400-1449 (cell, US number)
Sandra Wong, SFU swongj(at)sfu.ca
Adapted with permission from the Access Conference (2018) Code of Conduct. Also includes content borrowed from the OpenCon (2018) Code of Conduct , which is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
