How CHAOSS Badging Promotes DEI

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is a term used to represent equal treatment of people from all walks of life regardless of their background, race, gender, belief or group.

The CHAOSS badging project aims to improve DEI in the open source scene by presenting badges to communities and projects that show effort in making opensource more acceptable and welcoming to people from different backgrounds and groups.

What is CHAOSS Badging ?

CHAOSS badging is an initiative that acknowledges the contribution and commitment of individuals, companies and events towards improving and supporting Diversity, equity, and Inclusion in open source.

The purpose of this initiative is to enhance inclusivity in open source. For open source projects and event organisers, badges are awarded once the required specifications that indicate a satisfactory DEI metric is met.

How it Promotes DEI

The following are a few examples of how impactful the CHAOSS badging initiative can be to individuals and communities in general.

By presenting badges to community events, and projects that work hard to improve DEI, the following things are encouraged;

Facilitates knowledge sharing

People from different backgrounds tend to have diverse views on topics and this not only means you get to gain ideas from different perspectives which will greatly benefit projects and make it accessible to a diverse range of audiences, it also encourages others to do the same.

Creates inclusive communities

It encourages maintainers, contributors, and event organisers to provide inclusive language and terminology in projects and events which creates a welcoming and inclusive environment for everyone.

Promotes Diversity in Leadership

As more diverse people hold leadership positions in open source they can better relate and understand other people from underrepresented backgrounds and provide initiatives an ideas to encourage such people to contribute to open source and feel comfortable in the open source space.

Measuring DEI impact

Data from the badging project can be used to track the impact of DEI initiatives which can help the community improve on the acts that truly matter and recognises, celebrates and properly appreciate people from diverse audiences.

Conclusion

Overall, the CHAOSS badging initiative plays a huge role in promoting DEI in open source projects and events and helps to make open source more welcoming and accessible for everyone..

Follow this link to check out the CHAOSS badging site and to better understand how you can contribute and be a part of this initiative.

Written by Iqma