 Hello everyone and welcome to the Drupal Association webinar where we have our special guest Whitney Hess who's going to be talking about Evolving Drupal's Community Governance and I just want to first start by thanking everyone who's engaged in the community discussions. It is a really special Process that we're going through as a community so that we can be healthier and build a better future for ourselves and I personally And I'm glad this is happening Because obviously I come to work every day to serve the community and I can only do as well as I understand In terms of community needs and strategies you want to use For moving Drupal forward. So personally I am really thankful for this This effort and the community discussions are the community's way of starting to surface What you know what they want to do where they want to focus in terms of evolving community governance And the Drupal Association is just honored that we can play a role to support you in this work And we want to keep an ear out to Whitney's messages to not only hear what the needs and strategies are Where we might be able to help next but also just to Help the community hear where they want to go next in this community governance process Because we're in standby mode to see where you need our help If it's a Summit or whatever it might be we want to understand What we can do to help community the community move forward in this process And so with that all those Kind of accolades to the process. I want to thank Whitney and super grateful for Whitney's expertise and care Making sure that she has a diverse perspective of the community's needs She has spent hours and hours not only in group sessions, but one-on-one calls and making sure she's reaching out to those not only in north america and europe but also um in india and china and in gosh, uh, south america, costa rica Got just lost track of all the places that you have Been reaching out with me, but thank you so much for your work And i'm really excited to hand this over to you so you can share Your findings from the community discussions as well as how we move forward Thank you so much megan and thank you for Allowing me to be a part of this very important work Thank you to everyone for tuning in today. I greatly appreciate your presence and your engagement And thank you to those who will be watching this video later it's great to Know that there are so many caring and concerned members of the drupal community who want to participate in this process So let me just start off by saying that i'm going to try to keep this brief I really felt um that it was important to hold a webinar to walk through these findings rather than Just setting out a Slide presentation and kind of hoping that everyone understood the key points But I also don't want to belabor this if you have specific questions I'll be sharing with you where you can ask those questions and where of course you can comment on these findings But here's what I would like to cover Hopefully within a half hours time I'm going to share the methodology that we've been using what this process has entailed And then there will be some findings and proposals In the form of what the shared needs of the community are how we're defining those needs The areas for improvement that the community has been identifying And potential strategies that the community is proposing for ways to better meet those needs Then I have a set of open questions that remain open and that the community really Still needs to come together to answer for itself And a few next steps that i'll be participating in and helping to facilitate as the community moves this forward So to catch you up if you have not yet Been aware of what's going on with this process that megan's been talking about The recent events in the community led the Drupal Association to realize that it could play a role in providing a safe space for the community to have discussions To share their feelings and needs thoughts and ideas around how to evolve community governance And I came forward to be a facilitator and mediator of that process And this has been happening Over the course of several months now. We started in mid april Just before Drupal con baltimore And in that time I have personally conducted Upwards of 27 one-on-one interviews there may have been a couple since I actually counted that number one-on-one interviews with both leaders and contributors Worldwide all of those regions of the world that megan mentioned. We've tried to cover everywhere as much as we possibly could We also held seven hour long community discussions at Drupal con baltimore And another seven long discussions with a very similar format held online via zoom In the first two weeks of may So those Drupal con baltimore sessions came first in person and then the online sessions for the global community to participate And in total we had about 150 unique participants from the community To attend these sessions and many of them contribute in these sessions The discussions were greatly focused On what the current state of community governance is and what the desired state is and what that gap currently remains as I then synthesized the themes Across all of those community discussions as well as the one-on-one interviews that I conducted And what i'm sharing with you today is that synthesis All names and personally identifiable information of all the participants whether it be people that attended the community discussions Or people who I helped one-on-one interviews with All of that Personal information has been kept a hundred percent confidential and it continues to be and that includes confidentiality from The Drupal association and from drees and from cwg I have conducted these sessions personally and None none of those names or personally identifiable information will be going anywhere outside of my personal notes However, we did want to ensure that the content Of these discussions was being made publicly available. And so we had The meeting minutes for the community discussions those Seven at Drupal conv Baltimore and the seven that were held online. And those are posted on drupal.org Let's see if it's going to show the url here. It's drupal.org slash community slash discussions If you wish to see the raw contents of those Individual community discussions, but what I'm sharing with you today is the synthesis of those themes So what I did Was as part of the community discussions We listed out the shared needs that the participants of each session were feeling We're not currently being met as adequately as they could be within the community And I then tallied those set of needs from all 14 of the community discussion sessions And I came up with the most common shared needs And what you're seeing here are those most common needs in order of frequency from most frequent to least And these 13 needs that I've captured here were identified in at least eight of the 14 sessions Meaning that these are really the top of the top Most common needs that people feel are not currently being met as adequately as they could be Now across those 14 community discussions 75 unique needs were identified And if you wish to see that full list of needs, there's a link here, which we will be providing on this deck I'm just going to show it to you briefly so you can see what was involved in this Here is the full list 75 needs Unique needs that were identified and then I went through and tallied them and Counted the number of mentions across those 14 sessions and then kind of put them in order of frequency So just trying to show that this was a somewhat systematic process not scientific But systematic So i'm going to take you through each of these needs and give you the definition that we are using To differentiate between these so that there's crystal clear understanding of what we mean I each of these words because of course understanding was one of the needs that was identified So I wanted to try to meet that need as best as I can So we have Definitions here and I apologize for the density of text But I'm going to read through each of these and helps to kind of find the distinction between them So the number one need that was discovered is awareness And I'm defining this as knowledge of a situation or fact A lot of people attended These community discussions because they wanted to be aware of what was going on They heard rumblings of something or they were having in-depth discussions With their friends and colleagues in the community, but they wanted to know what other people knew what other people were aware of What other people were thinking feeling and needing so really just wanting to Broaden and deepen their knowledge of what was happening I'm hearing a little bit of background noise so Just for everyone if you could mute yourself that would be great would help me be a little less distracted Thank you so much So the second most common is participation And this is what I'm defining as the act of taking part really just being a part of this process And that is I think a really encouraging thing to find that this is such a participatory community That people really aren't going to accept things just happening to them without being an active part of the process Next was transparency openness to public scrutiny People were really wanting there to be greater transparency of decisions that were being made by Leaders of the community wanting transparency into what that process is for decision making how decisions are made Why decisions are made and bringing the public meaning the community at large Into that process so that it isn't happening behind closed doors Next was clarity the quality of coherence and intelligibility This is in clarity of communication clarity of process clarity of decision making clarity of policy People are really wanting there to be a greater coherence a greater understanding and crispness of The messages that are delivered and the policies that are held within the community So that there's less confusion about what is what and what definitions are and things of that nature Next was a need for contribution and this is more than participation, which is being a part of the process Contribution is really being a part of being about the result or helping to advance the process So there were a lot of people that attended these community discussions that felt a personal responsibility for being a part of the solution And wanted to contribute in a way that they felt like they weren't yet being Engaged to do fully Healing was another very common theme that resulted from these sessions the process of becoming healthy again Many people felt as if recent events Over the past several years had caused A deterioration of the health of the Drupal community And they really have been feeling a need To heal as a community and to come together and unify and move forward as one Next is trust which i'm defining as the firm belief in the reliability Truth ability or strength of someone or something. This could be the trust in The leadership trust in process trust in the governance model trust in other community members This extended to a lot of things But there was certainly a feeling that there was a lack of reliability or a lack of strength in some of the aspects of the Drupal community Understanding which is the ability to perceive the significance or or an explanation or cause of something So what's the cause and effect here? There was definitely a desire for a Greater understanding of why things were happening the way they were and just understanding what the catalyst of Recent events had been and and why there was a call for an evolution of the community governance as a result Communication was another big need so Successfully conveying or sharing information and ideas and the key word here is successful So certainly there have been communications That have resulted from recent events or have been a regular part of Either Dries's governance process technical leadership the Drupal association's support of the community Community working group communications do come out of these various governing bodies But that doesn't necessarily mean that it's a successful conveying of the information and that goes back to the clarity as well So people are really wanting more frequent communication and greater clarity of communication Next is connection and this is really I see this as an umbrella need It encompasses so many others in that it really is what so many people are here for a connection with other community members strong links associations and relationships between members of the community and wanting to stay connected and bonded and be resilient through The many experiences that we have had and will continue to have as a community Next is empowerment and this goes back to participation and contribution people really feeling a self responsibility To be a part of the process and to contribute to solutions and to the community's success So empowerment specifically is Having the authority to do something to be able to control oneself to claim one's right As a member of this community this open source community where community participation and contribution is so critical Next is process Where there is a systematic series of steps taken to achieve a particular end So that people know what the process is for a variety of situations in different realms of the community that that process be Clear that it be well documented and that it be regularly followed consistent consistent in the way that it is utilized and then lastly Progress and advancement toward a better more complete and more modern condition People really want to see the Drupal community move forward move forward together towards a healing as I mentioned earlier But really just not to be stay stuck not be circling around these same issues and find a way to Move forward Successfully effectively together Now as I showed you on that spreadsheet, there were 75 needs that were identified as shared needs that the community has And that aren't being successfully and fully met. These are the top 13 So these were the ones that were mentioned in at least eight of the 14 community discussions and these are the ones that I am hearing are I have the most heat around them would be a way that I would put it are the most relevant and most Urgent for us to address at this time Now there were some particular areas for improvement that came out of these community discussions as well as the Many one-on-one interviews that I conducted as well And these are the areas for concern might be another way to state it things that people are Truly concerned about that are perhaps exacerbating these needs that aren't being met Firstly one very common theme that arose from these discussions Is Dries as the benevolent dictator for life BDFL and as the single point of escalation This has become a concern for many people in the Drupal community Another theme is the community working group CWG's process It's membership meaning who belongs to the CWG and how that happens And the resources that they have available to them to do their job a volunteer job as effectively as possible Next are concerns about conflicts of interest across Drupal entities meaning conflicts of interest between Dries and the community working group and Drupal association and technical leadership and perhaps even for-profit Drupal companies and all of the different Entities that make up this Drupal ecosystem Another concern is around codes of conduct. This didn't come up in as many of the Community discussions as I was expecting going into it because of so much of the online discussion had really been about code of conduct The the multiple codes of conduct that we have there's a Drupal code of conduct and there's also a Drupal con code of conduct There were definitely some Mentions of ways we can improve it So I wanted to make sure to include it here, but not as big of a theme as we had anticipated Also a real need and desire around having more official Communication channels so that people have a single source of information about what's happening in the Drupal community and And one place to tap into to stay up to date a Real desire for better onboarding for new members of the Drupal community as people Join the community as they begin to use Drupal as a platform how to bring them up to speed on What this community is all about and what it means to be An effective and successful member of the Drupal community and this was found to be needed Not only for new members, but also for people that perhaps have been around a long time But whose engagement with the community is changing or who may not have All the information that they need to be a successful contributor Findability and accessibility of guidelines and processes this extends to Existing members of the community new members of the community really just again needing to know kind of where these things are and making sure that they're well documented and that they're up to date and current and and really consistent and then Most broadly a need for a more Crisp and clear definition of what the Drupal community means We use that word community to mean a lot of things and i'll be going into that in just a moment Now i want to be clear that these are issues That have been coming up in the Drupal community for a long time And they continue to come up every time we kind of come to a pivotal moment in our evolution as a project but growth and Time have made many of these issues bigger and more urgent So we're at a point now where Perhaps we had bigger issues that had to be dealt with first And now we're seeing that there's really space for And engagement around these issues that are really rising to the surface So I thought it was important to name that because for many of you listening to this many of you will be listening later Now this isn't news If you have been involved in the community for a long time. These are issues that you've known about for a while But the Drupal ecosystem has evolved and it's evolved beyond the developer community And our stakeholders have changed and as we continue to grow This necessitates an evolution of our governance model and Perhaps clarity on how the community can change itself To be in better alignment Of what the wider variety of stakeholders and Drupal community members need now So that's what we're really trying to shine the spotlight on it's time It's really time to address some of these issues and i'm finding a a real wave of engagement That is going to allow greater movement and solutions for these issues That have been lingering for some time now. I just want to take a moment Because i've been talking for a while I can see the videos again and I can um, I i'm not just seeing my screen and i'm wondering Are there questions Already that perhaps I can address before I move forward Megan are you seeing anything coming over on your end? I'm not but let me just ask the The participants if you do have a question can use the chat window and add your question there, please If you're not seeing anything yet for the sake of time, I'll move on but I will definitely come back in a little bit and check in Okay, great. We have not seen anything in the chat. So I think you can move forward. Thank you so much okay so I've stated so far kind of what's on people's mind what people feel are Areas for improvement things areas of concern needs that aren't being met and The community Is an engaged one and of the hundred and fifty or so people who have participated in this process so far There are many ideas for how we can meet these shared needs I'm calling these potential strategies. These are not my recommendations. I want to be really clear on that I'm not coming in as a consultant and saying I've heard your problems and this is how I think you should solve them I'm here to surface What the Drupal community itself? Wants to see change and so these are essentially proposals that have come from the Drupal community As a result of both the community discussions and the one-on-one interviews that I held And these were the most common themes that I heard. They're in no particular order The needs were listed from most frequently mentioned Um first but these are in no particular order These strategies I will go through in greater depth, but I want to first provide a snapshot of what they all are So firstly there is a real desire to more concretely separate project governance from community governance And I'll talk a little bit more about what that means I already mentioned this, but there is a real Desire to see a single location for official Drupal communications So that people know where to pay attention For changes that are coming news updates decisions and other important information There's a desire for a formal clarification of the variety of roles that Dries holds In the Drupal community and the project A formal clarification of all leadership roles in the Drupal project so that everyone knows What the leaders Responsibilities are what the their jurisdiction is how they Received that role what the process is for removing someone from a leadership role, etc There is a potential strategy again a proposal For Dries to step down as the Drupal association board chair as a way to remove some of those concerns about conflict of interest I will note that Dries does recuse himself from board Decisions when he feels and when other board members feel that there is a conflict of interest So there is already some process in place for that, but there was a proposal Several people had made a proposal that perhaps one of the ways that we could address some of these Concerns of conflict of interest would be to have Dries Spread around more of his responsibilities to others There's a desire to see more Formalization that's a word more formality. That's the one And on a greater maturity for the processes and policies of the community working group A proposal for the Drupal association to have a greater support of community management The da is supporting this process as you heard from megan in the beginning of today's webinar There is absolutely some involvement from the Drupal association today But it's mostly because it's filling a gap and it's less Formal and official But there's a real call from members of the community to see more of this and for the Drupal association to play A bigger role in managing the community There is a desire for more community elected leadership positions as I mentioned there's some Proposals for how to revise or perhaps even consolidate the code of conduct codes of conduct There were proposals around having some sort of core values defined for the community to be a companion document to the code of conduct And then a desire for a governance summit of some kind to craft revisions to the community governance and to start an implementation plan So those are the high level potential strategies to meet our shared needs as a community More detail on each of those 11 potential strategies So Firstly the separation of the project and the community oversight and governance There's a real belief that there are very independent interests and skill sets when it comes to the technical project governance of Drupal the platform From the Drupal community and what is required to oversee and manage and govern that And so people are really wanting to see greater boundaries between the two so that when we talk about governance We're not meaning one thing that encompasses both project and community And there's a real feeling that if we separate them better there that will reduce conflicts of interest between them and a clarification of which positions are leadership roles and Where there's a difference in leadership in the project and technical governance and where there's leadership in community governance Next is a single location for the official Drupal communications Right now many of the communications that we read to know what's going on with Drupal are Andres's personal website The community working group posts in one location DA staff posts in another There's a lot of different places that we have to pay attention to And there's a desire for kind of that unified feed so that We are able to tune into one place and can always be up to date on what's going on with the project and in the community And a real desire for those communications to be written very clearly and to be published frequently so that people can Stay involved and for greater transparency as well Next we have kind of the issue of many hats This was something that came up in many of the community discussions as well as many of the one-on-one interviews that I held A real desire for clarity around the roles that Dries plays in the project in the community Which role holds what responsibilities and what authority is granted to that role and More explicit boundaries between those roles to know Which role Dries is in with each official communication Dries has very strongly Self identified what role he's in when he makes certain decisions or when he Communicates certain things and at times he has Named what that role is but people are really Wanting more explicitness around it Um And an acknowledgement people are wanting acknowledgement of the conflicts of interest that arise and the unintentional biases that come with holding multiple positions In the community and in the project And there's a real desire to see a maturation beyond benevolent dictator for life And some form of succession plan in place that allows Dries to share more of his responsibilities with others And he has said on multiple occasions and he even said multiple times From the stage at Drupal con baltimore that this is something he would really like to see as well That is not comfortable for him to be the single point of escalation Or to play all these different roles That do sometimes conflict with one another so that's that's a great sign to show that The Drupal project and the community is growing and maturing and we need to move forward with other solutions Similarly, there's a real desire for Formal clarification of all leadership roles in the Drupal project who does what there are still quite a few people in the Drupal community That don't know what the Drupal association is what it does what the difference is between its staff and its board of directors What the community working group is and who it is and what it does and its relationship or not to the Drupal association The difference between these roles and tech and project leads Track chairs of Drupal con etc. There's a lot of different leadership roles in the community Many that I haven't even named and so there's a need for better clarity around What each of these roles are what they entail what their responsibilities are what their authority is etc And there's also a desire to To Name the extent to which any of these leadership roles have an effect or an influence on the technical direction of Drupal Then as I mentioned, there is a proposal for Dries to step down as the Drupal association board chair That he would retain a founder seat, which is fairly common That he would still be a member of the board But that there would be a more neutral chair person who would be appointed by the board This would be someone who does not have a stake in a for-profit Drupal entity a business for instance Someone who has board of director experience, but that can play a more neutral role so that it contribute to easing and Resolving some of the perceived conflicts of interest whether they're real or perception Whether they're intentional or unintentional there definitely needs to be a solution that addresses it Then we have a proposal for the community working group cwg To formalize and mature to expand its number of members, which it has done it has added two members in recent weeks To have um term limits perhaps for these members and for that to be staggered So there aren't all new people coming on at once so that there is some continuity To clarify its process and to ensure that it's consistently following it Perhaps even with some oversight of um an ombudsman or a watchdog I'm going to use those terms interchangeably even though there is some distinction there But an ombudsman is really someone who is appointed to ensure that government or in this case our governance Entities are Following the process and that there is a place for any complaints about that process to be Um raised and addressed There is a desire for better policy or better clarity on what that policy is For what evidence um and is admissible and i'm using these terms because this isn't a court But these are the terms that people are uh that they use and so I want to be true to those terms These are the ones we're comfortable with using or aware of What can be submitted and what is not admissible to a Community working group case so that we're discouraging any information gathering that is unethical A real desire for immediate and frequent communication with the person who is being accused and who's who Complainants are bringing up issues about so that they are involved in the process And that there be some kind of policy around warnings or a probation or suspension Some kind of interim status before a permanent dismissal from the community Greater consistency from case to case in how the process is followed and and consistency in how Process is applied to all parties involved And then just greater communication with the community throughout But of course and this was named many times in the community discussions Of course understanding that there needs to be a balance between transparency and privacy As I mentioned there's a proposal for the Drupal association to be a greater support in community management to perhaps even have a full-time community manager that can address issues in real time The community that the Drupal association has resources At its disposal in the way that a community working group doesn't for instance So perhaps the da could be providing access to mediation training for its community manager as well as members of the community working group A desire to see more of these safe spaces like the community discussions that we've held over the last couple months But for the Drupal association to have more of these so that Community members can come together regularly to express feelings and needs about community issues Many people who participated in this process felt that the nonviolent communication or nvc Process that we utilized was a really healthy and helpful one And perhaps for the Drupal association to encourage local organizers to follow similar processes Resources and legal and financial protections For the independent governing body, whether it be the community working group or some variation thereof Which currently does not have protections. This is a group of Volunteers that is not under the umbrella of the Drupal association and it really leaves those members of the community exposed And then just more explicit mentoring coaching buddy system Available for community members so that we can remain connected and ensure that people are getting their needs met As as they become active and engage members of the Drupal community Wendy we do have a question. Would you want to take questions as you go or go ahead? Please? Okay, this comes from chris. It says concerning admissible evidence quote-unquote Where do we set the line between? What someone's private life as long as it's legal and what concerns the community? Thank you for that question and remind me who asks that question. It is chris. Thank you chris I really appreciate that question and that is exactly it So I can't answer that but that is exactly the question that the community is holding right now What is appropriate information to bring forward to the community working group? The community working group perhaps and i'm going to go back a slide Perhaps needs to have a better and clearer policy on what information they are willing to look at And if any information that they receive about a community member does not fit that policy Then it needs to be disregarded and not brought into their deliberation process so There is certainly a question about private information personal versus public There is a question about And this will be noted again in the open questions When is someone representing the droopal community? Is it only in droopal related spaces? And what are droopal spaces because the droopal ecosystem continues to expand? Yes, we have the issue queues. We have activity on d dot o specifically you can argue That's admissible because it's happening right there on an entity that is governed by is managed by the droopal association So that's very concrete. But what about irc? What about slack? What about twitter? What about Other communities where perhaps people are Also involved other developer communities for instance where they're also involved, but they're known to be Drupal community members as well, you know, there's so many subtleties around this issue of community and what the droopal ecosystem really is and where it extends itself and where it doesn't that it contributes to this question of What is ethical information to bring forward in a cwg case? And is that personal information? Is any information that's findable online? admissible should it be If it's publicly available online, but it wasn't brought into the droopal community Is that fair game or is it not so there's all sorts of questions about this chris And i'm glad that you're raising it no good answers right now But there's a real need for the community to come together and put some policy around this So thank you I'm going to move on now to community elected leadership positions. There are a couple Community elected members of the droopal association board today, but there's a real desire for more And a desire to see greater decentralization of power across the droopal community because this is an open source project And people really want to see policies and practices that are in alignment with the philosophy of open source But of course we're growing leaps and bounds and we're also One of the largest if not the largest open source community in the world So there does need to be some formality There are going to need to be people in leadership positions So that there's more accountability and more structure that structure does need to be there But people are proposing more community elected leadership positions and that um There'd be a community elected group to manage community disputes Maybe this is escalated to a trained set of members of the community working group Or maybe this is the community working group But that there'd be more elected roles rather than only appointed roles And as I mentioned some kind of ombudsman watchdog that can field any concerns about mismanagement That is happening in any leadership roles across the project Then kind of a revisiting is a Soft way of putting it or perhaps even a consolidation of the codes of conduct There is the Drupal code of conduct and there is the Drupal con code of conduct People want to see a reevaluation of the need for both On the one hand the Drupal code of conduct is created by the community on the other the Drupal con code of conduct Is a really more of a legal Document that is part of the Drupal association because the Drupal association Organizes and facilitates Drupal cons So there is some distinction there, but what is the distinction? Do we need both? Should they be consolidated or revisited in some way? There's a real desire for greater specificity on what the expected behaviors are of Drupal community members in various Drupal spaces and how those Policies are applied and what the consequences are when there there is any kind of Discrepancy or questioning about whether those policies are being violated Clarity on People's personal beliefs versus their behaviors and really drawing that clear distinction And ensuring that people understand which we're referring to here when we Talk about a code of conduct and and when we specify these behaviors Greater explicitness For the higher standards perhaps of people that are in leadership roles and local organizers are included in that as well And as chris brought up Greater explicitness on when the code of conduct is applicable to personal lives and non Drupal spaces, but What do we mean when someone is in a non Drupal space? Are they a representative of the Drupal community or not? We need clarity around that There was more so than a desire to revise the code of conduct There was really a big call for a companion document to the code of conduct That is around our core values as a community This would be defining the kind of community that we want to be with a global mindset meaning This is not solely north american or western values. That is not the intention here at all It really is to ensure that we're looking at this from a global perspective and have full awareness That these are the values of the global Drupal community And it would allow us to align our community members with the purpose of the Drupal project It would need to create space for different values because we are all individuals who hold our own values come from Our own families of origin and cultures and those do have different values So it needn't be rigid or restrictive. It does need to be open and flexible But still have some kind of definition around it And also a recognition that if we define our core values That there may be people who do not feel aligned with those values and may choose to leave the community And this is a direct statement that the Drupal culture encourages collective ownership And individual contribution and empowerment So how can we create some form of documentation that defines what that collective is? But still leave space for that individuality And again when we on board new community members when new community members join the community To give them some clarity and around what is expected of them And to confirm the understanding of expectations because we cannot expect people to abide by Codes of conduct and align with core values if they haven't been made aware of them And then lastly There's a call for a governance summit, which is something that occurred many years ago But it's been some time A call for a governance summit to convene to craft revisions to community governance That this really must remain a community driven bottom-up approach with the community and the driver seat Not the Drupal association not trees not the community working group or anyone else There's a question about who participates in the governance summit. Is it an open invitation and anyone can apply anyone can Just sign up register, or is it invite only? And a real desire to consult with people who've done things like this before other open source communities Backdrop and its project management community-based decision making Underrepresented communities who need to be a more active um Roll in crafting these revisions as well And then for a draft plan that it comes out of this community this governance summit to be shared with the community At large globally for comment and approval and then some form of game plan for its implementation So that's a lot. I know it's a lot but these who are the All of the potential strategies that were proposed through these community discussions So some open questions that I've already touched upon What do we mean when we say community? So what is community and we really need to define this so that we're using it accurately and consistently Who is a Drupal community member and who isn't? So is anyone who uses Drupal as a platform at their work? Are they automatically a community member or is it someone who? Has a d.o Profile or is it someone who? Pays the Drupal association for regular membership. Who is a community member? What is the dividing line between the project in the community? um If we are going to have more elected roles then how is a democratic vote? And if so who is eligible to vote who is eligible to run for that position? um Should voting be for a specific individual or should it be for what one? Participant called a role profile meaning should we have a profile of the kind of person? That we need in this leadership role their Qualifications their education their experience and should we be voting on that and then? Appointing someone within the community who fits that profile for instance um When is someone representing Drupal outside of? Specific Drupal activities and spaces and when are they not even if they are a member of the Drupal community? When is the code of conduct not in violation? But an issue is remaining unresolved. What happens before escalation? What's the process? What are the policies? And there are many Drupal communities plural I've been saying the Drupal community this whole time and that's a turn of phrase that many of us use But there are many communities How can we take more of a global perspective? How can we have processes and policies that work for all of our communities globally consistently and fairly? so our next steps to Moving this forward to addressing these needs To evaluating these proposals and strategies Is as follows firstly? We are about to deploy a community survey on the governance summit to have the community input on how this governance summit works Who facilitates what it entails who participates etc and that will be coming shortly So be on the lookout for that we definitely want your participation in that survey There's also going to be some form of online suggestion box that we're going to put up for ongoing community feedback So that this is not the end of it We want this to be the beginning of the process for the community to make itself known We will allow anonymous submissions. There will be a neutral third party So who is monitoring this so that the comments are never going to be about that person? And they will be surfacing the themes rather than sending every single comment And they'll be sharing those themes with the community working group and Drupal association staff for now So that we can ensure that that feedback is being heard We will share the findings from the survey on the governance summit We will propose an approach based on the those survey findings for the community comment I will Continue to support The coordination and facilitation of the governance summit to ensure that We are addressing these concerns and we're coming up with feasible solutions for moving them forward We'll be sharing the outcomes for community comment And then there may be some kind of community task force that gets assembled in some form that Continues through implementation so that the community is Taking full ownership of the work that ultimately needs to be done to evolve community governance So it took me a full hour I did it as fast as I could but wanted to be thorough I appreciate your attention and your participation so much. Thank you for listening Thank you for being a part of these really important discussions and this very important process at an integral time in the Drupal project evolution If you have any questions Please feel free to put them in the chat window and Megan will read them to me and I'll take a few minutes to answer those Otherwise, please feel free to email me. This is my personal email address. Whitney at Whitney has.com I'm happy to answer any of your questions privately and we'll ensure that if there is Something that I can't answer personally that I will bring that to the relevant party who can So Megan do we have any questions we do first? I just want to say thank you Whitney. That was really thorough and I think just presented in a way It was at least easy for me to understand where we can focus and where we can kind of head next as a community Well, I'm happy to hear that. Thank you. You bet. I do have some questions. So The first one comes from george de met. It has to do with strategy number six Chris had asked a question about admissible evidence and you gave it an overview of just some areas that needed some Clarification as it relates to the community working group. So george de met followed up About that and said to what extent did you get a sense that This issue around admissible evidence was a systematic concern versus the perception of what happened in a specific case Thank you. I I Got the impression that this is a systematic concern because multiple cases have been named around this issue It is a perception certainly only members of the community working group can know for certain What information they're accepting and you using in their deliberations and what they aren't But there certainly is a perception that a lack of clarity around the policy on what is acceptable invites Unacceptable and perhaps unethical Information to be shared and there is concern that if that information is being Submitted that it may very well be used by members of the community working group to make their decisions Does that answer your question george? I'm just watching the chat. I don't see a response, but We'll make sure if he does have more Just to put in the chat window george and anyone else who has questions, please do the same um, we do have a it's kind of a An opportunity and there's a question in here too. Um, so joseph Who is part of the austrian community is doing a lot of work That local community is doing a lot of work to help us with Drupal con vienna. Um, and as many know We opted for various reasons some of it being financial that And also lack of demand for trainings on monday just to not do you know the Drupal con Trainings that monday Created a nice you could say hole in our schedule We're going to keep with the Drupal con that's from tuesday wednesday thursday the main conference, but this one day We won't be having any program programming and the um The local community has stepped in and is creating some really great summits and Other community programs that day and it's all being led by the community, which i think is exciting And i'm really pleased to see this happening And joseph just asked Is does it make sense to use some of the facilities that they've found for monday to hold community discussions? And you know just be nice to hear from you whitney what you would recommend that the focus would be how it gets facilitated I mean right now we don't we were able to have you come to Drupal con falzmour, but we don't have you come into Drupal con vienna I just would love to hear if you had any ideas or You know and of course if you need more time But I just want to put it out there that they're we hear the need and people are kind of Saying they want to address it. I'm not sure how to do it. Yeah. Thank you. Megan. And thank you joseph I am so heartened by what the local community is doing to come together and That there is such a strong desire To facilitate these community discussions locally I feel strongly that that can only be a positive thing My intention my personal intention that I held in each one of those sessions was to Do everything I could to help people Feel heard and understood That is part of the healing process and that's part of progress So I feel strongly that holding community discussions Whether it's in the format that we used which I can go into greater depth on and joseph You and I are in contact so we can talk about that specifically and I can give you some Structure that I used for those discussions. So perhaps you can have those Community set discussions in europe mirror the ones that we held at baltimore and online Or they can be Looser and less structured and not using the nonviolent communication Ground rules that I had set up if you so choose But just provide an open space where people can share You may want to bring some of these findings into that space so that you can confirm Where there's agreement with what we've already discovered and identify where there isn't that would be greatly helpful to me To the drupal association and to the community at large as well So let's definitely continue to discuss it. We have a little bit of time I unfortunately will not be there due to scheduling and other logistical issues But I still can play an active role in helping you to Make these sessions as effective as possible if you are interested in having me play that role So again, it's really up to you I think I hope that's a enough of an answer for now, but let's keep discussing it separately and joseph, um, this is meggan speaking. I just want to thank you as well for Hearing the need and wanting to create a solution and I'd love to partner with you on that. Um So let's make sure we talk afterwards. Um, I'd love to see a community discussion at drupal con and I've kind of heard from the research that Having that on a regular basis at drupal cons would add a lot of value to the community So I hear that myself and would love to to participate Great. Um, one other question um Oh, good. Thank you chris chris just said thank you for this much needed and healthy discussion in which I felt comfortable putting in my Two cents when I was afraid of being judged if I commented on drupal.org It's really great to hear Yeah, maybe you want to address that whitney Just thank you. That's fantastic. And yes, there were Many people who came to me privately who felt that they Didn't um, it wouldn't be the best strategy for them to participate in these community discussions or to Share their thoughts online and in the variety of forums that were available to them And I respect and understand that it's not the right strategy for everyone Which is why I've continued to post my personal email on the communications that we've had so far The the formal blog post about this process and it is here as well and I will continue to post it I really do encourage people to reach out to me privately if that's the better strategy for them to share Their feelings needs thoughts ideas as they arise But I am grateful to hear chris that you felt that you could do that in this space. So thank you very much I just want to point out he does have a question. I just rolled back and found one. Sorry about that chris So let's make sure we address it. Um, this question is When does a person represent the drupal community? I think there'll never be a definitive answer to this as the community is worldwide I am american but living in france for the past 15 years I've learned that different cultures define privacy based on their environment Uh, it gives an example that many folks outside of the usa that I've met Have hard time understand the reasons why president clinton was impeached That was basically based on concerns in his private life As a member of government, whatever a person does will always affect the community at large and how it's being viewed I think the only thing we can do is to limit the impact it can have on the community So again, his question is when does a person represent the drupal community? Yeah, thank you chris again This is a question that many people are holding right now And there's a real desire to come together as a community to answer it so with a project and a community that is as pervasive as ours and in Living in the world of technology that is as pervasive as the one that we're living in It infiltrates everything and so What is that boundary line when someone who is a contributing member of the drupal community is in a non-drupal space? and Are they still a representative of drupal because they contribute to drupal or if they're in a leadership role in drupal and they're In a social environment that is not related whatsoever to drupal or even other professional pursuits of theirs Are they still a representative of drupal in that social space? These are really tough questions. They're they're questions that we are certainly not the only community That is grappling with but we need to come up with some answers that are good enough for us for now So i'm going to say that again good enough For us for now They're not going to be perfect They're not going to be for everyone and they're not going to be forever But we need to come up with something that We can move forward with and I do believe that that will be a big part of what is discussed at the community governance summit um and There will be perhaps a proposal for some definition around this that will then We'll seek approval from the larger community so that we can Define and document it that's great. Thanks whitney. Does anyone have any other questions? If so, please add them in the chat Right now it looks like we are out of questions Okay Thank you. Megan. Thank you everyone who Took the time out of your day to be here. Thank you to everyone who participated in these community discussions Thank you to those of you who had one-on-one interviews with me Thank you to those who are participating in your own Areas of the community in these discussions to move these issues forward And thank you to those who are watching this video at a later date. I'm so grateful For the participation and the engagement of everyone in this community It certainly has made my job in this role much easier and really an incredible learning experience for me So thank you and thank you again. Megan for allowing me to participate and contribute to the Drupal community in this way Wow, I think we're all benefiting from it. So thank you whitney All right, and with that then I will conclude and then I'll work on posting the recording For the rest of the community to see Wonderful and I do want to make this clear that yes, we're posting the recording and we will also have a transcript So we want these findings and the explanation of these findings to be as widely accessible as possible So be on the lookout for that transcript coming soon Wonderful. Thanks again whitney. Thank you everyone. Have a great day