Readme

Best FutureFutures Awards

The bestBest futureFuture Awards are are recognition  we share with one another. During 5five days you will be attendingattend many sessions, speak and listen to manymany, many people. Discover new ways of thinking, doing, resisting, resting and creating changes.

We have thoughthought of 4four mainawards:main awards: Solidarity, Collaboration, Innovation and Creativity. Help us choosingto choose the person, the collective or the organizationorganisation that for you deservebelieve deserves one or more of them. When attending a plenary, an interconnections session or a pop-upup, think but who you would you like to acknowledge and share ityour thoughts with the Best Future AwardAwards committee. AlsoAlso, if you would like to be part of the explorersexplorers, join us and let’s look around together.

Yes,And yes, the Best futureFuture Awards have prizes! CauseBecause happy competition makemakes our our ❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜 🖤 🤍 🤎 beats! beat!

Interconnections

TheyThese are regional and/or thematic conversations on issues and projectsprojects, proposed by the APC member community. Members are the hosts and APC staff will support. TheyThese sessions are 60 to 90 minuteminutes longlong, sessions whichand will run in parallel and across time zones.

Pop-ups

AreThese are shorter sessions between 30 and 60 minutesminutes, on any topic. Members and staff can suggest what the pop-ups are about. They can be for care time, skillskills sharingsharing, or just havehaving fun and catchcatching up with one another. They can be scheduled and promoted on the Convening Website and shared in MattermostMattermost, or they can behappen extemporaneousspontaneously, inspired by time and people.

Orientation Sessionssessions

On the11 11^th and 12th ofNovember, Novemberfive 5 Orientationorientation sessions of 30 minutes each will take placesplace for members and staff to learn about the convening, its spaces, platforms and tools. TwoOne sessionssession will be in French and one will be in Spanish.

AllFor all members that are hosting interconnections or want to understand and know more about the BBB members serversservers, andthere will be an additional 15 15-minutes session willto look at BBBhow forto thebe host.a host on BBB.

Party

The party is a collaborative adventure lead by Shawna, Smitty and youyou. :)  We are needing a co-hosting/facilitating team for the party. If you love APC partyparties, then help us make itthis one memorable. If you are interested toin (co-)hosthosting or helphelping, reach out to Shawna and Smiity.Smitty.

Meeting in the digital

In order to build a friendly space for all, plenary and interconnections sessions will have:

• Co-hostshost pairs (Members/Staff)members/staff) that will facilitate. They will hold the space, keep an eye on the timetime, and keep an eye on the chat to bring your comments and suggestionsuggestions into the main conversation.

• Tech support will help you understand and access the various technical functions, from captioning to translation and more.

• Documentation team: Two note-takers and one visual/graphic note-taker will document (only for plenary)plenaries).

• CloseClosed Captioning:captioning: There is a super human following and typing everyone’s words so you can read along (only for plenary)plenaries).

• Interpreters: There are more super humans interpreting into/from English, French,French and Spanish (only for plenary)plenaries).

• Speakers:Speakers Willwill share their insights, thoughts, reflections, provocations.

• Participants:Participants Willwill share their insights, thoughts, reflections, provocations. WillThey will give meaning to staying together and make it special.

Interconnections hosts can agree on how to document their sessions with participants. They can agree on and consent onto recording, organizeorganise collaborative note takingtaking, andor just focus on the moment.

Tips for attending sessions (plenary,plenaries, interconnections, pop-ups)

• Before entering the room participants room, participants can choose her/his/their their name, preferred pronoun,pronouns, organisation,organisation placeand place.  (itIt is your choice, choose freely!). BBB will not give you the possibility to renamechange your name after entering the room.

• You can have your video on  or off, either way is finefine.

• Remember to mute when you are not talking.

• Sit comfortably, bring your tea, coffee, water, pencil...

• Close all your other applications and tabs on your browser to boost connectivity and enjoy doing one thing. ;)

• If you want to talk, you can raise your “HAND” or type into the chat,chat, then follow the host/facilitatorshosts/facilitators' indication,indication. theyThey will monitor and bring your voice and comments into the discussion.

• If for some reason you are not able to use sound and want to send your input, you can send messages in the chat.

• For breakouts rooms: weWe will use random groups and pairs or sometimes you will choose a group and then you will be assigned there. To enter the breakout room you “must "agree to join”. The facilitator will send messages at half-time and three minutes before the end. You will be calledbrought back to the plenary when the time comes automatically.

If you are interested and want to know more, watch the BBB Tutorialtutorial or visit visit BigBlueButton guides in our meeting wiki.

Principles and practices of participation

APC Member Convening is committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment for any of its conveningconvenings, whether they happen online or physically, face-to-face ofor in hybrid settings.

Participating toin the APC Member Convening 2021 implyimplies acceptance of the PrinciplePrinciples and Practice of Participation, the the Code of Conduct and the Sexual Harassment Policy. They are also all on our [insert link bookstack].

We also follow Feminist Practices and Politics of Technology. Please read the extended version of the Feminist Principles of Participation, which inform APC’s Principles of Participation.

It is vital that discussions include and acknowledge a diversity of opinions and experiences, and that the community ensures that harassment of any kind,kind is not tolerated.

We will take action in response to harassment related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race,race or religion. APC does not tolerate harassment of participants in any form.

These are the framing principles we value and will apply in this convening:

• Create a safe space for all participants.

• Be respectful.

• Be collaborative and participatory.

• Recognise and value diversity.

• Respect the privacy of participants.

• Be aware of language diversity.

• Handle disagreement constructively.

• Embed politics and practices of self and collective care.

The Event incidentIncident teamTeam  is composed by [insert name and emails]. Participants can reach them anytime by email or phone. Please contact any member of the Event IncidentsIncident Team with any questions or concerns you may have throughout the duration of the convening. Complaints will be treated confidentially.

Consent, privacy and confidentiality

The APC Member Convening creates safe and confidential spaces based on the idea that “what is said here, stays here”.here.” TheyIt involveinvolves intimate, personal exchanges, with recording only during certain exercises, which will be announced to participants. Recording will be switched off as well as on upon request. We do not plan to use direct quotes for the APC social media accounts. If you want to quote someone or to share images, always ask for express consent. This includes:

• Ask for consent for photography,photographs, audio-visualaudiovisual recordings or quotes
• By default, stick to the Chatham House Rule1:Rule: “When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.”
• Recording will be announced to participants so that they are aware and can make informed decisiondecisions onabout turn on / offturning their video cameracameras on or off.
  
  • Recording will be happening in the plenary and for documentation purposes.

  • Recordings are stored securely on APC servers.

  • Recording might be switched off as well as on upon request. We do not plan to use direct quotes for the APC social media accounts. If you want to quote someone or to share images, always ask for express consent.

• If you want to take screenshots, ask for express consent or announce it so that people can turn off their video if they do not want to go on record. Remember to edit names from the image.

• Ask yourself, do you really need the screenshot? Are there other simple wayways to build memories of good moments?Practices and politics of technology.

Documentation

ThroughThroughout the convening we will take different type of records:

• Audio recordings for internal use (with the consent of all participants in the plenaries).

• Text notes of plenaryplenaries, with the aim of writing of writing up reports for internal use use and to incorporate learning into our work and practices.  [Insert name of documentation team]  will do the documentation.

• The graphic/visual recording recording of plenaries plenaries to capture ideas spontaneously and syntheses and synthesise them through visual note-note taking.  [Insert name of illustrator team]  will do the illustrations.

• Recording will be happening only in the plenaryplenaries and only for documentation purposes.

• Recordings are stored securely on APC servers.

Active collective care

As part if this year's member conveningconvening, we want to open the space for members to share with one another some of their ways of active collective care. forFor that, we invite you to kickoffkick off the plenaries with 5-10 minsminutes of your favorite activity rooted in care. whatWhat you share can be anything that you found has supported your well-being on an individual or a collective level.

Plan your participation and time online. Do one thing! Take breaks, stretch!

External communications and outreach

In 2021 we are deliberately prioritising coming together to reconnect and collaborate in a safe and comfortable space, where we will be present and engaged for and with the network. In order to prioritise this, we will slow down our external actions and put all our energies ininto keeping our network connected, informed and engaged, by focussingfocusing on internal communicationscommunication actions such as the Dish of the day.Day.

The only external communications output that will be produced is:

• ByAt the end of the meeting, the illustrations done by the graphic ilustratorsnote takers will be used to illustrate a general member convening article that will be published inon apc,APC.org.

Staff and members are invited to write blog posts on their experiences during the member convening, focusing on substance and their personal experiences, keeping in mind the privacy and safety considerations of the other participants.

Platforms and tools

Informed by our policies, practices and feminist approach to technology, most of the platforms and tools we are using during the Member Convening are FLOSSfree/libre and open source (FLOSS) tools and tech platforms such as Mailman, CiviCRM, Mattermost, Bookstack, Drupal, dedicated etherpad,etherpads, NexcloudNextcloud and OnlyOffice software for collaborative engagement.

BigBlueButton (BBB)

APC has invested in a self-hosted BigBlueButton (BBB) installation and worked on its customization to be able to host real time video-conferences using FLOSS. During the year thanks to the great human dedication of APC Tech we will be using a fresh and stand alone installation of BBB to host the plenaries and provide a safe and easy interpretation and captioning system. We have done “stress tests” to verify its ability to function well when the number of participants increases, and operation became more demanding and we have come to the conclusion that BBB would offer a stable and viable platform for our plenaries. We have developed alternative plan if numbers of participants increase drastically or if any unforeseen disruption happen. We are happy that with the collective effort of many organizations as well as individuals investing in alternatives and autonomous infrastructures, we are able to run our convening securely, smoothly and comfortably on FLOSS platforms and tools.

If you would like to read more, details are one click away on the Member Convening [insert link] You can also look at the APC policy on use of free/libre and open source technology and the APC WRP Feminist Practices and Politics of Technology.

Mattermost and mailing list

For one-on-one, one-to-many or many-to-many communications during the convening we will be using our mailing list and Mattermost. We are doing this to provide multiple entry points to access receive/share information in ways that respond to personal preferences and connectivity. Both tools/platforms can be used for real time and asynchronous participation. Using Mattermost during the convening will give you the possibility to have instant chat and share direct messages (DM) with people you would like to emeet.

APC Member Convening – Event website

Programme, schedule, information, manuals on tools, and anything about the convening will be available on the Member Convening Website. Visit, use and enjoy it and the scheduling tools we have add for you to create your own personal event experience.

Practices and politics of technology

APC prioritises free/libre and open source software (FLOSS) and open standards for the following reasons:

• Driven by community needs

• Sustainability

• Security.

The APC community applies the principles of FLOSS in our work in the following ways, wherever possible:

• Open document formats

• Creating content using Creative Commons licences

• Self-hosted online services

• Supporting the FLOSS development community.

In addition, APC applies the core values of feminist practices and politics of technology:

• Participatory/Inclusive

• Secure

• Appropriate/Sustainable Technologies

• Free and Open Source software will be given priority, but only if the participants can sustain their use post-training

• Transparent/Open

• Creative/Strategic

• Emphasising the Role of Women in Technology

• Emphasising Women's Control of Technology

• Fun!

   

Digital participation allowance

Moving from face-to-face events to online remote ones brings novelties, including finding sustainable, effective ways to support participation.

At the end of the convening, you will receive [insert amount] to help cover your connectivity expenses for the five (5) days of the convening. Please note that if you or your team will need the allowance, you need to write to [insert email] requesting the support.

APC Member Convening useful contacts

APC Member Convening Coordinating team is composed by many many people:

• For anything related with facilitation and hosting of Plenary and Interconnections reach out to Karel, Vassilis, hvale,

• For Comms related questions reach out to Flavia

• For Documentation related questions reach out to Liy,

• For Pop-up related questions reach out to Natalia and Shivi,

• For Organizational Care related questions reach out to cyn and Jen at careorg [@] apc.org for any question and doubts you have on the practicum

• For general inquiry you can reach us via email using convening [@] apc.org or using the mailing lists for issue relevant for all participants.

APC Tech support will be provided by Adolfo, Avi, Igor, k054, Maja and Rox you can reach out to support [@] apc.org for any technical question related to your access or any of the working spaces.

1 Mariana Fossati, GenderIT editor, created the Readme format for the 2^nd Feminist Internet Research (FIRN) Convening. We want to thank and acknowledge her for this brilliant hack of software installation practice.

2 https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/chatham-house-rule