This year, ShutdownPL will be hosting a 1.5-hour event consisting of a 1-hour keynote + Q&A session with invited speaker JeanHeyd “ThePhD” Meneide followed by an optional 30 minute discussion.

Seeking Good Trouble Before It Goes Bad: Anti-Jerk Systems in STEM

Many places claim that technology—especially programming—are strict equal meritocracies and that each community only judges people by the content of their character and the quality of their code.

The truth is, unfortunately, a lot uglier than this.

Prominent open source advocates and figureheads scapegoat disabled folks regularly to get away with their poor behavior. Community leaders don’t care about huge abusers until the leaders are personally in jeopardy. It seems like every single programming community ignores glaring warning signs, before the “meritocracy” explodes in their faces. Why can’t leaders take care of their communities and uphold the age-old platitude “Don’t be a Jerk”?

Let’s talk about what has failed the programming communities of today, and how we can make them better so we can get back to focusing on actually doing the hard work that so desperately needs to be done.

About the Speaker

JeanHeyd “ThePhD” Meneide is the Project Editor for the C Language, and they manage their greatest open-source contribution—sol2—that is used across many industries and academic disciplines. They are currently working towards earning their own nickname, climbing the academic ladder while spending as much time as possible contributing to C and C++ standardization and development with Shepherd’s Oasis, LLC. Their newest and biggest project is Unicode for C++. Learn more about JeanHeyd’s work at their website and about Shepherd’s Oasis through their website.

They very much love dogs and hopes to have their own in three years or so. They also like TWRP’s “Feels Pretty Good” from the album Together Through Time, and currently love the music from Rhythm Heaven Fever (the seals are too cute).

About ShutdownPL

Anti-Black racism is sustained by systems of discrimination that are pervasive accross our society, and academic spaces are no exception. Inspired by the recent #ShutDownSTEM movement and in response to the continued violence against Black people in the United States, the purpose of ShutdownPL @ ICFP’21 is to offer a safe space at ICFP 2021 in which to collaborate and take action against racism and systems of oppression in the programming languages community and beyond. We aim to continue the discussion started during ICFP 2020 by the statement on current events and, moreover, to enact positive change via concrete planning and action.

Sponsorship

A huge thank you to Bloomberg for generously sponsoring #ShutdownPL @ ICFP 2021.

An important issue in access to opportunities in technology is paying individuals for their labor; otherwise, opportunities only go to those who can afford to work for free. We cannot thank Bloomberg enough for believing in these efforts.