Equity

In keeping with ongoing efforts toward greater inclusion and equity at CHI, we’re happy to announce the chairing of a new position: CHI Equity. Meant to help build greater capacity for inclusive practices and to help foster a culture of respect, this position is tasked with a number of responsibilities: from advocacy and service/facility establishment to communication between other SIGs and chairs; program development; training programs; space-making; and on-the-ground support for related efforts at the conference. The position also addresses a gap identified in CHI’s past: the multi-faceted and intersectional nature of many equity-related initiatives struggled in finding a designated supervisor, thus individual chairs were tasked with spearheading miscellaneous initiatives on top of their primary responsibilities. Complications in perview, passing along information and lessons in their role documentation, and measures falling between the cracks resulted. This in turn limited what was passed along to future committees to maintain corrections from previous initiatives and improve efforts for future events. For these reasons, among many others, we are extremely motivated to start laying the groundwork for the ongoing, sustained growth of equity-related efforts in our conference community.

In an effort to be transparent, we feel it is important to outline our process. Documenting what we have learned is the first step in formalizing a stronger institutional memory for CHI and working toward better systems for accountability.

It’s our inaugural year. That means this position has been largely in development, concerned with social investigation, communication, and administration. We started with listening: reviewing the feedback from previous year’s surveys, social media, 2018’s listening post, and outreach. We spoke with past chairs, took account of what has been working for past participants and what hasn’t, and did so with a view toward what’s possible (given organizational constraints). We wanted to look beyond norms within the CHI community, so we consulted over 60 individuals and organizations (professional, academic, and grassroots) with long-standing experience in equity-, capacity-building, and event organizing. All of this was done with the support and guidance of the CHI steering committee and CHI 2019’s general chairs.

What has resulted is a long-term, multi-year series of projects: from forming legacy documents and developing long-term social goals to greater dialogue with ACM and other SIGCHIs about the limits and purview of CHI. While you’ll see more of what we’re working on behind CHI’s curtains, as attendees you should see better maintenance of many prior initiatives, the institution of several new initiatives, and the refinement of a lot of processes.

Balancing CHI’s primary purpose (the translation and discussion of scientific knowledge in human-computer interaction) and its social responsibilities (to attendees past, present, and future and the world-at-large is complicated. As a highly successful academic conference, CHI has extensive social power, well-established traditions, permissions and foci; it also has its functional limitations and inherent social inequalities. An important part of what we’ve learned from our discussions is how to strike a better balance between these tensions without emphasis on one detracting from the importance of another.  

Allies

• ALLYSHIP PROGRAM: This year you will see designated allies (who will be wearing an “ALLY” pin) throughout the entire conference. Selected for their past experiences in equity-related activities and organizing, these volunteers are trained by us in basic bystander intervention, harassment and discrimination management, relevant policies, and CHI Equity procedures. They are friendly faces that you are encouraged to approach, whether you have questions about equity, need direction, or are looking to file a report.
  • If you would like to volunteer as an official ally, please indicate so on your registration. We will be reaching out to those interested (and those who put “maybe, but tell me more first!”) with more information on the training and expected commitment in the near future.

Listening & Accountability

• REPORTING SYSTEM: Attendees are encouraged to file a report should they experience harassment or discrimination during their time at the CHI conference. Doing so not only helps keep everyone accountable, they are a way to identify recurring issues or problematic individuals. You may file a report here, anonymously or not, as a target or witness of harassment and/or discrimination.

You do not have to be the target of harassment to file a report.

• Due to conflicts of interest or potential discomfort with reporting to one party or another, there are four separate systems to which you may file a report.  
  • Equity Chairs: equity@chi2019.acm.org
  • General Chairs: generalchairs@chi2019.acm.org
  • ACM: advocate@acm.org
  • Anonymous Advice/Suggestion Box
  • Please note: We have done what we can within our capacity to vet and train allies; however, we cannot guarantee them as “safe,” ensure their behaviour or guarantee provided information. Although experienced and trained, these friendly-faced volunteers are not substitutes for legal aid or professional help. And in the rare case that a designated ally is identified as problematic in any way, please contact the Equity Chairs or General Chairs immediately.  

• LISTENING POST: As another opportunity to hear and be heard, there will be a drop in “listening post” event on Wednesday from 8:00-10:20am, in room Island B CROWN. We chose this time so that both early risers with first session plans can attend, as well as those who would like to spend the start of their conference day sharing with others in this environment. This will be an opportunity to openly express your experiences, thoughts, wants, and concerns regarding your CHI experience.  The Equity team and other organizers will be in attendance, and feedback from this session will inform key aspects of CHI 2020.

• CHANNELS FOR COMMUNICATION: We want to ensure participants and attendees can shape CHI as much as possible. In addition to revising the standard post-conference survey, we have added the listening post event, one-on-one’s with the Equity chairs during CHI (just flag us down if you see us in person!), a harassment report-filing system, volunteer allies, and an anonymous message center. We’ve also increased our coordination and communication with other chairs and select SIGCHI communities. We hope that between these channels–all of which are asked to report to Equity, the General Chairs, and (if needed) ACM–you can feel heard and we can be accountable to you.

• Catching as many of the issues and gathering as much feedback as possible is largely why we’ve created so many channels for communication. (We can’t fix a problem of which we aren’t aware!) Part of our learning process has been finding out from social media about problems that were easily resolved once we were aware of the issue, and wish we could have acted sooner to prevent negative impacts on others who were subsequently affected. Because it helps ensure we catch issues, can address mistakes or omissions, and helps us in growing accountability, contact us directly at equity@chi2019.acm.org so we can be aware of needed resolutions at the point of the breakdown. If you are uncomfortable with emailing us directly, find an ally in person, flag them down, or get the message to us through one of the other sites of communication (like the listening post or anonymous message center).
• Just as in years past, the #CHIversity hashtag on Twitter has served as a way to document equity-related concerns online. We have reviewed these posts as well as the invaluable #CHIversity zines in our own preparation for this year. If you still prefer to post concerns or issues on social media, we encourage you use this hashtag. This greatly helps with findability of feedback. Do note, however, hashtags can mean that the issue is not seen within a reasonable period for response and resolution. That’s why we are partnering with and briefing the social media team to help us connect when issues are flagged online. The official CHI 2019 hashtag is #chi2019, and the Twitter handle is @chi2019

Facilities

• PRAYER ROOM: This year, an on-site multi-faith prayer room has been secured and is reachable from the concourse at the exit of hall 4. Rules and guidelines, compiled from best practices across international sources, will be posted outside the room.

• BATHROOMS: New this year, SIGCHI has adopted a policy for all-gender bathrooms (restrooms) that applies to the organization of all SIGCHI-sponsored conferences. This policy aims to clear up confusion around standards and alleviates some of the gaps that we identified going into this role regarding who does what and how. The full policy can be found here. If you have feedback on this policy, please let us know so that we can make recommendations. Please note that the 2019 conference venue features change tables for infants in separate rooms apart from the restrooms. For more information on family and childcare resources at CHI 2019, please visit the Childcare and Family page.   

• DESENSITIZATION ROOM: We are continuing with last year’s desensitization room. Participants have shown continued support for an on-site quiet space to decompress, reset, or temporarily distance themselves from the high-intensity stimulation of the conference. It is located near the exit to Hall 4 in the main concourse.

• BADGE PRONOUNS: Last year we saw a technical issue with “other” being printed in place of labelled pronouns and we are doing all we can to ensure this (and related issues) will not happen at CHI 2019. All attendees will be given the option to self-identify on their badges during registration (which is not required) and these badges will be checked and proofed prior to distribution.

Partner Chairs & Miscellany

• CHI is an enormous event and institution, the work of many hands, minds and hearts. Events this large mean the work of many hands, and the majority of equity initiatives and programs at work during CHI would not exist without dedicated volunteer chairs. Beyond the extensive work of the General Chairs and Assistants to the General Chairs, CHI involves efforts from:
  • Local Arrangements Chairs
  • Accessibility Chairs
  • CHI Family/Childcare Chairs
  • Diversity and Inclusion Lunch Chairs
  • Language Inclusion Chairs
  • Newcomers Chairs
  • Sustainability Chairs
  • Communications Chairs
  • Telepresence and Livestreaming Chairs
  • Our sponsors, and so many more
• The CHI2019 Organising Page has links to each individually chaired position and this year’s contacts. We encourage you to check out their webpages, stay current with their initiatives, and reach out to any of these individuals with feedback or suggestions per their specific individual responsibilities.

Equity can only be obtained through collective effort. That’s why we require that you help us to set better standards for behavior. This not only means being familiar with ACM’s updated policy against discrimination and harassment, this means a personal responsibility to our social contracts for equitable behavior.

A core step in striking a better balance is establishing better, respectful norms of behavior–alongside one another. We are all responsible for setting better standards of behavior. This not only means being familiar with ACM’s updated policy against discrimination and harassment, this means a personal responsibility to our social contracts for equitable behavior. We’ve included below much of the hard-learned lessons given to us in our early social investigation. What follows is not comprehensive; it’s just a start. We encourage you to look further into each of the headings as you see fit or where concepts and responsibilities are unclear. As always, feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like more information.

• Consent: Ultimately permission, “consent” is whether or not someone agrees to an interaction (be that a conversation, a collaboration, plans, touch, intimacy, etc). Practicing consent is easy in theory: it’s making certain a person agrees to the form and content of an upcoming interaction. Being sure someone has given consent becomes complicated in everyday life when we consider social power, coping mechanisms, what an individual perceives as threatening or coercive, and individual responses to stress (e.g. fight, flight, freezing, passivity, etc.). Due to these complexities, saying “no” is much more complicated than we would like to believe. At its most basic, we support the idea that consent is exclusively an explicitly given, assertive “yes.”
  • Silence, shyness, hesitation, ambiguous and other difficult-to-read responses are common. We recognize there are many challenges in correctly evaluating the emotional responses of people, especially from other cultures and groups. There can be challenges with reading emotional and social cues altogether. When in doubt: ask. Anything short of a direct, affirmative, non-pressured response is not consent. The following questions may help in checking yourself and those around you for positive, consensual engagement:
    • Does anyone in contact with me appear anxious, withdrawn, disinterested, or short in their responses?
    • Have I provided comfortable opportunities for them to remove themselves from this interaction?
    • Do they appear engaged in this interaction and do they make personally-motivated efforts to further this interaction?
    • Have I avoided punishing or pressuring responses or reactions from others around me?
    • Remember: consider the neurodiversity of yourself and the CHI attendees with whom you may interact. For a wide variety of reasons, individuals display and respond to cues and expectations differently. Every situation is unique; please reflect on your own needs and the individuality of others when assessing an interaction.
• Respect: You have a right to be respectful and to be respected. “Respect” is a complicated term, but you are most likely familiar with what it looks and feels like. Recall a positive, energizing interaction with a mentor, teacher, elder, professional–someone you deeply admired or carefully learned from: that’s one way of understanding respect. There’s often a feeling of trust or leniency, a bit of excited nervousness, and a lot of patience in interactions like these. Try to invoke this feeling or project those behaviors while interacting with others at the conference. You’ll be more patient, engaged, open to others’ experiences/knowledge, and you’ll come across much more humble.
• Expectations: It’s important to keep in mind everyone will arrive at CHI with different levels of understanding and practice at the standards set above. While harassment and discrimination are strictly prohibited and will be treated as such, adherence to the above practices for equitable behavior is much more self-determined self-governed. We do not wish to police people in their daily interactions (this would violate a host of rights and impose strange social powers into an academic conference). Above and beyond all, take care of yourself. Listen to and enforce your boundaries. We should all expect some amount of social error, some activation of triggers, some upsetting interactions or circumstances. The very context of this as an academic conference, accountable to larger funding bodies and institutional circles, being abroad (for most), highly diverse attendant guests, and all the entrenched social powers that come along with this guarantee some oversights, some misunderstandings.
  • Our goal, together, is to minimize misunderstandings, interpersonal, and institutional violence alike; however, not all attendees have the privilege of regular interactions or social circles where these standards are discussed or practiced regularly. Dynamics, values, and norms vary by culture and cultures have variable agency to practice their beliefs. None of us identify as or have the experiences of everyone else. It’s crucial we respect that many are still learning, and all of us are still working at undoing and correcting socially-learned inequitable behavior.
    • This is not to suggest micro-aggressions, traumas, or wide scale social errors and the feelings that accompany them should be minimized or ignored; rather, we should steel ourselves for the worst, listen closely and carefully to our boundaries, and act within the limits of what we feel capable at any given moment. Follow what feels right to you, and know the on-site allies, equity chairs, and general chairs are there to provide what support and correction we are able.
    • We urge caution and restraint from speaking on behalf of groups of others unless they have directly consented to your doing so. We similarly urge caution and restraint where opinions about beliefs, values, practices, ideas, and peoples are concerned. Ask yourself, “do I need to have an opinion on this? Does it directly impact my life? Am I speaking from personal experience or against the personal experiences of others? Why? To what end?”

If you’re attending, regularly check-in with yourself–as much for yourself as in respect of others. Ask yourself the following questions throughout the conference:

• Self-Care: CHI can be a fast-paced, highly complex experience. We emphasize taking moments throughout each day to check-in with yourself and engage in self-care. While your self-care practices are entirely your own, we feel the following sample questions are helpful in taking account of your well-being:
  • Have I had enough sleep, food, water, and time to relax/decompress?
  • What mood, attitude, energy and knowledge am I bringing into this space? Is it welcomed, challenging, hostile, permissive, etc.?
  • Am I recognizing that others’ experiences differ from my own?
  • Am I able to hold myself in good faith, trusting that others’ experiences are legitimate?
  • Am I in a position to critically learn from the thoughts and experiences of others?
  • Do I have the energy to not take things personally?
  • Do I have the energy and resources needed to stand up for myself?
  • If I can’t take time during the conference, do I have a plan or supports in place for catching-up on rest after the conference?
• Appropriate speech & behavior: While methods of self-care are individual, our efforts to build norms toward an equitable environment are social. ACM and CHI’s policy against discrimination and harassment represent the baseline for appropriate and prohibited behavior. But the multiplied effects of our daily interactions happens in the space between our ability to enforce this legal policy and our generalized ideals. Each interaction contributes to what the “CHI space” feels like. You can choose to work through the following questions to reflect on how you may contribute to making space for yourself and others to be heard:   
  • Am I making space for others and accommodating their experiences or backgrounds?
  • Have I taken care of myself to avoid being reactive?
  • Have I reminded myself that my experiences and knowledge are valid, earned, and worth being heard?
  • Am I being humble and not assuming expertise?
  • Am I watching how much space/time/dialogue I’m taking-up, and who might be excluded or silenced as a result?
  • Am I giving those around me the opportunity and time to be heard?
  • Do I feel comfortable taking the space I need in order to be heard?
  • Am I making assumptions about other people’s gender identity, pronouns, background, ethnicity, values, abilities, or beliefs?
• Harassment & Intervention: What constitutes harassment is defined from the viewpoint of the target. Harassment can be about territoriality (driving people out of a profession or situation), impressing others at the expense of someone else, actions to elevate yourself above someone else by diminishing them, or insulting a group of people on some basis of their identity. Harassment can be predatory (getting a thrill out of doing something shocking, and the charge comes from the person’s reaction to that). It can be resistance testing, where a harasser starts with a joke or comment then keep escalating to see how far they push an interaction. Ultimately, harassment is related to power: who has it, who wants it, and how it’s obtained/maintained or transferred.
• Harassment and/or discrimination can be deliberate or unintentional. We ask that everyone act in good faith, however harassment (and discrimination) often occurs alongside the best of intentions. What matters is whether others consent (to your words and actions) and if those words and actions are respectful in nature and reception. Whether consent and respect are behind your words is determined by your audience.  
• In any case, harassment and discrimination are immensely harmful: to the target, to the perpetrator, to the social group, and to the organization in general. Attendees are encouraged to file a report should they experience harassment or discrimination during their time at the CHI conference. Doing so not only helps keep everyone accountable, they are a way to identify recurring issues or problematic individuals. You may file a report or suggest someone else considers filing a report via the channels listed below. Note that you may also report or comment anonymously online, using this form. You do not have to be the target of harassment to file a report. Due to conflicts of interest or potential discomfort with reporting to one party or another, there are four separate systems to which you may file a report. Your reports will be kept confidential.
  • Report Filing System
  • Equity Chairs: equity@chi2019.acm.org
  • General Chairs: generalchairs@chi2019.acm.org
  • ACM: advocate@acm.org
• Because harassment often involves power dynamics (e.g. who can speak, who is heard), many instances of harassment or discrimination go unreported. This can be because they don’t know who to tell, there’s no formal policy or response to instances when they are known, or individuals fear retaliation (labelling, impacts on career advancement, etc). This year we’ve decided to have trained and informed “ALLIES” around during the conference. These volunteer allies have some knowledge of bystander intervention and are trained in who to contact during upsetting or harmful situations.
  • CHI is a big conference, however. If you see someone being harassed or someone acting in a hostile or discriminatory way and you can’t find an ally, we encourage you to ask yourself these questions:
    • Have I assessed the seriousness of the situation? Often, if a situation is particularly traumatic for a target of harassment, they will be eerily calm and speak in a very calm voice. They may have an over the top reaction, indicating this may have triggered them based on something that has happened in the past. In either case, their response indicates that the severity is probably pretty bad.
    • Am I safe? Assess the situation, how much it could escalate, and mentally prepare yourself for things to get worse before they get better. Remember: do not intervene if you do not feel safe to do so.
    • Do I have supports around me? Can I call on others in the area to help if needed?
    • What can I do to make the target feel safe? Bystander interventions should almost always direct themselves at the target, ensuring their safety rather than escalating a situation with a harasser.
    • If I’m intervening, have I asked the target what they need? Always ask, never tell. Listen before offering advice or solutions. Take as much time as you need to hear what the target needs to tell you. If they pause, let them collect themselves, let them get over their fight or flight response, give them time to talk before you talk about what could happen next. When someone is harassed their autonomy has been reduced. Do what you can to put power and control back in their hands. Make it their decision what happens next (e.g. “What would you like to happen next?” “What can i do to help?” “Would you like to report this?”
    • Do I know the process for reporting and does the target want to file a report at a later time?
    • Have I noted down the details to file a report myself? Remember: who, what, when, where.
    • Have I followed up with the target, asking them if they would like friends here or people to support them, or if they need a safe walk to another space?
  • NOTE:  If someone’s life or wellbeing is in danger, of course, call local emergency lines. However, we urge consideration when considering whether to involve security or the police without consent of the person at-risk. Police engagement often compounds the trauma of the event for many, creating additional complications and problems for the person at-risk.

If you’re presenting, check-in with yourself while preparing your public work, the evening before presenting, and directly before you present. Public engagement creates anxiety for us all, and it can be difficult to remain collected in these anxious states. Take moments for yourself to breathe and de-escalate between your presentation and any Q&As or between poster attendees. Reset and remind yourself: your voice is wanted here. Regularly ask yourself the following:

• Have I checked off all of the self-care questions above?
• Have I done what I can to feel confident (you’re already here, your paper already accepted and blindly approved by professionals!) and secure in my knowledge?
• Have I run through my presentation and checked for any errors, technical issues, or trouble spots?
• Have I mentally prepared myself for the worst-case scenarios (questions, criticisms, errors) knowing even if they happen I’ll be fine and life goes on?
• Does any of my content contain images, phrases, slang, or references to people that are sensitive in nature (to people of various genders, abilities, ethnicities, religious affiliations, cultures, ages, education levels, economic or political grouping), and that could be interpreted as offensive or unnecessary to communicating my main message ?
• Do I make any jokes at the expense of a person or peoples that might offend others?
  • If yes to either of the above, is this necessary?
    • If necessary, then is this potentially upsetting content framed properly?
    • Do I provide a content warning for potentially upsetting or emotionally-loaded content?
    • Do I know the demographics of my audience?

• Correspond with your session chairs and presenters via email prior to the conference. This is a good opportunity to remind them of their presentation date and time, as well as their length of time.
  • Think of yourself as a mini-advocate for your authors’ work
  • Request a copy of their work to familiarize yourself with their presentation. This will also allow you to prepare questions in advance
  • Ask if they have questions they would like you to ask to highlight a particular aspects of their work
  • Inform presenters that they should arrive approximately 15 minutes prior to session start for a short introduction and to assure that there are no technical issues.
  • Ask if there is anything they would like highlighted or omitted in their introduction
  • Ask for and memorize their pronoun
  • Ask if they have any questions about the content of their material, its suitability, if they have any special needs, or general questions.
• You should arrive in the session room approximately 30 minutes prior to session start.
  • Double-check with presenters on the pronunciation of their name, institution, place of birth, and any other introductory material.

We actively encourage you to contact us in the event that any harassment, discrimination, or violence (physical, social, emotional, or otherwise) is observed. Keep us aware, accountable, and informed so that we can respond and do our best to correct any issues that arise.

You may file a report or suggest someone else considers filing a report via the channels listed below. Note that you may also report or comment anonymously online, using this form. You do not have to be the target of harassment to file a report. Due to conflicts of interest or potential discomfort with reporting to one party or another, there are four separate systems to which you may file a report.

We’ve provided multiple sites for reporting because sometimes people feel safer reporting to some bodies rather than others. For ease of organization and speed of response we encourage you to follow this suggested chain of command unless there is a conflict of interest.  

• File an online report, here
• File a report with our Equity Chairs: equity@chi2019.acm.org
• File a report with our General Chairs: generalchairs@chi2019.acm.org
• File a report with ACM: advocate@acm.org

Filing reports aren’t the only way to help us identify issues or request support. We encourage you to  

• If you can, take a moment to breathe. Remove yourself from the harmful situation by using the decompression room or finding a quiet place. Drink some water and seek trusted, known social support.
• You can submit anonymous advice/suggestions here
• Find and speak with one of us, your equity chairs!
• Speak with one of the trained, volunteer allies
• Raise your concerns/experiences during the listening post: Wednesday, May 8, from 8am-10:20am to accommodate those who would like to drop in to share their thoughts before the first session of the day.
• Speak with a friend, family member, or mentor and advocate for yourself to the extent you feel able.