CTDA Code of Conduct

Background

The CTDA has always been an open, welcoming, and collaborative community of people interested in expanding digital preservation and access to the breadth and depth of resources about Connecticut and held by Connecticut's memory institutions.  This general attitude has always been implicit in how we interact with each other and with our communities. In a time of heightened awareness of civil discourse, the CTDA has spent the last several months working with the CTDA Heritage Advisory Committee developing and considering a Code of Conduct that makes explicit the norms of interaction among CTDA members in all of our communications and interactive modes. As part of our research, we reviewed Codes of Conduct from several collaborative organizations. The current version owes much to these examples, but it is representative of the CTDA's local community.

CTDA Code of Conduct

Sustaining an inclusive and accessible culture and representation in the repository is integral to our mission to connect, preserve, and share a wide range of digital resources. The Code of Conduct (CoC) explains the expectations of behavior for members of the Connecticut Digital Archive (CTDA) community in all connectivity and communications mechanisms with our co-workers, content managers, CTDA In Context coalition participants, Slack, public meeting, in any forum, on social media, and any other spaces in which CTDA is being represented or engaged. 

This Code of Conduct affirms our community’s values to be respectful and treat each other with dignity. It applies to both public and private spaces in which an organization or individual is representing or engaging with the CTDA including content managers from Community Member organizations and any outside partner organizations working with CTDA Staff or content managers.

Behavior and Actions We Encourage

• We are responsible for our actions and commit to holding ourselves and each other accountable for those actions.

• We expect open and transparent communications with our colleagues

• We value inclusive and collaborative conversations about all aspects of our work

• We are collaborative in our initiatives to preserve, connect and share the history and digital resources of our collections. 

• We explicitly acknowledge and commit to collectively work to remove the additional barriers our community members who have historically been oppressed face in preserving and sharing the history of CT and accessing our community.

• We honor the effort and time each of us puts into their individual and organizational work in preserving and sharing history. 

• We equally appreciate and show gratitude to each other for the effort we all put in into meeting our mission to preserve, connect, and share our histories. 

Harassment and Unacceptable Behavior 

• Purposefully suppressing or destroying collections or content.

• Excluding under documented communities from our collections and programs.

• Violent threats or language directed against another person.

• Discriminatory jokes and language, such as but not limited to ableist, ageist, elitist, fatphobic, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, transphobic, or homophobic behavior or language.

• Not using an individual’s name and/or pronouns.

• Posting sexually explicit or violent material in communications channels

• Posting (or threatening to post) other people's personally identifying information ("doxxing").

• Personal insults, especially those using racist or sexist terms.

• Unwelcome sexual attention, physical contact, deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following.

• Sustained disruption of talks, events, or other community work.

• Repeated harassment of others. In general, if someone asks you to stop, then stop.

• Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior.

Reporting and Enforcement  

If you feel like someone or an institution in the repository community has violated the code of conduct we ask that you report the harassment and or exclusionary behavior with the subject line “Code of Conduct Violation” to our email address at: ctda@uconn.edu      

Any individual who consistently engages in unacceptable behavior may, at the discretion of the relevant CTDA Advisory Committee, have access to communications channels and content management activities revoked until the situation is reviewed, and may result in a permanent ban from CTDA communications channels.

Review Process: 

1. Within one business day of receiving the complaint, the CTDA will notify the person or persons involved that a complaint has been lodged against them. No administrative action will be taken at this time unless the CTDA believes the situation is dangerous, in which case administrative action may be taken.

2. Within seven business days after a complaint has been received by the CTDA through ctda@uconn.edu the CTDA Director will schedule a meeting of the appropriate Advisory Committee to take place no more than fourteen business days from the receipt of the complaint. A quorum of not less than 50% of the Advisory Committee membership must be able to attend. If no quorum is possible within the time frame the appropriate Advisory Committee will meet at the first opportunity to achieve a quorum.

3. The Advisory Committee will gather information about the complaint and at their meeting determine the validity of the complaint and recommend to the CTDA what actions (if any) should be taken. 

4. The CTDA will implement the actions recommended by the Advisory Committee. 

5. All records of the proceedings will be kept confidential and destroyed three years after the resolution of the complaint except in the case of a permanent ban where the individual’s name will be kept on a non-public, permanent ban list available only to CTDA administrators.

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