Maptime

Maptime is an open learning environment for all levels and degrees of knowledge, offering intentional educational support for the beginner. Maptime is simultaneously flexible and structured, creating space for mapping tutorials, workshops, ongoing projects with a shared goal, and independent/collaborative work time. Beginners most welcome!

Code of Conduct

Note: this Code of Conduct has been pulled from citizencodeofconduct.org. Many thanks to them for the work they do, and for providing language for us to speak to a code of conduct for Maptime.

A primary goal of Maptime is to be inclusive to the largest number of contributors, with the most varied and diverse backgrounds possible. As such, we are committed to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ability, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and religion (or lack thereof).

This code of conduct outlines our expectations for all those who participate in our community, as well as the consequences for unacceptable behavior. We invite all those who participate in Maptime to help us create safe and positive experiences for everyone.

Open Source / Culture / Tech Citizenship

A supplemental goal of this Code of Conduct is to increase open [source/culture/tech] citizenship by encouraging participants to recognize and strengthen the relationships between our actions and their effects on our community.

Communities mirror the societies in which they exist, and positive action is essential to counteract the many forms of inequality and abuses of power that exist in society. If you see someone who is making an extra effort to ensure our community is welcoming, friendly, and encourages all participants to contribute to the fullest extent, we want to know.

Expected Behavior

We expect Maptime participants to participate in an authentic and active way. In doing so, you contribute to the health and longevity of this community.

Exercise consideration and respect in your speech and actions. Attempt collaboration before conflict. Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech. Be mindful of your surroundings and of your fellow participants.

Alert Maptime leaders if you notice a dangerous situation, someone in distress, or violations of this Code of Conduct, even if they seem inconsequential.

Unacceptable Behavior

Unacceptable behaviors include: intimidating, harassing, abusive, discriminatory, derogatory or demeaning speech or actions by any participant in our community online, at all Maptime-related events and in one-on-one communications carried out in the context of Maptime. Community event venues may be shared with members of the public; please be respectful to all patrons of these locations.

Harassment includes: harmful or prejudicial verbal or written comments related to gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, disability; inappropriate use of nudity and/or sexual images in public spaces (including presentation slides); deliberate intimidation, stalking or following; harassing photography or recording; sustained disruption of talks or other events; inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.

Consequences of Unacceptable Behavior

Unacceptable behavior from any community member, including sponsors and those with decision-making authority, will not be tolerated. Anyone asked to stop unacceptable behavior is expected to comply immediately.

If a participant engages in unacceptable behavior, the organizers may take any action they deem appropriate, up to and including a temporary ban or permanent expulsion from the community without warning (and without refund in the case of a paid event).

If You are Witness or Subject to Unacceptable Behavior

If you are subject to or witness unacceptable behavior, or have any other concerns, please notify a Maptime organizer as soon as possible: hello@maptime.io.

Additionally, community organizers are available to help community participants engage with local law enforcement or to otherwise help those experiencing unacceptable behavior feel safe. In the context of in-person events, organizers will also provide escorts as desired by the person experiencing distress.

Addressing Grievances

If you feel you have been falsely or unfairly accused of violating this Code of Conduct, you should notify Maptime HQ with a concise description of your grievance at hello@maptime.io.

Scope

We expect all community participants (contributors, paid or otherwise; patrons; and other guests) to abide by this Code of Conduct in all community venues—online and in-person—as well as in all one-on-one communications pertaining to community business.

Contact

hello@maptime.io

License and Attribution

This Code of Conduct is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license. Revision 2.0, adopted by the Stumptown Syndicate board on 10 January 2013. Posted 17 March 2013.

Additional List of Things That Are Totally Not OK

The following items are worth calling out as activities that are prohibited from Maptime:

Selling your product. Maptime is a place for co-learning, with a focus on Free Open Source Software (FOSS) tools. Some of these require a fee after a certain level of usage (such as CartoDB or Mapbox), however we will never force you to spend money to learn mapmaking.

To that end and to make our standing in any gray area explicit, using Maptime as an opportunity to sell or pitch your product is prohibited. We will not tolerate anyone – patrons, partners, students, or another participant – using this time for co-learning as a time to get people to buy your product.

Seeking volunteers to build your product. Are you looking for free labor for your idea? You have come to the wrong place.

But wait, what if it’s an artist or nonprofit project and a lot of us really want to work on it? Isn’t Maptime a great place to make that happen? Totally. If Maptime students decide that they want to work on a project for a good cause or an artist or someone who really doesn’t have any money, sure! Local Chapters should decide among themselves if they want to devote Maptime time to this project, or if the project needs to find its own meeting time.

Seeking free consultation for your product or idea. We recommend hiring experts for this kind of thing.

The bottom line: There is a gray area between doing something because you want to learn, and doing something under the guise of learning by building someone else’s product for free. In addition to spec- or deadline-driven work being a major fun ruiner when it comes to learning, using volunteer labor for profit undermines all of our ability to make a fair wage. It is important for everyone working in design and technology to support one another towards earning fair wages, and for people to respect Maptime’s intentions towards learning and community.

Our focus is learning, not selling. With this in mind, we focus on teaching and learning open source software. This is not to say we won’t reference something made with ArcGIS or another proprietary tool, but (1) we will not focus a lesson around it, and (2) we will not encourage Maptime participants to buy it.