The organizers of useR! 2018 are dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone regardless of gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion (or lack thereof).
All attendees, speakers, sponsors and volunteers at useR! 2018 are required to agree to the following code of conduct. Organizers will enforce this code throughout and expect cooperation in ensuring a safe environment for all.
We do not tolerate harassment of useR! 2018 participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any conference venue, including talks, workshops, conference events, Twitter and other online media.
Participants engaging in harassing behavior may be sanctioned in any way organizers deem appropriate. Participants may be given a formally warning to stop the behaviour and expelled if they continue or immediately expelled from the conference without refund and their details will be forwarded to partner institutions and events. Additionally if the harassing behaviour is part of a sponsor display or a talk the display will be removed or the talk stopped as well the other responses listed above.
UseR! 2018 attendants agree to:
- Be considerate in speech and actions, and actively seek to acknowledge and respect the boundaries of fellow attendees.
- Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech. Harassment includes, but is not limited to:
- Stalking
- Deliberate intimidation
- Unwanted photography or recording
- Discriminatory images in public spaces
- Sustained or willful disruption of talks or other events
- Use of sexual or discriminatory imagery, comments, or jokes
- Offensive verbal comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, sexual
- Inappropriate physical contact, which can include grabbing as well as hugging without asking or massaging without asking.
- Unwelcome sexual attention, which can include inappropriate questions of a sexual nature, asking for sexual favours or repeatedly asking for dates or contact information.
- Alert a member of the code of conduct response team (listed below) if you notice a dangerous situation, someone in distress, or violations of this code of conduct, even if they seem inconsequential.
If you are asked to stop harassing behaviour you should stop immediately, even if your behaviour was meant to be friendly or a joke, it was clearly not taken that way and for the comfort of all conference attendees you should stop.
Sponsors are also subject to the anti-harassment policy. In particular, sponsors should not use sexualized images, activities, or other material.
Requirements for talks
Talk slides and presentations fall under the code of conduct. Talk slides should not contain offensive of sexualised material. If this material is impossible to avoid given the topic (for example text mining of material from hate sites) the existence of this material should be noted both in the abstract and at the start of the talk.
Need help?
If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of the useR! 2018 code of conduct response team (listed below).
UseR! 2018 staff may also be contacted, and can put you in direct contact with a member of the response team, or contact them on your behalf. useR! 2018 staff can be readily identified as they will be wearing distinctively colored useR! 2018 t-shirts.
Response team:
- Di Cook (dicook@monash.edu)
- Rob Hyndman (rob.hyndman@monash.edu)
- Miles McBain (milesmcbain@gmail.com)
- Rhydwyn McGuire (Rhydwyn@rhydwyn.net)
- Jessie Roberts (jessie.roberts@qut.edu.au)
- Nicholas Tierney (nicholas.tierney@gmail.com)
They can be identified by the Code of Conduct conference organiser (royal blue) shirts. Any conference organiser and volunteer will be happy to contact a response member on your behalf.
You can also call either of these numbers: 0407 178 910 or 0422 463 027 for assistance with CoC issues.
Adapted from user2016.r-project.org, and http://ropensci.org/coc