This week, we split off into groups and discussed the concept of a ‘code of ethics’ for a open source project. We started of by looking at the code of ethics page of the Go project. We noted that the benefits of such a code is that we can avoid conflicts that may arise and also attract talent to the project because they know that their dignity/rights are protected and recognised. We also looked at the contributer’s convenant which is a template code of ethics that many many open source projects use to fit their needs. Go had used this as a template but had modified it to emphasis their personal values as opposed to the more corporate language of the original code. I think they made these modifications in order to go into detail about their personal beliefs regarding conflict resolution.

Additionally, we looked at the Eclipse project, whose code of conduct used a different layout. The ‘Our Standards’ section of this page is forked twice – meaning they go more in depth, potentially because it is a more widespread platform and they want to reduce misinterpretation and keep users protected/safe from explicit content. They also placed more of an emphasis on investigation of violations of their code and possible retaliation.

My group didn’t get to the third section of this in class activity where we find our own open source project, but I took note of the code of conduct of the Whiskey project (my favourite open source project). I have linked their code below. One thing to note is that they went more in depth into how violations of their code will be handled, having whole sections about temporary bans, permanent bans, warnings and corrections.

https://github.com/Whisky-App/Whisky/blob/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md

Lastly, I would like to quickly discuss my thoughts on the presentation we were assigned to watch by the linux foundation. I think a common theme emphasised during this presentation is the importance of communication. I think during the course of this class (and in general when collaborating with others), I want to try using the concept of a ‘responsiblity assignment matrix’ to make sure everyone is on the right page