<div dir="ltr"><div style>Sorry to keep sending out novels, but this is an important subject to me and a bit sensitive too - </div><div><br></div>Well, I think that a big part of inclusion is finding common ground. I've been reading <u>How Children Succees: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character</u> recently. It's based on research from KIPP schools and I got to it through the work of <b>Jonathan Haidt</b> (<a href="http://www.ted.com/speakers/jonathan_haidt.html">http://www.ted.com/speakers/jonathan_haidt.html</a>) so it applies as much to adults as to children.<div>
<br></div><div style>One of the ideas presented in the book is that "Diversity empowers individuals, but similarity empowers teams." This kind of restates my first point that in order to improve outreach, you have to improve inclusiveness. In other words, the best way to be inclusive is to find commonality and grow from there. I think core values are a pretty good place to start for that. Again, this gets into touchy-feely soft skills, but there is a lot of merit to being sensitive to those.</div>
<div style><br></div><div style>One study that they presented was tested on several children in the middle- to high-school age groups. Boys and girls were paired with mentors for 30 minutes and then given a math test. Half of the mentors gave the standard "drug free" message and half spent the time talking about how success is about habits and character (so anyone can develop these habits and they are a function of hard work and opportunity). </div>
<div style><br></div><div style>For the kids that got the drug-free message, the boys averaged an 84 on the math test and the girls averaged a 74. However, the group that was given the message that invalidated the stereotype that skills are intrinsic, the boys averaged 86 and the girls averaged 84. The girls' scores went up 10 points and almost closed the gap with the boys. The girls weren't under-performing because they were worse at math, but because they had internalized the stereotype that they should be. This is referred to as "stereotype threat" and these schools have had a lot of success in applying personal development concepts to overcome these stereotypes.</div>
<div style><br></div><div style>While I take this and most psychological studies with a grain of salt, I do think that the message that points of commonality do exist in personal development values is important. Curiosity, enthusiasm, compassion, integrity, social responsibility. These are the kinds of values that I think of when bridging cultural gaps, and they're also why I like the hacker community so much. </div>
<div style><br></div><div style>Steven</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 10:57 AM, Edward L Platt <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ed@elplatt.com" target="_blank">ed@elplatt.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div>TLDR: Demographics are self-reinforcing without actively welcoming people with different experiences, ideas, and skills.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Matt, I totally understand where you're coming from, and I've heard similar sentiments expressed often in the hacker/maker community, but after a lot of thought I have to disagree, and I'd like to try to explain why. One of your comments is a good place to start:</div>
<div class="im">
<div><br></div><div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:13px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">> it's also not a bad thing </span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:13px;font-family:arial,sans-serif">for a community to focus on their core values</span></div>
<div><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-size:13px;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><br></span></div></div><div><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif">The demographics of a community tend to be self-reinforcing. If the current group focuses on their core values, they are likely to recruit new members with the same values, and that often implies from the same demographic. Furthermore, when entering a new community, most people feel like outsiders even if they match the existing demographic. If they don't, they are likely to feel like that much more of an outsider, even if the group does nothing to discourage them. As an example from i3, we had a group of aerial acrobats using our space and everyone thought they were awesome, but they were continually worried about wearing out their welcome.</font></div>
<div><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif">I'm not saying that it's wrong for spaces to have focuses or values, but that we should strive to be on the open-minded about applying those focuses and values. We shouldn't require members to prove that they fit into our ideal, we should welcome everyone who doesn't work against our values.</font></div>
<div><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif">A diverse membership doesn't happen by accident. It requires being actively welcoming to new members, and *encouraging* them to bring new ideas and skills, rather than asking them to fit themselves into what already exists. It also requires reaching outside your current circles and comfort zone to look for new members.</font></div>
<div><br></div><div><font color="#222222" face="arial, sans-serif">-Ed</font></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><div>-- </div>Edward L. Platt<div><a href="http://elplatt.com" target="_blank">http://elplatt.com</a></div>
<div><a href="http://civic.mit.edu/users/elplatt" target="_blank">http://civic.mit.edu/users/elplatt</a></div>
<div><a href="http://i3detroit.com" target="_blank">http://i3detroit.com</a></div><div><a href="http://twitter.com/EdwardLPlatt" target="_blank">@EdwardLPlatt</a></div><div><br></div>
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