Ushahidi's community is incredibly diverse. We've tweaked this draft Code of Conduct for the Ushahidi community. Recommendations are welcome. We will finalize it by May 2013.

For background research See: Draft from Volunteer Technical Community Summit (Original Document from VTC Summit hosted by Geeks without Bounds and the Wilson Center).

Code of Collaboration

Be Considerate

• There are different levels of digital literacy and language/localization in a global community.
• Help each volunteer find roles that work for them and help them learn.
• Be mindful of people's time.

Be Respectful

• Being inclusive means being kind and community focused.
• Consider the ethics of data sharing/ownership.
• Practice and contribute under the principle of "do no harm."
• Recognize that we have potential to do harm and commit to constantly reassessing this risk.
• Understand and work with the community and audience as to what "harm" means to them.

Be Collaborative

• When we disagree, we consult others.
• When we are unsure, we ask for help.
• We take care of ourselves and each other so we can make great contributions and be around for the long haul [see http://neworganizing.com/user/dash/ for inspiration from the political organizing world]
• Hand off your work considerately by turning over remaining tasks to the coordinator or team lead.
• Respect other roles but fulfilling only your assigned tasks.
• Urgent and critical items follow the verification protocols.
• Ensure and create thorough documentation to protect resilience.

Be Transparent

• Maintain transparency of process and code.
• Share your process, best practices, lessons learned so others have opportunities to share with you, and to help build community.
• The community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. No prerequisites exist to participate in the community. Inclusiveness in make-up, action, and participation.
  • (Prerequisites do have to be set, depending on how a VTC is organized, their leadership may be assuming legal liability for actions of members. Those assuming risk have to be in a position to control their risk by setting rules.)
• Seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and the reality of those around us, as well as participation in society.

Be Mindful of people's privacy

• Be mindful of security and privacy considerations. Do not share sensitive data. (see the ICRC Professional Standards on Protection Work)
• Follow verification and security guidelines for mapping - do not publish dangerous speech, personal names, and personal identifying information (guidelines to be determined)