The Ada Initiative Needs Your Help

Hi, I'm Jake, a cis het white male librarian. You may remember me from such posts as

• An Open Letter to Male Librarians
• What I Saw, What I Heard, What I Read: On Codes of Conduct
• Meanwhile, in the Archives: On the Society of American Archivists

Well, I'm back. Why?

Because of this:

this made me laugh and then want to cry real bad RT @v21: this is like a little koan pic.twitter.com/2rjGKRB04S
— Aimee Fleck (@aimeefleck) September 5, 2014

Starting today, September 10th, 2014, and for the next five days, a group of librarians and information professionals will match donations to the Ada Initiative, up to $5,120, provided one gives via this link.

This group of LIS professionals is made up of Chris Bourg, Mark Matienzo, Bess Sadler, and Andromeda Yelton. Please thank them, then empty their wallets.

Donate to @adainitiative through our #libs4ada link, @mchris4duke, @ThatAndromeda, @anarchivist and I will match it! https://t.co/c6COPP0xGo
— Bess Sadler (@eosadler) September 9, 2014

Here's what the Ada Initiative does.

The Ada Initiative supports women in open technology and culture. Stuff we do:
Anti-harassment policies used by hundreds of conferences
Ally skills for men so women don't have to fight sexism alone
Feminist conferences for women to share lessons learned and support each other
Training women to fight Impostor Syndrome and stay involved in open tech/culture (source)

Does the fight against sexism interest you?

It’s like the Indiana jones opening sequence. “steady, easy…” *rubs fingers together* pic.twitter.com/o7YCKmr8Ub
— Paul Black (@MrFist) September 5, 2014

If you're like me, you live on the Internet, and probably see a lot of disgusting, bigoted behavior rooted in misogyny. To wit:

#GamerGate and #notyourshield are 90% white guys from 4chan pretending to be women and PoC pic.twitter.com/Cv7fBJwFDd
— 4chan Being From-er (@a_girl_irl) September 4, 2014

and this. And this.

Trolls probably aren't going to go away, but the Ada Intiative helps eliminate and mitigate the effects of that behavior. It's a worthy cause.

"Teetering on the brink of an epiphany" pic.twitter.com/XZbeJ3uKVU
— iestyn lloyd (@yezzer) September 5, 2014

You may have also noticed similar behaviors at conferences, necessitating the need for Codes of Conduct, and training. Well, the Ada Initiative does this, too, so please give early, and give often. Conference codes of conduct don't just help women, they protect other marginalized people from harassment. I would very much like to see my friends and colleagues enjoy conferences. I think conferences are improved by representative and substantive diversity and should be safe spaces. More importantly, I would like all of us to not deny each other's humanity.

Open technology and culture are for everybody. Conferences are for everybody. The Internet is for everybody. Video games are for everybody. Humanity is for everybody.

Please thank these information professionals for matching donations, because as one intrepid tweeter puts it:

So CLOSE and yet so far, little egg. RT @v21: this is like a little koan pic.twitter.com/1Baby0ChuR
— Kevin Veale (@krveale) September 5, 2014

No cookies, please. I have enough to eat. Just money, time, effort, and behavior.



That link again: https://supportada.org/?campaign=libraries. It may get you a sweet sticker, too.

Thank you.