RIPE 89 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Tech Session

Date: Tuesday, 29 October 18:00 - 19:00 (UTC+1)

Moderator: Vesna Manojlovic, RIPE NCC

Scribe: Karla Liddle-White, RIPE NCC

Status: Draft

Welcome

Vesna Manojlovic, RIPE NCC

Vesna opened the session by welcoming attendees and outlining logistics; three speakers would each have 15 minutes with time for questions and participants were encouraged to engage respectfully. Vesna provided a brief history of the RIPE community’s diversity efforts which began over ten years ago focussing on gender diversity and has since shifted and broadened. She introduced the presentations and asked participants to be active and ask questions.

Postgrowth Society: Feminist Insights

Francisca Niklitschek, Degrowth Economics

The presentation is available at:
https://ripe89.ripe.net/wp-content/uploads/presentations/60-Postgrowth_Society_RIPE89.pdf

Franziska discussed the concepts of degrowth and post-growth which challenge the current economic model focused on endless growth and GDP as a measure of success. She argued that this growth-driven approach leads to environmental degradation and social inequality, particularly affecting marginalised communities and the Global South. Degrowth advocates for reducing harmful production and consumption practices and prioritising well-being, sustainability, and social equity.

Franziska highlighted that a post-growth society would redefine prosperity based on quality of life, care, and community rather than economic wealth. She emphasised that achieving this requires addressing systems of oppression, like capitalism's patriarchal roots, and fostering an economy based on reciprocity and care. Technology, she noted, should play a role in facilitating this transition. Franziska concluded by urging participants to reconsider material relationships and envision an economy that supports a good life for everyone.

Denesh Bhabuta, speaking in a personal capacity, thanked Francisca and said that the presentation was being given in a space based on a non‑profit ethos. He noted that pretty much all profit loss neutral companies still based their accounts on original growth capitalism and asked whether Francisca had any suggestions on how to find the right balance since many non-profit organisations were seeing budget cuts and were based on capitalist principles.

Francisca said that it was a challenge finding a balance within an inescapable economic system. She outlined the importance of redefining goals and reshaping values, highlighting that the primary focus should be on the wellbeing of people and the environment. This, she stated, should guide all actions and decisions.

She acknowledged that while profit and budget considerations are logical and necessary, the first step must be to align the purpose of organisations and businesses with serving both people and the environment. Only when this purpose is met should other factors, such as financial objectives, be prioritised.

Maria Matejka, BIRD, asked how to balance doing good and promoting wellbeing with the practical need to meet customer demands, especially when revenue directly impacted the ability to sustain operations and pay developers.

Francisca replied that this was a very logical way to think and that she didn’t blame this kind of behaviour since we are inserted into the economic system so we cannot make it too different. She said that while we cannot change the larger perspective, we can change our personal view about the world and check to see if we are living by these principles; solidarity, cooperation and care.

Maria followed up by saying that there was a large group of people who can’t do this since their first and only principle is to survive and can't do more beyond this.

Visual Processing

Leo Vegoda, Polus LLC

The presentation is available at:
https://ripe89.ripe.net/wp-content/uploads/presentations/16-Visual-Processing.pdf

Leo explored the topic of visual processing with a focus on differences in cognitive experiences such as Aphantasia, where people do not visualise images in the mind, and related conditions. These differences in sensory imagination highlight the diversity of cognitive experiences among individuals. Leo went on to present the implications of such differences for communication. Often, he said, people assume others process information similarly, which can lead to misunderstandings, particularly when conveying abstract concepts. This is especially relevant in environments like conferences, where effective communication is critical.

The presentation expanded to related conditions, including prosopagnosia, commonly known as face blindness. Leo shared personal challenges faced at conferences, where recognising attendees can be daunting. Coping strategies included relying on voices or consistent physical features, such as glasses or height, to identify individuals. Another condition discussed was Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory (SDAM), which impairs an individual’s ability to recall personal events. Those with SDAM may rely on factual notes to compensate for memory gaps.

Leo proposed practical measures to make conferences more accessible, such as offering larger, customisable name badges. This would assist individuals with visual or memory challenges and improve inclusivity overall. The talk underscored the diversity of human cognitive experiences and the importance of recognising and accommodating these differences in communication and social settings, fostering greater understanding and inclusivity.

Doris Hauser, speaking in a personal capacity, said that she was thankful Leo had raised this since 10% of the population have Aphantasia so not an insignificant proportion of people.

Silvan Gebhardt, Openfactory GmbH, suggested a strategy of finding a friend and attending events together. He shared his own approach that he teams up with a friend who is great at remembering names, while he himself remembers faces. This way, they complement each other’s strengths when meeting new people.

Greg Choules, speaking in a personal capacity, said that his wife struggles with visualising sizes, which he can do easily but she had an excellent memory for details about their past. He explained that it shows how we all have different strengths in visualisation and memory.

Lee Howard, IPv4.Global-Hilco Streambank, shared that he always speaks on his own behalf, despite mentioning his company for affiliation and context. He explained that a close family member has severe prosopagnosia, making it challenging to recognise people without using cues like height, hair, or clothing style. He appreciated larger prints on name badges and requested dyslexia-friendly fonts to prevent letter mix-ups, as larger text alone doesn’t resolve readability issues. He noted these changes could improve accessibility and understanding for people with similar challenges.

CyberLadies: Community for Underrepresented Folks in Czech Cybersecurity

Zuzana Pechová,CyberLadies

The presentation is available at:
https://ripe89.ripe.net/wp-content/uploads/presentations/67-20241029_RIPE89_CyberLadies_Zuzana-Pechova.pdf

Zuzana introduced a Czech-based community of women and queer individuals in cybersecurity, aiming to connect underrepresented groups in the space. They created the group to address the lack of diversity in the field and loneliness working in various teams in the Czech Republic. She noted that in her team of 40 people, there were only two women. This new community provided mutual support and fostered a safe space for members to share experiences, particularly in male-dominated work environments.

She explained that it was a volunteer-led, Czech speaking community that prioritised making connections between people and inclusivity. She noted that they were very LGBTQ+ friendly, with many trans folks and that she hadn’t seen this in other communities for women in the Czech Republic.

Zuzana added that the community leaned strongly towards Open Source projects and self-hosting as well as using platforms like Discord to make it easier for others to join discussions and share between members, they also have a website and a calendar. The community has in-person meetings and lightning talks and live streams on cybersecurity topics. Zuzana noted that they have remained independent from corporate funding to ensure long-term sustainability.

She said that plans included increasing their social media presence, establishing local meetups across cities, and forming working groups to engage in cybersecurity policy discussions in Czechia. Zuzana noted that she had been asked to document their setup so similar communities could be established based on their blueprint and expressed optimism about expanding the community and creating resources to inspire similar efforts elsewhere.

Vesna, as the moderator, took the opportunity to thank Zuzana for addressing topics relevant to RIPE and for building connections with the local community in Czechia, where we were currently guests. She expressed hopes for future collaboration between Zuzana’s community and RIPE. Vesna also thanked her colleague, Jelena, for introducing them. She mentioned a similar women-in-cyber community group in the Netherlands and offered to connect them, seeing many shared interests between the two groups.

Silvan Gebhardt, from the Finnish community in this case, said that he was really happy to see what's going on and that they have a very active group called Women for Cyber in Finland. He said that it would be great to see Zuzana’s documentation in English.

Zuzana replied that while their website and Discord have English options, their main focus remains on Czech, aiming for bilingual accessibility on key content. Initially, they considered establishing a Czech branch of the European NGO Women for Cyber but after researching and discussing with the organisation, they decided with friends to build a more grassroots, community-focused group rather than a structured organisation at the European level.

Lee Howard, IPv4.Global-Hilco Streambank, expressed gratitude to Zuzana and recognised her efforts in building a community which began with just two women seeking connection. He appreciated that this community transcended geographic boundaries, instead uniting people around shared interests, challenges, and identities—an aspect of the Internet’s potential that he had dedicated his life to. Lee conveyed that her work affirmed the value of his own efforts, and he thanked her sincerely for embodying this vision.

Vesna thanked the audience for their interest and invited anyone interested in speaking at the next Diversity session to reach out to her, the RIPE NCC team, or the RIPE Chairs. She encouraged ongoing discussions on the diversity mailing list or forum. Additionally, she announced a diversity-friendly social event, "Tea BoF," scheduled for the next day, where attendees could bring card games and sweets to share. Tea and a quiet space would be provided for those seeking a relaxed environment mid-week.