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Audio: https://soundcloud.com/fredric-mitchell/star-trek-voyager-a-model-for-a-more-inclusive-community The greatest asset of open source software is the ability to fork and improve. When it comes to our community’s culture, could we be better? I know we can, and Star Trek: Voyager gives us our blueprint. This talk explores the principles surrounding Gene Rodenberry’s creation and how we can craft a culture of inclusiveness and diversity to achieve even more. We'll use scientific studies, research, and mathematical models to prove the idea of diverse collective intelligence over individual intelligence within a group. We’ll explore the ground-breaking symbolism of characters like Captain Janeway, Lieutenant Tuvok and Seven of Nine. Learning Objectives & Outcomes: We’ll also get into reasons why the show was successful and how we can adapt those principles to our own work and open source communities. What is the significance of casting the first female captain? How did their collective intelligence as a diverse group supersede their individual intelligence? How were they perceived within their communities given their backgrounds and interests? Did their unique points of view add value to the overall narrative? What can we learn about assessing value, both short-term and long-term? Why was diversity important to their ultimate goal of finding home?
Citation preview
Star Trek: Voyager A Model for a More Inclusive
Community2014 Fox Valley Drupal Camp
September 20, 2014 bit.ly/voyager-inclusive
@fredricmitchell
Fredric
• Unabashedly an engineer
• Efficiency over everything
• Senior Dev @Phase2
• Continuously striving to do better
@fredricmitchell
What
@fredricmitchell
What We’re Talking About
• Journey to a better experience (User and Developer)
• The allegory of Star Trek: Voyager and it’s characters
• Context and Blind Spots
• The Diversity Trumps Ability Theorem
@fredricmitchell
Talent hits a target that no one else can hit; genius hits a target no one else can see.
German Philosopher
Arthur Schopenhauer
“ ”
@fredricmitchell
Superheroes love the journey@fredricmitchell
Software is Hard@fredricmitchell
[A great show] has to teach you how to watch it.
TV Critic
Alan Sepinwall
“ ”
@fredricmitchell
Captain Janeway• First female captain
• Bullheaded, simultaneously
dogmatic and impulsive
• Melded together a dynamic crew,
including Maquis rebels
@fredricmitchell
Photo Credit: http://bit.ly/1pxAYEL
The Janeway
@fredricmitchell
“Keep your shirt tucked in; go down with the ship; and never abandon a member of your crew.”
Am I open to unorthodoxy?
@fredricmitchell
Tuvok
• Black Vulcan
• Calm, logical, and expert botanist
• Keeps the peace through his
wisdom, experience, and vitality
@fredricmitchell
Photo Credit: http://bit.ly/1mrGYLB
It’s not easy“On the contrary, the demands on a Vulcan's character are extraordinarily difficult. Do not mistake composure
for ease.”
Is logic guiding my decisions?
@fredricmitchell
B’Elanna Torres
• Half Hispanic Human and Klingon
• Chief Engineer
• Tough, knowledgeable and
independent
• Brash, bold, and extremely complex
@fredricmitchell
Photo Credit: http://bit.ly/1sDE4ct
Hidden Potential“If I sprain my ankle, at least I feel something […] I'm not
trying to kill myself! I'm trying to see if I'm still alive.”
@fredricmitchell
How am I evaluating talent?
@fredricmitchell
Seven-of-Nine
• Former assimilated Borg
• Forced to adapt after separating
from the collective
• Logical, pensive, and extremely
blunt
• Lightning rod
@fredricmitchell
Photo Credit: http://bit.ly/1AZrhVT
Signal to Noise“But that is irrelevant.”
@fredricmitchell
What are the facts?
@fredricmitchell
Math. Science.
@fredricmitchell
Emotional Intelligence of Groups
• Source (HBR): bit.ly/ei-hbr-2001
• Teams who develop greater emotional intelligence (EQ) boost
their overall performance
• EQ: Trust among members, a sense of group identity, and a
sense of group efficacy
• At the heart of these three conditions are emotions, like the
ability to listen
@fredricmitchell
Women are Key to Smart Teams
• Published in HBR 2011: bit.ly/women-hbr-2011
• Little correlation between a group’s collective intelligence and the IQs of its individual members
• If a group includes more women, its collective intelligence rises.
@fredricmitchell
What do you hear about great groups? Not that the members are all really
smart, but that they listen to each other.
Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon
Anita Wooley
“ ”
@fredricmitchell
Points of Clarification
• Emotional Intelligence != Being Emotional
• Men can have high EQ
• Correlation and Probability are implied
• Gender is not limited to two choices
@fredricmitchell
The Difference
• Scott Page
• Professor of Complex Systems,
Political Science, and Economics
• Published 2007
• bit.ly/scottpage-difference
@fredricmitchell
Perspective, Heuristics
• Perspective
• How one looks at a problem
• Heuristic
• Tells a person where to search for a solution
@fredricmitchell
Diversity Trumps AbilityConditions
1. The problem must be hard
2. Each solver has a local optima to the problem
3. An improvement can be made to a non-optimal solution
4. Large pool of solvers to form a decent-size collection
Proof
The context of perspective and heuristics are key
http://bit.ly/div-v-ability
@fredricmitchell
Problem solvers with diverse perspectives may have trouble
understanding solutions identified by other agents.
Professor at Univ. of Michigan
Scott Page
“ ”
@fredricmitchell
And thus, EQ comes full circle
@fredricmitchell
So, what can I do?
@fredricmitchell
Get off the ‘its a pipeline
problem’
@fredricmitchell
Who is the the ‘most qualified’
candidate?
@fredricmitchell
Keys to Live By
• Be an ally
• Recognize my privilege
• Remember the science!!
• Stay bold in the compound interest of action
• Strive for maximum group collective intelligence
@fredricmitchell
How great can our community be?
@fredricmitchell
How will I help get us ‘home’?
@fredricmitchell
SourcesDiversity Articles
Groups are smarter with women - http://hbr.org/2011/06/defend-your-research-what-makes-a-team-smarter-more-women/ar/1
EQ (HBR link) - http://www.mindsetmatters.com.au/Portals/0/dox/building%20emotional%20intelligence%20of%20groups.pdf
Group Intelligence Correlates More with Social Aptitude than IQ - http://blogs.hbr.org/2012/10/collective-intelligence-and-th/
Being an Ally as a Person with Privilege - http://www.scn.org/friends/ally.html
Risk of Speaking Up - http://www.ashedryden.com/the-risk-in-speaking-up
21st Century Talent Spotting: Potential Trumps Brains, experience, and competencies - http://www.egonzehnder.com/files/_b_77ddd4d.pdf
Mathematical Model of Diversity - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/science/08conv.html
Scott Page: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Schools, Societies - http://vserver1.cscs.lsa.umich.edu/~spage/
thedifference_content.html
Diversity Trumps Ability - http://www.crowdsourcing.com/cs/2008/05/chapter-6-the-m.html
Scott Page Research - http://www.pnas.org/content/101/46/16385.full
Voyager Articles
http://www.rogerebert.com/balder-and-dash/now-voyager-the-least-beloved-star-trek-offered-some-of-the-franchises-strongest-feminist-
messages
http://www.startrek.com/page/star-trek-voyager
@fredricmitchell
Thanks for Listening
@fredricmitchell
bit.ly/voyager-inclusive !
2014 Fox Valley Drupal Camp September 20, 2014