JupyterLab Meeting 10 June #ShutdownSTEM

[blink1073]

I propose we follow the lead of Pangeo and others in observing #ShutDownSTEM in lieu of the standard meeting. The meeting time would be dedicated to discussion about how we as a community can help eradicate systemic racism.

[saulshanabrook]

Thanks Steve, for bringing this up. I support this proposal.

[SylvainCorlay]

As much as I was actually going to connect tomorrow, and I would love to see you all, I 100% support this.

[tgeorgeux]

I think we could make it a productive use of time for a discussion. The wording of the goal here of "help eradicate systemic racism" is a bit lofty. I think "taking stock of where we are at, and what our next steps could be" a less idealistic goal.

I don't mean to be pedantic, but it feels like a bit of hubris to suggest something so extreme.

I'll spend some time today putting some topics in the agenda we could discuss tomorrow, I would appreciate it if others would be willing to do the same.

[blink1073]

I was echoing the original language of the #ShutDownSTEM website. I agree that we should have an agenda, but I don't think we should sell short the overarching goal.

[jasongrout]

+1 to using our discussion time for this.

[blink1073]

Thanks @tgeorgeux for kicking that off. Unfortunately I have a medical appointment tomorrow during the meeting time but I added some further ideas in the notes.

[jasongrout]

Every three weeks, I have a conflict with the JupyterCon organization meeting, and unfortunately that's tomorrow, so I won't be there at the meeting tomorrow either :(. I'd love to discuss these things another time tomorrow or this week (or another time if that's not good).

[telamonian]

I'm open to rescheduling in order to include as many members of core as possible. Presumably we're the ones in a position to effect change here.

Maybe noon est on thurs or fri?

[jasongrout]

I could do noon ET Thursday or 11am ET Friday. We have enough people coming to the dev meeting that I don't think we should cancel the dev meeting discussion, though.

[tgeorgeux]

I am open to moving it, either of those times will work for me. I see a few options for tomorrow:

1) Have our meeting as a normal meeting tomorrow. 2) Have our meeting as normal but leave the notes up, ask people to contribute if they are willing. 3) Use the first half of the meeting to discuss @shutdownstem and garner ideas from the community on how to help, then follow on with any issues people have to discuss about JupyterLab. 4) Use tomorrow's meeting as a time to discuss, as planned, then have a follow-on meeting with more members of the core team.

I think there's significance to not going about business as usual, the point of the website was talking about tomorrow specifically and noted,

Participating in this strike means:

• No research
• No meetings
• No classes
• No business as usual

Thoughts?

[blink1073]

I am happy to meet any time Thursday or Friday. I agree with the sentiment of no business as usual. I'm taking the full day off and listening to podcasts on Antiracism.

[tgeorgeux]

Is noon ET (9am PT) Thursday (Tomorrow) good for everybody?

[ellisonbg]

I can make a good part of the 9am Th PT slot.

[tgeorgeux]

Here's the notes from today's call. I propose we pick this back up tomorrow with continued discussion around what the core team members are willing to commit to going forward.

• Why we're doing this.
  • If you get a chance, please read over this before the meeting: https://www.shutdownstem.com/
• Suggestions from https://www.shutdownstem.com/
  • Education: If this is new to you, start reading the resource materials; these exist and you need to learn from them. Keep learning by reading books and blogs, watching movies, listening to podcast and following the suggested people on social media.
  • Action: Take responsibility to be actively anti-racist in your spaces of influence. You need to change how things are done and support organizations that is continuing this work.
  • Healing: Racism creates this toxic space and those affected need to heal from it. We need to make time and space for this emotional work to occur.
• What is JupyterLab's role in all this?
  • What actionable steps can we make as a team?
    • All take a book from the beginners list and present a summary of what we learned
      • Steve has "How to Be an Antiracist" on audio
    • All take an episode from one of the recommended podcasts and present what we learned
    • Consider attending a course like Introduction to Being an Antiracist (Steve has already signed up - email at steven.silvester at Gmail dot com or Atlanta @ devopsdays.org if you need your cost covered)
    • Encourage our employers to sponsor events like DISC or provide travel so we can attend
  • What is the impact of JupyterLab software on these systems?
    • Can we move that impact in any positive way?
    • Are there any pitfalls to be aware of?
  • Are there any things we can take back to our employers?
    • Adding organizations to the list of charities that employers will match funds for.
    • Short Term: Give employees time off to join protests.
• Notes
  • On data analysis that picks up on and perpetrates racist signals.
    • The first line of defense is how data scientists are trained.
  • What can we do that's positive?
    • We can do a https://covid-oss-help.org style website to prioritize people who are working on anti-racist data analysis to push them to the front of the line for getting help.
    • Working to keep getting diverse groups of new contributors and helping get people involved who otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity.
      • Career launchpad - Internship with follow up steps that help students have a path to working in Jupyter.
    • Increase the demand for a more diverse workforce that puts upward pressure on the supply.

[blink1073]

Here are the meeting notes from the Pangeo team

[jasongrout]

Are we meeting at 9am PT (i.e., right now?).

[blink1073]

Following up, there was more discussion at 9am PT this morning, mostly reflecting on the discussions that took place yesterday.

I suggest we take the next week for independent thought and then if anyone has any further ideas they are welcome to put them here or bring them to next week's meeting or to the Governance call on Tuesday.

[blink1073]

Some suggested organizations for donation:

• ACLU Foundation
• Black Lives Matter Global Network
• Brennan Center for Justice
• Equal Justice Initiative
• Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law
• NAACP
• NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
• National Bar Institute
• National Museum of African American History and Culture
• National Urban League
• Thurgood Marshall College Fund
• UNCF (United Negro College Fund)
• Year Up

[blink1073]

Suggested listening material: https://www.sceneonradio.org/seeing-white/

[blink1073]

Suggested mini-conference this week in honor of Juneteenth: https://www.juneteenthconf.com/

[blink1073]

I wrote a blog post with my thoughts after listening to Seeing White: https://medium.com/@steven.silvester/beyond-not-racist-4e1ea8b62b51

[blink1073]

Thanks all for helping to make this possible. Keep the momentum!