Code of Conduct

Purpose

CSSconf EU is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, religion or lack thereof. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any conference venue, including talks. Conference participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference without a refund at the discretion of the conference organisers.

Anti-harassment

Harassment includes, but is not limited to:

Verbal comments that reinforce social structures of domination related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, religion
Sexual images in public spaces
Deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following
Harassing photography or recording
Sustained disruption of talks or other events
Inappropriate physical contact
Invasion of personal space
Unwelcome sexual attention
Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behaviour

Enforcement

Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.

If a participant engages in harassing behaviour, event organisers retain the right to take any actions to keep the event a welcoming environment for all participants. This includes warning the offender or expulsion from the conference with no refund.

Event organisers may take action to address anything designed to, or with the clear impact of, disrupting the event or making the environment hostile for any participants. We expect participants to follow these rules at all event venues and event-related social activities. We think people should follow these rules outside event activities too!

Reporting

If someone makes you or anyone else feel unsafe or unwelcome, please report it as soon as possible. Conference staff can be identified by t-shirts. Harassment and other Code of Conduct violations reduce the value of our event for everyone. We want you to be happy at our event. People like you make our event a better place. You can make a report either personally or anonymously.

Anonymous report

You can make an anonymous report here. We, the organisers, can’t follow up an anonymous report with you directly, but we will fully investigate it and take whatever action is necessary to prevent a recurrence.

Personal report

In case of aggression or violence please call the security immediately!

Awareness Team

If you need personal support you can always reach out to the Awareness Team directly. Members of the Awareness Team are BIPoC who are hired and trained to provide personal support and help mediate (this does not include security work). They are walking in pairs around the venue and can be identified by blue T-Shirts that read “AWARENESS TEAM” in the front and back. Additionally you can always find two members of the Awareness Team at the registration.

If you would like to report an incident, you can do so via email to awareness@jsconf.eu (Awareness Team). Emails sent to this address are read by the Awareness Team and its Coordination Team which also includes white people (organisers of CSSconf and JSConf EU).

Below you will find the phone numbers which you can call during the main conference hours. The phone will be staffed by the Awareness Team only. If you would like to report anonymously only to the Awareness Team please hide your phone number and reach out to one of the following phone numbers:

Organisers/Curators

You can make a personal report by:

Contacting a TEAM member, identified by TEAM buttons.
Emailing us: contact@cssconf.eu

When taking a personal report, our staff will ensure you are safe and cannot be overheard. They may involve other event staff to ensure your report is managed properly. Once safe, we’ll ask you to tell us about what happened. This can be upsetting, but we’ll handle it as respectfully as possible, and you can bring someone to support you. You won’t be asked to confront anyone and we won’t tell anyone who you are.

Our team will be happy to help you contact hotel/venue security, local law enforcement, local support services, provide escorts, or otherwise assist you to feel safe for the duration of the event. We value your attendance.

Important contact numbers

Police: Sonnenallee 107, 12045 Berlin, phone: 110
Medical Emergency: Call 112.

Inclusive language

In our commitment to a harassment-free and inclusive environment we strongly believe it’s important to pay attention to harmful language patterns and an intersectional view on discriminations that rarely happen only one-sided. We understand that our list of isms below is by far not complete and believe it is a basic start to raise awareness at our events.

Ableism

Words like “crazy”, “dumb”, “insane” or “lame” are examples of ableist language, devaluating people who have physical or mental disabilities. Its appearance often stems not from any intentional desire to offend, but from our innate sense of what it means to be normal. These words can be avoided by using more fitting, clearer descriptions of what we want to communicate.

To find out more about ableism and replacement terms please read this guide.

Sexism

Using gendered terms like “dude” or “guys” to address a mixed-gendered group of people contributes to furthering exclusion of underrepresented individuals. We strongly advise avoiding gendered pronouns as well as gendered terms. If unsure about people’s pronouns, we highly recommend to ask people directly for their pronouns first and to check if there are already any hints provided by themselves (e.g. on badges) instead of assuming their pronouns.

For more information please familiarise yourself with Geek Feminism wiki guide and Wikipedia Third Person Pronoun.

Racism

Racism is deeply rooted in our society and globally, exists among all social classes and is connected to colonialism that has a long history of violence, oppression and domination of one group or individual over another group or individual of different race, ethnicity, culture, and their territories. Addressing individuals or a group of people in a diminutive, derogative or questioning way based on their (assumed) race and ethnic background is therefore racist, disrespectful and harmful. We do not tolerate any racist behavior, slurs, statements or jokes and will take actions if any reports on this matter reach us.

For more information please read Wikipedia Racism.

Photo Policy

The conference has various photographers and videographers present at the venue for visual documentation of the event. Pictures and videos will be published on the conferences’ websites and social media channels.

Opting-in / opting-out of appearing in published pictures

We provide colored lanyards for attendees to indicate their consent with appearing in pictures published by the conference.

Black: I am fine to appear in published pictures
Red: I do not want to appear in published pictures

We brief our conference photographers and videographers to be careful about avoiding photographing in the direction of people wearing red lanyards. However, please note that this is not always feasible due to the crowded and busy environment of our event.

Before we publish our pictures, we’ll remove all pictures containing identifiable pictures of people wearing red lanyards.

Asking to have your picture removed after the conference

If after the event you find a published picture of yourself that you’d like to have removed, please let us know at contact@cssconf.eu / contact@jsconf.eu.

Family photo and other group photos

At the end of the conference, we invite everyone on stage for taking a big group photo (the “family photo”). If you don’t want to be in this picture, please do not join the group for the photo. The red lanyard policy is not applicable in this photo (or possible other clearly announced and organized group photos).

Photos of children

Please absolutely avoid taking photos of minors without explicit consent of the parents, or photos inside the childcare area. The conference will not take or publish any photos of children without explicit consent of the parents.

Respect others’ choice to be in photos or not

Please respect other people’s privacy, boundaries and choice about their willingness to be in pictures. In case of any doubt, please ask before taking photographs of anyone.

In case people with a red lanyard accidentally end up in your pictures, we ask you to unpublish and remove their picture immediately, as well as in case anyone (wearing a red lanyard or not) states their disagreement of getting their picture taken and/or published, or if reported and explicitly requested.

Attribution

This Code of Conduct was based on CSSConf / JSConf AU, The Geek Feminism wiki, the work of Valerie Aurora and Conference Code of Conduct.

Last update: 25 May 2019 - Version 1.4