Re: Git in Outreachy Dec-Mar?

From: Christian Couder <christian.couder@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 31, 2018, 08:54 UTC
Message-ID: <CAP8UFD0AnS1Zp2QdqtLTqBrsUiogODC_apG-vumxRuoijW=r4A@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <20180830192453.GC19685@sigill.intra.peff.net>

On Thu, Aug 30, 2018 at 9:24 PM, Jeff King <peff@peff.net> wrote:

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> On Thu, Aug 30, 2018 at 01:46:00PM +0200, Johannes Schindelin wrote:
>
>> I am willing to mentor, and the only reason that kept me from already
>> stepping forward and trying to brush up the landing page is this concern:
>> traditionally, we (as in: the core Git contributors) have been less than
>> successful in attracting and retaining contributors from under-represented
>> groups. I don't think any regular reader of this mailing list can deny
>> that.
>>
>> And while I find it very important to reach out (there are just *so* many
>> benefits to having a more diverse team), I have to ask *why* we are so
>> unsuccessful. As long as we do not even know the answer to that, is it
>> even worth pursuing Outreachy?
>>
>> I mean, if we make serious mistakes here, without even realizing, that
>> directly lead to being stuck in our old bubble, then we are prone to
>> simply repeat those mistakes over and over and over again. And that would
>> just be a waste of our time, *and* a big de-motivator for the Outreachy
>> students.
>>
>> What's your take on this?
>
> My feeling is that our lack of diversity has less to do with driving out
> diverse candidates, and more that they do not join in the first place.

I agree with that.

> Which isn't to say we _wouldn't_ drive out diversity, but that I'm not
> sure we have very good data on what happens in that second stage.

Maybe we could ask Olga in CC what we could do better?

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> If we
> can use the program to overcome "step 1", that helps us get that data
> (and hopefully react to it in time to be useful, and not just use the
> candidate as a guinea pig; I agree there is the possibility of doing
> more harm than good to a student who becomes de-motivated).

I agree.

> That leaves aside the question of whether things we are doing prevent
> people from participating in the first place. I'm certainly open to that
> idea, but I think it's a separate discussion.

Yeah, I think there is a lot we could do to improve in this area and it would help.