Code of Conduct: Turning Earth In Production
1. Purpose
In Production aims to be inclusive to the largest number of makers, 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 In Production to help us create safe and positive experiences for everyone.
2. Authorship
A supplemental goal of this Code of Conduct is to increase the community authorship of individual members 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.
3. Expected Behavior
The following behaviors are expected and requested of all community members:
Participate in an authentic and active way. Be an author of as well as a participant in the community. In doing so, you contribute to the health and longevity of the community.
Recognise where you have power to improve a situation and take action. Be adaptable: where there are constraints that are outside your circle of influence, maintain focus on what you can change.
Attend community meetings where possible. Take responsibility for improving their productivity and usefulness. When you cannot attend find another way to contribute. Contribute to surveys, doodles and elections.
When things aren’t working take appropriate action to solve them - inform managers and member leaders where they may be able to help to solve a problem.
Exercise consideration, respect and mindfulness of the needs of others in your speech and actions.
Attempt collaboration before conflict. Engage directly with others to solve problems where possible.
Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech.
Be mindful of your surroundings and of your fellow participants. Alert community leaders (either a nominated member leader or a manager of Turning Earth) if you notice a dangerous situation, someone in distress, or violations of this Code of Conduct, even if they seem inconsequential.
Remember that at times the In Production site may be shared with members of the public; please be respectful to all patrons.
Be respectful of other people’s creative space, including their intellectual property and their work processes. The studio is a safe environment for incubating creative ideas and other people’s right to develop proprietary products in the shared space should be respected at all times.
Clean up after yourself fully before you leave the studio. Fulfil any additional cleaning or studio management tasks assigned to you in full. If you are unable to do a task one week ensure it is adequately covered by another member who has consented to help you. Clean any horizontal surfaces that you are responsible for at least every month.
4. Unacceptable Behavior
The following behaviors are considered harassment or community boundaries violations and are unacceptable within our community:
Violence, threats of violence or violent language directed against another person.
Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist or otherwise discriminatory jokes and language.
Posting or displaying sexually explicit or violent material.
Personal insults, particularly those related to gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, or disability.
Inappropriate photography or recording.
Inappropriate physical contact. You should have someone’s consent before touching them.
Giving unsolicited feedback about other people’s work. This is a protected creative environment and you should ask for consent before giving your input into the creative process of others.
Unwelcome sexual attention. This includes, sexualized comments or jokes; inappropriate touching, groping, and unwelcomed sexual advances.
Deliberate intimidation, stalking or following (online or in person).
Infringing the intellectual property of others, whether by copying their work without explicit permission or disclosing details about their creative process outside the studio. The studio is a closed-doors environment for developing creative ideas and other people’s work processes should be respected at all times.
Talking loudly, playing loud music, entertaining guests or other activity with the potential to cause disruption, without the prior consent of other members.
Using the space in ways other than that outlined in the handbook. For example, using more than your apportioned space, or leaving your personal possessions in communal areas when you leave the studio.
Leaving equipment unclean after use, leaving mess out, or not fulfilling your assigned cleaning and studio management tasks.
Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior.
Sustained disruption of community events, including talks and presentations.
Putting the studio and its equipment in danger - eg. not locking up properly, leaving heaters and other electrical items on when the studio is unattended, leaving flammable materials near a firing kiln, etc.
5. Consequences of Unacceptable Behavior
Unacceptable behavior from any community member, including staff and those with decision-making authority, will not be tolerated.
Anyone asked to stop unacceptable behavior is expected to comply immediately.
If a community member engages in unacceptable behavior, the Turning Earth team may take any action they deem appropriate, up to and including a temporary ban or permanent expulsion from the community without warning.
We will make a thorough investigation of any complaint and where necessary engage participants to hear all viewpoints.
If we judge that a member has contravened the Code of Conduct we may issue you with a warning, or if it is a serious or repeated contravention we may end your membership. We will give you the reasons in writing. We will consult with member representatives but please note that for the health of the community generally, after consultation with the member committee, the decision to take action is finally that of the Turning Earth leadership. If you have been warned before and contravene the Code of Conduct a second time, you can expect your membership to be terminated.
In the event that a community member is found to have contravened our Code of Conduct, and we have taken action in response, we will give an explanation of our decision to the community in general, while respecting the affected members’ privacy by disclosing only broadly relevant information.
6. Reporting Guidelines
If you are subject to or witness unacceptable behavior, or have any other concerns, please notify a team member as soon as possible. Please write to stella@turning.earth outlining the incident. She will forward your feedback on to the directors and an investigation will be launched.
Additionally, our management team is available to help community members engage with local law enforcement or to otherwise help those experiencing unacceptable behavior feel safe.
7. Addressing Grievances
If you feel you have been falsely or unfairly accused of violating this Code of Conduct, you should notify Turning Earth with a concise description of your grievance. We will then investigate the situation and engage in a listening process involving all participants before taking action.
8. Scope
We expect all community participants (members, management team, technical team and 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.
This code of conduct and its related procedures also applies to unacceptable behavior occurring outside the scope of community activities when such behavior has the potential to adversely affect the safety and well-being of community members.
9. Contact info
To contact us please write to stella@turning.earth. If your complaint involves Stella you may contact Lewis@turning.earth
This Code of Conduct is inspired by http://citizencodeofc... and is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. We use it with some changes to reflect the specific needs of our organisation.