response 128 of 198:

Sep 28 21:03 UTC 1995

        Well, taken, adbarr.. Popcorn, let's not start an affirmative
action for board, please? We do not discriminate. If people are not
interested in being board, then we should not feel it our duty to put them
there, at the expense of those who are interested, just because of some
physical trait, such as gender or race.
        _I_ for one, think I would like to be put into the running for a
seat on the board.

response 130 of 198:

Sep 29 02:19 UTC 1995

   I do understand what Valerie is saying, exactly.

   What we do about it is the question.  Arnold is completely right
in that we are open to all races, etc.  I daresay that this system
could deal with an influx of innter-city black kids whose school
got an Internet grant, and 'invaded' Grex.  But that isn't the
point.

   It's that, despite our willingness to deal with people, the
only people we're dealing with are white males with the occaisonal
female on the board/staff.  It does send a message, whether we
think it is silly or not.

   Should we start something like an 'affirmitive action' program
here on Grex?  Definately not.  There are things that we could
do however to encourage participation from a wider audience, and
we should try to do that.

   For me, geting more people to the board meetings would be a
good first step.  Then geting more diversity attending would be
an interesting thing.  Only later, possibly much later, would
we even possibly see more diversity on the board.

   We shouldn't try and "get some blacks", as I have seen other
organizations do when they discover that they are lilly-white.
Thats just about like equating black people with meat, and
attaching a price on them and going after a pile of them.
Thats just plain wrong.

   But we can make the effort to get more people into Grex
and all the subfunctions it does by making an effort to include
them.  This isn't an overnight task, nor is it "obvious" (re
my previous paragraph), but rather something that is done over
time, and something that will increase the value of this system.

response 132 of 198:

Sep 29 04:18 UTC 1995

  Grex has plenty of female users.  I wonder if the board's
gender bias is partly due to the board being largely staffers,
and most computer/unix folks (potential staffers) are male.
(I'm fairly sure the vast majority of US sysadmins are male).
 
  Selena, the question is how to encourage diversity in person,
at board meetings, rather than on-line.  I'm not necessarily
endorsing trying, I'd have to think about it some more, but
that's the issue.

response 134 of 198:

Sep 29 13:10 UTC 1995

I think the best way to encourage new people to run for the board
is this: If you know of someone whom you'd like to see on the board,
send them mail (or talk face-to-face, if you know them personally)
and suggest that they run. Your criteria for whom to approach can
be anything that you personally think is important--gender, race,
profession, etc. I've done this a couple of times and have found
that people often need just a gentle nudge of encouragement to
become candidates. It works, and doesn't require any kind of
diversity plan, affirmative action plan, or any other bureaucratic
mechanism. Somtimes the grass roots approach is the most effective.

response 136 of 198:

Sep 29 16:09 UTC 1995

Are beings of other genders, races, or species *interested* in being board
members or staff? That would seem to be a prerequisite for having them in such
roles.

response 138 of 198:

Sep 29 16:46 UTC 1995

I don't know why, but there is a lot of social selection in different
activities. It's easily noticeable w.r.t. color, but I am sure that there
are lots of other irrelevant differences that nevertheless self-select. I
think part of it depends on the importance different groups attach to
their identification with their "group". If that identification is strong,
there is a barrier to venturing outside it, and some discomfort being
separated from it. I don't think I have a strong "group identification",
though it may be hard to tell since I'm a member of a dominant group.
There is a weak analogy, though:  I'm a bit of an "outsider" on the grex
board, because I am not a computer professional or even just a unix geek.
I *sense* this "difference". It doesn't bother me as I've been around (and
as I said am not much into group identification), but its there. I think,
though, that the barriers would be higher for persons with stonger
individual group identifications. 

response 140 of 198:

Sep 30 00:39 UTC 1995

Out of curiosity, what percent of grex is actually in A^2?  Because I
would be interested in something like this if I were in the area.  And
I'm sure there are others who are perfectly interested except they
live too far away.

response 142 of 198:

Sep 30 13:17 UTC 1995

What are you using to determine the origin of a login?  What gets recorded
is the immediate site someone telnets from, right?

response 144 of 198:

Sep 30 15:44 UTC 1995

   I used the site that is recorded in the wtmp, and what people see in
a run of 'who'.  It might not be where the person actually is, granted.
But more are indicitive of their location I will wager.  Like I said,
its not a perfect analysis, nor can it be.  But we have a general
idea of where people are coming from.

response 146 of 198:

Sep 30 19:46 UTC 1995

Re #143:  If I were interested in running for the board of some organization,
and the board mtgs were open to the public, I would show up a few times first,
so see what it is like.  Also, there are Grex walks in AA for interested
Grexxers, and GNO's (see the motd).

response 148 of 198:

Oct 1 19:02 UTC 1995

You look in a mirror?