[Noisebridge-discuss] Community, FTP, & Problem Solving
bfb
bfb at riseup.net
Sat Jun 29 06:13:37 UTC 2013
Here, here to Garrett for starting this thread and to others who have
chimed in, I concur with many of the thoughts you've articulated.
Reiterations of points of agreement below..
But first, my two cents. A mediators group would be a very good thing.
Mediators are not judges, thus do not pass judgment. Mediations exists
outside of the sphere of punitive justice. My perceived value of
mediation is social harmony, the criterion being how much empathy do we
share. The mediators role is to facilitate empathy among those seeking
mediation.
I am very weary of an over-engineered solution(s).
In my experience, the most difficult task (the actual work) of the
mediator is to get all concerned parties to sit down together.
Organizing, juggling schedules, convincing folks to trust you as the
mediator, that the mediation will be productive, etc... is hard. I find
that if this very difficult step can be accomplished, the empathy
follows naturally, like a Vulcan mindmeld.
However, we have a special situation at Noisebridge. Where there is a
valued commodity to lose if one does not pursue mediation; access to the
physical space and community. It follows that folks who have been asked
to leave until a mediation has happened have much incentive to do so. It
also follows that the person/people asking somebody(ies) to leave also
have the responsibility of following through with a mediation (redshirts
included).
There is also the case where the person/people calling for the mediation
prefer to remain anon, and request an advocate on their behalf, that's
totally appropriate in some cases, abuse and humiliation come to mind
readily.. Instances of great violence are outside of the scope of
mediation that I'm discussing.
Thank you all for helping me to crystallize my thoughts.
I propose a new mailing list for a mediators collective. We could share
thoughts, strategies, and the burden of mediating the many conflicts of
Noisebridge. It could also be a digital space where folks come to
request mediation, whereby somebody(ies) rises to take on the task of
organizing and facilitating the meeting. Names anybody? WTFDrama?
HeartBridge? Or maybe EarBridge is more to the point for good listening...
If others are into it, let's put a request in to rack, get a list going,
and meet-up to figure on what the mediation collective looks like.
Con suerte,
Kevin
--
Seeking local consensus-based, doocratic solutions to current human
problems.
--
I believe it's helpful for anyone who wants to demonstrate that they
retain some humanity to engage with the issue. I also believe that
anyone who is interested in the problem is qualified to engage with it,
and in fact the entire thrust of hackering is that you don't need
anyone's permission, or to reach an educational benchmark, to begin working.
--
I'm interested in this topic, but I ignore most of discuss. If there's
a new list / venue / group forming, I'd appreciate an invitation.
"human problems" is quite broad, and I welcome the broadness of the term.
--
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