---
title: Walking The Cultural Tightrope
osem_url: https://osem.seagl.org/conferences/seagl2021/program/proposals/829
beginning: '2021-11-06T10:45:00.000-07:00'
end: '2021-11-06T11:15:00.000-07:00'
resources:
  internet_archive_identifier: SeaGL2021-Aeva_Black-Walking_The_Cultural_Tightrope
presenters:
- name: Aeva Black
  osem_url: https://osem.seagl.org/users/911
  gravatar_id: 941c5369d026e8477127343e9fa46969
  biography: 'Aeva is a queer and non-binary geek, a lifelong student of the buddha
    dharma, a consent advocate, an aspiring author, and a regular speaker at both
    #InfoSec and #OpenSource conferences and meetups around the world. In addition
    to their technical work, they are committed to improving diversity and inclusion
    in the tech industry, and advocating for digital privacy rights.'
---

Aeva, a member of the Kubernetes Code of Conduct (CoC) Committee, will examine difficult topics related to CoC enforcement and provide concrete suggestions on how to implement a CoCC, based on their experience supporting the Kubernetes community through several complex incidents in the past two years.

Standard business approaches to interpersonal risk management (such as “just let HR handle it” and “don’t do anything that could make us liable”) do not translate effectively to open source community management, where liability extends outside organizational authority and interpersonal dynamics are fundamentally different.  Conversely, ignoring community health leads to poor -- sometimes catastrophic -- outcomes for technical projects, and ultimately an increase in business risk in your software supply chain.

In this talk, Aeva will discuss what it means to shape an open source community through a values-driven approach to leadership, and provide concrete suggestions for open source projects and their corporate sponsors to implement which can improve community health and diversity. These suggestions will be based on real examples, though all identifying details will be anonymized to maintain the confidentiality of those involved.
