Volunteer

Arch of Dignity

Judy Baca

judybaca.com

Getting Started

Our new volunteer sign-up form is here. It's not mandatory to fill out, but we will share the responses with project managers for them to get a sense of skillset and availability.

We are back to in-person hacknights being held at Hacker Dojo in Mountain View! For now, we plan on meeting up on a monthly basis on the 1st Thursday of the month. Check out our Meetup page or join our Discord server for details and registration links.

Our online Discord chat group and in-person Meetups are great places to get started helping with a project! Anyone can join! Technical skills are not required to contribute.

1. Join Our Discord

We use Discord as our primary communication channel to collaborate on projects and stay updated on events.

2. Attend a Meetup

Event details for our next virtual meeting are available on our Meetup page. We onboard new members at every meetings. You can also meet our existing members and team leads. Everyone is welcome!

Open Source San José typically meets two Thursdays a month at 6:30pm.

3. Browse Our Projects on Github

We use Github to store, manage, and publish the open source code for our projects. If you don't have an account yet, you will need to sign up.

Take a look at our Github repositories to see what we are working on currently and what we could use your help with!

4. Fill Out Our Onboarding Interest Form

We will use the responses to better understand what volunteers are looking to do and see if any project managers are looking for that skillset and interest. If no one has reached out, feel free to ping us on Discord. We are all volunteers, so there may be some lag in response but someone will eventually reach out.

Before you join...

Every member is expected to read and abide by both our Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment policy. Please read them both carefully.

This document is adapted from Code for America's Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment Policy.

Code of Conduct

The Open Source San José community expects that Open Source San José network activities, events, and digital forums:

  1. Are a safe and respectful environment for all participants.
  2. Are a place where people are free to fully express their identities .
  3. Presume the value of others. Everyone's ideas, skills, and contributions have value.
  4. Don't assume everyone has the same context, and encourage questions.
  5. Find a way for people to be productive with their skills (technical and not) and energy. Use language such as "yes/and," not "no/but."
  6. Encourage members and participants to listen as much as they speak.
  7. Strive to build tools that are open and free technology for public use.
  8. Prioritize access for and input from those who are traditionally excluded from the civic process.
  9. Work to ensure that the community is well-represented in the planning, design, and implementation of civic tech. This includes encouraging participation from women, minorities, and traditionally marginalized groups .
  10. Actively involve community groups and those with subject matter expertise in the decision-making process.
  11. Ensure that the relationships and conversations between community members , the local government staff and community partners remain respectful, participatory, and productive.
  12. Provide an environment where people are free from discrimination or harassment .

Open Source San José reserves the right to ask anyone in violation of these policies not to participate in our activities, events, and digital forums.

Anti-Harassment Policy

This anti-harassment policy is based on the example policy from the Geek Feminism wiki, created by the Ada Initiative and other volunteers.

This policy is based on several other policies, including the Ohio LinuxFest anti-harassment policy, written by Esther Filderman and Beth Lynn Eicher, and the Con Anti-Harassment Project. Mary Gardiner, Valerie Aurora, Sarah Smith, and Donna Benjamin generalized the policies and added supporting material. Many members of LinuxChix, Geek Feminism and other groups contributed to this work.

All Open Source San José network activities, events, and digital forums and their staff, presenters, and participants are held to an anti-harassment policy, included below.

In addition to governing our own events by this policy, Open Source San José will only lend our brand and fund groups that offer an anti-harassment policy to their attendees. For information on how to offer an anti-harassment policy to your group, see this guide from Code for America.

Open Source San José is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, or religion . We do not tolerate harassment of staff, presenters, and participants in any form . Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any Open Source San José event or network activity, including talks. Anyone in violation of these policies may be expelled from Open Source San José network activities, events, and digital forums, at the discretion of the event organizer or forum administrator.

Harassment includes but is not limited to:

If a participant engages in harassing behavior, the organizers may take any action they deem appropriate, including warning the offender or expulsion from Open Source San José network activities, events, and digital forums.

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact Open Source San José Captains Annie Steenson, Joseph Richardson and Yan-Yin Choy.

Event staff or forum administrators will be happy to help participants contact hotel/venue security or local law enforcement, provide escorts, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the event.

If you cannot reach an event organizer or forum administrator and/or it is an emergency, please call 911 and/or remove yourself from the situation.

We value your attendance and hope that by communicating these expectations widely we can all enjoy a harassment-free environment.

Email Template for Anti-Harassment Reporting

SUBJECT: Safe Space alert at [EVENT NAME]

I am writing because of harassment at a Open Source San José Communities event, (NAME, PLACE, DATE OF EVENT).

You can reach me at (CONTACT INFO). Thank you.

Source: Github