Group Expectations

Community Agreements

Setting a good vibe doesn’t just fall to the leader. Establish ground rules together. Consider adopting a code of conduct or community agreement that aligns with your profession, community, and group’s values and goals. Codes of conduct are typically used in spaces that have a physical component, such as an organization with a conference, or an established committee or group. Community agreements are well suited for short-term engagements, like projects and workshops.

Implementing a community agreement or code of conduct involves two stages: developing it, then using it.

Developing Agreements

Develop the text and agree on it. Include a guideline for what you will do if harm occurs.

Professional association and community codes of conduct are a great place to get inspiration for a community agreement. Here are some examples:

• BitCurator Consortium Code of Conduct
• Software Preservation Network Code of Conduct
• Digital Library Federation Code of Conduct
• Data Curation Network Code of Conduct

All of these examples include processes for what happens if harm occurs.

Communicating and Using Agreements

Share the agreement once it’s established, then periodically remind the group that the ground rules exist. Examples of ways to communicate community agreements:

• Link to the agreement in your group’s central infrastructure, whatever space is most commonly accessed by the group (for example: running notes, chat application channel description, project management system landing page, etc.)
• Remind people verbally at the beginning of the first few meetings and whenever there are new members in the room
• For large meetings, share the agreement and how to act if harm occurs in the chat or opening comments around 5 minutes into the meeting

If harm occurs, follow the process for acting.

Right-sized Agreements

Is your project a short-term or a long-term one? How many members are you managing? Match your conduct enforcement methods and levels to the size, capacity, and needs of the group. It’s perfectly fine to have a lightweight, maybe even undocumented community agreement, if that works for the group. The important thing is that the group spends some time discussing community agreements and implements what is needed.

The BitCurator Consortium (BCC) developed a project to co-learn python together in self-perpetuating, non-hierarchical groups. When the Python Study Groups coordinators came together to organize and administer a pilot, they established community guidelines for themselves as an exercise in expressing the goals of the project.

When the BCC launched their ten study groups, coordinators shared a template community agreement with each group. Coordinators suggested that each group make changes together, then adopt their agreement. All groups agreed to adopt a community agreement, and most groups took on the template version with few revisions. This lightweight document was adequate for the small groups’ needs.