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This is how we have characterised ourselves at FemEdTech

…  we are a reflexive, emergent network of people learning, practising and researching in educational technology. We are an informal organisation with no funding: our resources are our passion, kindness, knowledge, enthusiasm and volunteer time. http://femedtech.net/about-femedtech/

Using “we” can be problematic, especially in an informal organisation such as ours, with no formal membership. FemEdTech addresses issues through discussion and practice, for example the work done on values can be glimpsed through traces of activities: our current  Values Statement ; 2019 Values activities; Writings on Values at this site; a Twitter hashtag #FemEdTechValues; and by observing the practice of those curating @femedtech and #FemEdTech. That doesn’t mean that we have uniform opinions – or even that FemEdTech won’t change over time. FemEdTech is a network that emerges from the curation and sharing practices of volunteer curators and those who follow @femedtech and #FemEdTech.

FemEdTech is policy-lite but one policy we do have is our Code of Conduct, developed for the launch of our Open Space here at http://femedtech.net a year ago. We wanted to encourage participation by lowering the barrier of entry that participants can post without a user account and even, optionally, remain anonymous. The prompt in the Writing form reminds posters that the Code of Conduct will govern moderation of posts. Hence, the Code of Conduct sets out expectations for posts at our Open Space. A group of FemEdTech curators are currently exploring the extension of the Code of Conduct to cover Curation, the management of the @femedtech Twitter account and attention to the #femedtech hashtag. We are aware that discussions of controversial topics on Twitter can quickly become divisive and polarised; and that as Jon Ronson says

Conversation at our Open Space can be slower and more considered and may be a better place to discuss controversial but relevant issues than Twitter.

We aren’t just working on our Code of Conduct, we are also developing resources and approaches to support FemEdTech Curators. We are thinking about how Curators can avoid being involved in pile-ons, whose disadvantages are discussed  in https://www.colourcode.org.au/internet-pileons-are-no-substitute-for-real-life-change.

If you have any constructive comments on how we can support Curators please share them in the comments or in a Writing here.